rabbit losing his fur all over his body

Question
QUESTION: my rabbit's been diagnosed twice by the vet, at first he was diagnosed by having fur mites and was immediately treated with injection but

after that he's still losing his fur. His front right leg have no hair at all and his ears and neck are bald. I went to the vet again and

they told me that he's negative on fungi and fur mites. They told me to put virgin coconut oil and feed him roughages such as water sprout.

I putvirgin coconut oil on his affected areas but it seemed that it is becoming worst and the bald spot is growing bigger, since i can feel

that he's scratching a lot maybe he's been pulling it by himself. But now even his back leg is losing fur, it's spreading all over his

body, even in the eye area and chin area.

But inspite that, he is a healthy and energetic rabbit, he has a lot of appetite and can jump really high since i saw him above his cage,

he must have jumped that high.

I hope you know how to treat this, coz the vet's really puzzled on this case. Thanks a lot!

Here is a picture of my rabbit with his alopecia.

http://geocities.com/snow_queen14ph/DSC_1083.JPG
http://geocities.com/snow_queen14ph/DSC_1081.JPG



ANSWER: Hi Alyssa,

I am really concerned about your bunny.  Based on your description and what I can see of the pictures, it is very possible this might be a nutritional issue.  We see that exact same thing happen with some of our incoming rescues.  I would like to know exactly what you are feeding your rabbit....everything and includes the amounts, times per day and brand names.  I don't think I would use coconut oil or that water sprout stuff.  The primary diet for an adult rabbit should be unlimited amounts of grass hays (that provides roughage for the GI system as well as keeps the teeth worn down) along with limited amounts of high quality pellets and bunny safe veggies/fruits.  I would also like to know your general location.  If it is what I suspect it is, it will involve drug treatments and since I am not a vet, I would probably need to discuss it with your doctor.  And suspecting a nutritional issue doens't mean I am saying that you are not feeding your rabbit....nutritional issues can be caused by many things....dental issues, infections, unseen abscesses and intestinal parasite....and if he isn't neutered, hormone imbalances can also cause this.  There is even a neurological issue that can cause something like this.  Also, I need to know exactly how the fur mites were treated...medication, amount frequency, etc.

I will be checking back later this evening for your response.

Randy

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

QUESTION: Thank you for your concern,

I feed my rabbit pellets with this nutritional analysis

Protein 18%
Oils & Fats 2.5%
Fibre 13%
Moisture 12%
Ash 7%
Manganese 100mg/kg
zinc 110 mg.kg
iron 150 mg/kg
vit a 20,000 iu/kg
vit d3 1,2000 iu/kg
vit e 50 iu/kg
vit k 5 mg/kg
vit c 600 mg/kg
copper 15 mg

i feed him every morning, afternoon and evening. since most of the pellet fell off the litter box, i have no idea how much he consume. But he's weight gained from 2.5 to 3.5. I feed him Hagen guinea pig cobbler since it's the only food available in the petstore.

I am located in the Philippines, most stores and vets here do not specialize on rabbits. They don't have hay too, so i feed him ordinary grass since he needs a lot of fiber. I think the grass ok since he's having normal pee and poo and he's very active and alert. He isn't neutered because he's still a baby. . maybe he's about 3 months now coz i bought him when he's 2 months old.

He was injected with something, it sounded like ivermectin but it's name's  shorter, ill ask my vet what it is. He was injected on the infected front leg area.

Right now, I saw that the hair starts to grow in the front leg area that i was talking about, but he's still losing fur on other parts of his body. I do hope that he'll  be cured, coz he's a really sweet rabbit.  

Answer
Hi Alyssa,

That is some high octane food.  The nutrition is fine for now but will need to be modified as he ages.  That protein level will be much too high as he enters adulthood here in a few months.  If that is the only food you can get there, you will really need to find some good hay.

The ivermectin is proper protocol for fur mites.  It should be repeated once a week for at least three weeks....I usually do four just to be sure.  Also works for fleas and some intestinal parasites.

This could be stress related in such a young bunny.  But it could very well be intestinal parasites since he is getting grass.  Have your vet perform a fecal float.  He/she should be on the lookout for pinworms, round worms and/or hook worms.  We had never seen hooks until recently but it caused quite a problem.  Those are easily treated with standard worming treatment....usually Fenbendazole (Panacur)using normal dosing protocols.  Your vet should also look for coccidia which is a protozoa.  If a large number of coccidia are found, they can be treated either with Albon or one of the sulfanomides at standard dosing protocols.

And as far as roughage....do you have any horses near you?  Rabbits and horses are almost identical as far as their digestive systems are concerned.  Horses are hind gut fermenters just like rabbits....and need the same large amounts of roughage (high fiber) that grass hays provide as do rabbits.  Any hay that a horse can eat....so can a rabbit.  If you only have a single rabbit....a normal square bale of high quality hay (no moldy hay...that is toxic)if properly stored will last your rabbit a very long time even feeding free choice.

Let me know if you get the fecal done and what is found.

Randy