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Mite control

twistedtiggerz69

twistedtiggerz69

Mama Doe
I have noticed Mischief has dry scaley bumps on his ears for a while. I spoke to the vets about it and she suggested changing from Advantage to Xeno 450 as it is better for treatment of mites. She also said to bathe the area on his ears with warm saline solution which we are now doing. Does anyone know if Xeno 450 is any good for mites?

I am wondering if the hay we get from the pet shop is the problem as it is from a local farm? I have now changed hay to pre-packed until I can look at options. Any suggestions would be welcome.

We are blitzing the flat with a steam cleaner to try and kill all the mites and hoovering everything. We sprayed with a mite spray from PDSA last year but I am really going against using chemicals as don't like risking his health. Does anyone use mite spray or is steam cleaning enough?

We really want to get this all under control before we get baby so would appreciate any help with this anyone please?

Thanks so much



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As Jane says - are you sure they are mites? Has the vet confirmed with a skin scraping / fur sample under the microscope?

Mites are always going to be around in low numbers. They wouldn't normally cause problems. They tend to show up on a rabbit with other health issues (eg compromised immune system) or ones that are unable to groom properly (eg dental issues, arthritis). When I've seen them, they have tended to colonise around the lower back where it's harder to reach for grooming. For confirmed mites, you really need to figure out why that rabbit is affected and deal with that probem. Mites are more a symptom of something else not being right, rather than an issue in themselves. It's not like having fleas which target anything warm blooded.

It's unlikely that new bunny will get mites (if that's what you have).

All hay comes from a farm field....if it looks and smells good, it shouldn't be an issue - but no harm in changing supplier if you think it will help. Smaller amounts wrapped in plastic do tend to allow anything that's there already to be protected. Open bales of hay with some airflow and off the floor tends to keep small beasties at lower numbers, ime. If you buy it plastic wrapped, open the bag so it can breathe, and store somewhere cool.

Vacuuming regularly and normal good hygiene with regular bedding changes shoud be sufficient. No harm in steam cleaning occasionally as it will also reduce the risk of eg, EC. I wouldn't be spraying any pesticides around without evidence of a major infestation that couldn't be sorted otherwise.
 
Shimmer said:
As Jane says - are you sure they are mites? Has the vet confirmed with a skin scraping / fur sample under the microscope?

Mites are always going to be around in low numbers. They wouldn't normally cause problems. They tend to show up on a rabbit with other health issues (eg compromised immune system) or ones that are unable to groom properly (eg dental issues, arthritis). When I've seen them, they have tended to colonise around the lower back where it's harder to reach for grooming. For confirmed mites, you really need to figure out why that rabbit is affected and deal with that probem. Mites are more a symptom of something else not being right, rather than an issue in themselves. It's not like having fleas which target anything warm blooded.

It's unlikely that new bunny will get mites (if that's what you have).

All hay comes from a farm field....if it looks and smells good, it shouldn't be an issue - but no harm in changing supplier if you think it will help. Smaller amounts wrapped in plastic do tend to allow anything that's there already to be protected. Open bales of hay with some airflow and off the floor tends to keep small beasties at lower numbers, ime. If you buy it plastic wrapped, open the bag so it can breathe, and store somewhere cool.

Vacuuming regularly and normal good hygiene with regular bedding changes shoud be sufficient. No harm in steam cleaning occasionally as it will also reduce the risk of eg, EC. I wouldn't be spraying any pesticides around without evidence of a major infestation that couldn't be sorted otherwise.
Click to expand...

:thumb:
 
He isn't scratching or anything so could be dry skin I guess. The vet didn't actually say mites I did. She suggested cleaning area with saline solution.

I will speak to her about it tomorrow. He has had it since he was ill earlier this year and doesn't seem to be bothered by it ie no ear shaking or scratching. It could be from when his immune system was compromised. He lets me wash it with warm saline solution and seems to like it actually. I think it must be soothing.

He has also had slightly runny eyes since the illness bout. I just wipe them everyday. I asked vet to check his ears and eyes at last health check when he had his jabs and she didn't suggest any eye/ear drops or anything. But I will ask her again to check him over and discuss it with her. Maybe do swabs if needed.

That makes sense about the pre packed hay. We are steam cleaning and hoovering and doing monthly mite control so unless vet suspects mites we will leave spraying then.

I can't upload any decent photos. My phone is so rubbish and pix are too blurry to show anything really.

