hair loss Netherland Dwarf

Question
Hi Dana,

I have 11 rabbits, one started sneezing when we moved house. He was a Netherland Dwarf rescue rabbit to start with, 3 months, skin, bones and organs at 550g, that I rescued from a pet shop. I recovered him with Critical Care, then he sustained a fracture mid-tibia, aeitiology of which I still need to undertand.  He seemed fine, except with a serious case of "small man" syndrome, constantly taunting the other rabbits, then the fracture. He sneezes contstantly, with a pale yellow non-noxious smelling discharge, much like ours, when he does. So I had him started on enfrofloxacin at 10mg/kg bd, which ammounted to 0.43ml bd at his weight ( 1.03kg ). Nothing has changed, neither worse nor better. So I don't think it's snuffles. In the last fortnight, he is losing fur like crazy on both sides. Where there is pigmented red fur, it's a little thicker, but otherwise it's all but gone. He has a little room-mate ( he was sterilzed in time ), she is his own size but younger and the same weight but he is the dominant one. I don't think she is pulling his fur, particularly as it's from the sides of the body, not the neck or back. I've been using Advantage, but Narelle Walter, the Melbourne specialist, put another rabbit with skin problems on Revolution. I don't know if Revolution will fix it from the mite possibilty but don't want to do anything without your input. I also have my 9 1/2 year old cat dying from liver disease with hyperthyroid complcations and I just can't cope with it all at the moment right now. I can't have kids, these are my children and I take their parenting very seriously. Please help. I'm at my wits' end. What should I do?

Answer
Dear Nerida,

Your bunnies are lucky to have such a caring mom.  :)

The fur loss could be a result of stress from the chronic URI, a result of a fur mite problem that "blossomed" in your bunny's weakened condition.  Please read:

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

if the problem is mites, then we find Revolution to be an excellent remedy.

Yellow discharge can often--though not always--indicate a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, and these bacteria are notoriously persistent and tough to kill.  I'd strongly recommend a culture and sensitivity test:

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

to be sure what you're dealing with.  The dose of enrofloxacin (10mg/kg) is about half what we usually use, and unfortuantely, Pseudomonas is often resistant to it.  This is why I'd request that the C&S test also include zeniquin (marbofloxacin), Dicural (difloxacin), and azithromycin to cover more bases, if this is Pseudomonas.  But a C&S test is definitely the ticket here, to get him fully on the road to a *whole body* health and recovery.

I hope this helps.

Dana