Rabbit hurting itself

Question
QUESTION: Hi There, can you help me? i have taken bunbun to many vets and a skin doctor and we can not find what is wrong.
she pulls out her furr in a circle on her chest of front legs, to the point its an open wound and its bleeding. licks it better and starts somewhere else. Final conclusion was to put a cone on her and leave her be, this has worked for the last 2years, finally i came up with taking away pellets and putting her on a fruit and veg diet then after a month of that i took off her cone. (THIS WORKED.. for 2months) then... shes doing it again.

Do you have any thoughts?

ANSWER: Dear Monique,

The exact location of this lesion is a strong red flag that she has molar spurs that are causing her to drool.  The saliva often collects under the chin and on the chest, burning the skin and causing the bunny to chew at the area and injure herself.

You will need to find a vet who is experienced with rabbit medicine and especially with fixing dental problems such as molar spurs.  Check the list linked here to find one:

www.rabbit.org/vets

For a chronic problem like this, it may be worth a long drive.

Please also read:

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

so you'll know a bit more about potential molar problems and how they are fixed.  I'm betting that if your bunny gets a good dental exam, the vet will find molar spurs, be able to file them down, and the problem may be solved.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi There, thankyou for your answer but i am unsure if this is the case, she has had many vet visis plus i dont see her drolling at all, she is more than happy to eat hard food.
Do you have anyother thoughts? i had her cone off lastnight while i went to bed to give her a rest and she didnt hurt herself, but i new if i left it off for to long i would be pushing my luck.

ANSWER: Dear Monique,

If she is not spayed, she might be pulling fur to line a nest during a false pregnancy.  But a rabbit doing this will usually not pull fur to the point of causing an open wound.  

Other causes of abnormal fur loss can be found here:

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

However, though you say the bunny has been seen by many vets you do not say that any of them looked at her molars and checked for spurs.  If this has not been done, you simply *must* have it done.  You can't always see drooling, but you certainly can see the effects.

The location of the wounds and her worrying at herself is just completely, 100% typical of a rabbit with molar spurs or other dental problem that's causing drooling.  Please trust me and have this checked.  I cannot tell you how common this problem is, and how often it is overlooked even by a vet who says s/he is experienced with rabbits.

Unless you really have taken her to a rabbit vet who knows how to do a proper dental exam, you have not exhausted this possibility, which is the most likely, by far.

I hope this helps.

Dana

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Dana,

Bunbun has been spayed, she has been doing this to herself since we was about 7-8months... i will ask the vet to really double check her teeth in her next visit, he has been recommended to me from the rabbit clinic in palmerston north in Newzealand, (who are 7hours away from me). Bunbun is now 5years old and has been doing this for about 4years now, 2years now she has had a cone on after thousands of dollars spend on her from skin graphs done and allergy tests.

Answer
Dear Monique,

Wow, poor bunny!  I hope that one of the vets can get to the bottom of this.

Does the skin in the affected area appear abnormal, as in having open sores?  We are now starting to see diagnoses of sebaceous adenitis in some rabbits, though the affected areas are more commonly on the back and sides.

This might be something to discuss with the vet.  It is apparently an autoimmune problem, and corticosteroids might be of some help *if* the problem is sebaceous adenitis.

I hope you will be able to find someone who can discover the cause of this problem and get it properly treated.  A real mystery.  :(

Good luck,

Dana