One more thing sorry! I seem to be posting non-stop recently for advice! [emoji51] Do you do the Xeno 450 monthly? I have been doing it once a month as per vets advice but I read somewhere that it only covers rabbits for about 2-3 weeks. Is that true?


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Looking at the data sheet for Xeno 450, it's monthly for preventative treatment. For confirmed infection it's the correct number of pipettes per bodyweight applied then repeated at 2 and 4 weeks.

I've never used anything as preventative treatment for rabbits, only had recent experience of using it in rabbits but have used it fairly regularly for rats who seem to have more of a problem with mites.
 
Looking at the data sheet for Xeno 450, it's monthly for preventative treatment. For confirmed infection it's the correct number of pipettes per bodyweight applied then repeated at 2 and 4 weeks.

I've never used anything as preventative treatment for rabbits, only had recent experience of using it in rabbits but have used it fairly regularly for rats who seem to have more of a problem with mites.
 
I would only use something like Xeno 450 for a confirmed case of eg mites. Then follow the instructions on the pack - it's normally 3 doses with a gap between (2 weeks? Can't remember - check the pack). It's not something I would routinely use, such as on a monthly basis, without a lot of discussion with my vet and confirmed reasons to do so. If there's a need to use it continually, I would want other investigations doing to find out why it was necessary, and try to deal with the (medical) cause rather than the effect (eg mites), as it's likely that there will be a deterioration of the condition over time. Treating the mites doesn't solve the real problem.
 
Oh that is a surprise that you don't need to use it as the vets always say to do mite stuff monthly. I thought it was the norm to use preventative treatment for mites every month.

I'm not even sure it's mites. I just thought ear mites as he had a problem with his ears tbh. Shows how little I really know.

I think I need to review situation with the vet and see what vet thinks it is and go from there. He may have a skin infection or something and not mites. Or even just dry skin. I'm trying not to use chemicals as realising more and more how sensitive buns are.

Thanks for your help Liz x



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Shimmer said:
I would only use something like Xeno 450 for a confirmed case of eg mites. Then follow the instructions on the pack - it's normally 3 doses with a gap between (2 weeks? Can't remember - check the pack). It's not something I would routinely use, such as on a monthly basis, without a lot of discussion with my vet and confirmed reasons to do so. If there's a need to use it continually, I would want other investigations doing to find out why it was necessary, and try to deal with the (medical) cause rather than the effect (eg mites), as it's likely that there will be a deterioration of the condition over time. Treating the mites doesn't solve the real problem.
Click to expand...
Again as I said to Liz that is a total shock to me. The vets say to routinely treat him for mites and I have no confirmation he has ever had them.

He had a bad ear infection with his lung infection and this skin issue started then. So it may not be mites at all.

Thank you I will speak to vets about this in detail then x

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Sounds a good plan to ask your vet, perhaps your vet believes preventative monthly treatment is best since we'd do the same for dogs/cats but often may not be needed especially with bunnies :) Like some vets suggest doing Panacur regularly as a wormer, whereas I believe the RWAF don't recommend this
 
Never used a mite preventative treatment in all my 25 years of Rabbit keeping. I have looked after over 150:Rabbits during that time. I have only had one case of mites, a 11 year old Rescue who came to me already infected with them.
 
Liz47 said:
Sounds a good plan to ask your vet, perhaps your vet believes preventative monthly treatment is best since we'd do the same for dogs/cats but often may not be needed especially with bunnies :) Like some vets suggest doing Panacur regularly as a wormer, whereas I believe the RWAF don't recommend this
Click to expand...
Oh right. I did use panacur this year as we got it with his new vet plan. We also get rearguard but I read a thread on this forum recently where lots of people advised against it.

So now I know not to use them or mite treatment as a preventative measure. Just if there is a real reason to. Thank you that has clarified a lot.

I trust everyone on here as feel they are more rabbit savvy with every day stuff than the vets. I'm glad I asked now and hopefully others will be educated by this thread aswell [emoji6] x

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InspectorMorse said:
Never used a mite preventative treatment in all my 25 years of Rabbit keeping. I have looked after over 150:Rabbits during that time. I have only had one case of mites, a 11 year old Rescue who came to me already infected with them.
Click to expand...
Wow! So many rabbits you have had [emoji4]

I will speak to vet about this then. As I said before I assumed it was mites and was wondering why that could be as was treating him for them. And the vet just suggested the Xeno 450 instead and saline washes but did not actually say he had mites. So I need to ask more questions really and not assume so much [emoji38]x

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