BUNNY SUDDENLY LOSING ALOT OF HAIR

Question
I have a female cottontail, just over 5 years old.
Lately she has been indoors alot because of the excessive heat over the summer. Over the past few days, she has been very quite & has lost ALOT of her hair. She eats, drinks, & uses her litter pan just fine.
She has lost some hair on one of her lower thighs, and she has lost a strip of hair on the left side of her back, from just under her shoulder to her hip, it is almost a perfect rectanglar shape.
Now she is beginning to lose some on the other side of her back on the same area. She has no scratching, she does not seem bothered by it, only rarely she will shake her coat as if trying to shake something off of her.
There is some tiny white specks on her skin, looks kinda like dandruff. I have found no hair in the area where she stays, but I have not seen her biting the hair out.
Since she is a cottontail & EXTREMELY skidish, I cannot take her to the vet.
I am planning on taking pics & doing a skin scarping & taking them to the vet, but I am not sure how to do a scraping, can you tell me how to do that?
And do you have any ideas on what may be wrong with her?
Thank you.

Answer
Dear Annie,

Please see:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/furloss.html

It sounds as if she might have a case of fur mites.  Fortunately, these are easily treated with topical application of Revolution (selamectin).  Unfortunately, you need a prescription to get this.  (Long story short, it can kill a dog that already has heartworms, so this can't be sold over the counter.)

Our sanctuary cottie has a bit of mite problem now and then, and a squirt of Revolution (your typical cottie weighs about 1kg, so 0.1cc of the 60mg/kg kitten, puppy, or cat solution should do the trick) keeps him happy and furry.

If your little one is calm enough for you to get a syringe with a bit of Revolution in it over her shoulders so you can apply it to her skin, that's all you need.  The question is:  How to get the Revolution?

You can find a rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and ask if they can either make a house call or prescribe this without seeing her.  I hope they will be humane enough to help you out!

Take care,

Dana