Ringworm

Hi all,

One of my rabbits, Nancy, is covered in ringworm. She has virtually no fur left on her face and its travelling down her body. She's been on Mycozole spray (at £30 a bottle :shock for about 6 days with no change at all. Her hutch mate is also being treated but she is showing no signs of infection at this time.

It took about 2-3 weeks to diagnosis Nancy, she's otherwise quite bright and healthy but I want to know how long it will be before we start getting on top of this? I've had a rabbit with a couple of isolated patches in the past that cleared up very quickly so this is all very new and worrying.

I'm thinking I may have to move her in from her hutch and shed to a plastic cage in the house that can be cleaned with bleach (this was not necessary with my last rabbit, people tend to get a bit hysterical with ringworm and say you won't be rid of it till you burn your curtains!!) but I only have small indoor cages and two large rabbits. I wouldn't be able to let them run around the house while they are infectious and I worry the stress of being so confined would be worse than being in their shed?

All of this is coming on top of having major surgery 3 days ago so I am almost entirely reliant on my husband to do all heavy lifting and pet care.

Your thoughts would be most welcome!

Bumping up for you, I've not encountered it so can't answer your questions myself

I have thankfully no experience but would not recommend you bring him/her indoors as humans can catch it. You will have to follow your Vet's advice and be very particular about hygiene. I hope you can get it sorted soon.

Topical treatments (eg creams) work for isolated patches of ringworm. More extensive cases tend to be treated with oral anti-fungals as the drug needs to become incorporated into the new skin and hair / fur and it sort of grows out with time as it can't survive in the 'protected' new skin / hair. Not had it in rabbits before so don't know about specific treatments - just had it with cats.

Being a fungus, it is slow growing, so is slow to show and also takes time to clear it out of the system - so definitely weeks rather than days for treatment to be effective. It can affect many species including people - so I would leave the rabbits where they are and manage their environment they are in with good hygiene and thorough weekly clean-outs - rather than risk spreading it round new areas, especially if it would bring it into your house where the fungal spores may remain viable for longer and be more difficult to eliminate. The rabbits would probably be happier where they are as well - and they will not have to adjust to the different indoor / outdoor temperature differences. If you bring them inside now, they will lose their winter coats (or what's left in the infected areas) and may have to stay in until Spring.

Can your vet recommend any other treatment?

I think I'd agree I'd probably leave her where she is and with her hutch mate, partly because it will keep her stress to a minimum. A imagine a steam cleaner might be handy for the hutch if you wanted to do a deep clean on that.

You could see if your vet will discuss it over the phone, I think I'd expect some change in 6 days too - not a magic cure but maybe her skin looking slightly healthier.

Change for the worse.

Thank you all for your responses but unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse. The ringworm sample is negative and its now extremely likely she has an adrenal gland tumour causing the fur loss. This is very bad news as the treatment is risky and, very sadly, way beyond my means. Basically it would be £750 to give her a 50/50 chance of recovery. I've already spent about £400 in the last month on diagnosing her.

If the treatment was 100% I would find a way: skip Christmas, sell a few things, work some extra shifts but I can not justify it for 50%, especially as she is a dental rabbit who never had a chance of living to a very ripe old age anyway. We have no idea how fast the tumour will grow, if it is benign or malignant or what other issues it may cause. She may have years or months. The vet doesn't want her outside with so little fur now the temperatures are dropping so her and her cage mate are moving in. My elderly, sick chicken, who was living inside in the large indoor cage, passed away very suddenly, but peacefully yesterday so they can have that cage rather than the small ones.

This has been a very s**ty week

Fatfish said:

Thank you all for your responses but unfortunately things have taken a turn for the worse. The ringworm sample is negative and its now extremely likely she has an adrenal gland tumour causing the fur loss. This is very bad news as the treatment is risky and, very sadly, way beyond my means. Basically it would be £750 to give her a 50/50 chance of recovery. I've already spent about £400 in the last month on diagnosing her.

If the treatment was 100% I would find a way: skip Christmas, sell a few things, work some extra shifts but I can not justify it for 50%, especially as she is a dental rabbit who never had a chance of living to a very ripe old age anyway. We have no idea how fast the tumour will grow, if it is benign or malignant or what other issues it may cause. She may have years or months. The vet doesn't want her outside with so little fur now the temperatures are dropping so her and her cage mate are moving in. My elderly, sick chicken, who was living inside in the large indoor cage, passed away very suddenly, but peacefully yesterday so they can have that cage rather than the small ones.

This has been a very s**ty week

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You say that it's 'extremely likely' that she has an adrenal gland tumour, but this is not a definite diagnosis? So your thoughts are progressing forward on a speculation?

I would say if you can get your vet, or another opinion, to diagnose as clearly as possible, it would help you to think through what to do next.

You say that as a dental rabbit she wouldn't live to a ripe old age. Why not? Dental issues are not necessarily a death sentence except where they may be abscess problems, and you don't mention that here ....

Sorry to hear the bad news It's a difficult decision, choosing between something that might save or hurt her, and just keeping her comfortable for as long as she has so you've just got to do what you feel is right for her

It might be worth seeing if your vet could chat with other rabbity vets and see if there are any other options, even if they just have advice on keeping her as comfortable as possible e.g. supportive treatments. It's not a very common problem in rabbits so I don't expect many vets have dealt with cases.

Extremely likely as the x-ray showed irregularities in the right area, a scan would cost me £150 to verify we can't do anything. I'm going to talk to my vet about treatments for some of the less likely reasons behind her fur loss just in case, but she was pretty sure this is what we were dealing with. I trust my vet, she knows her stuff, she's the vet I ask for when I have a big issue.

We weren't expecting Nancy to live to a ripe old age because her top teeth are rotting away due to the miss growth of her bottom teeth, eventually they will not be any use to her to chew with even if we continue filing her bottom teeth on a yearly, or more, basis. As Nancy gets older the anaesthetic involved in her surgery becomes a greater and greater risk so I accepted she would not reach the age of 11 years old like my Ollie.

I'm not giving up on her, anything I can do, I will do.