hair loss in baby hand reared french lop bunny

Question
I run a bunny rescue. after taking in two adult french lops,one male and the other female, with four week old babies. Mummy bunny rejected all the babies so i took over feeding them. Sadly after the first week i lost three babies leaving only one, he was the strongest of the litter. He is doing well but over the last couple of days has started losing his fur. I took him to the vets today but they are puzzled to what is causing this, he is very healthy but a bit on the small size, there is no sign of mites. I would be very greatful if you could throw some light on this for me. Thanks, Debbie

Answer
Dear Debbie,

(Sorry for the delay.  My DSL has been down--they're having problems with Earthlink all over Florida--and only now am I able to access the AllExperts site.  I'm going to have to put myself on "vacation" on this site until they get the problem fixed, so I'm sorry I might not be available for followup questions right away.)

Fur loss in such a little baby could be due to malnutrition, but if he's otherwise healthy and robust this might not be the cause.  If he's getting good formula with enough protein, he should be able to make fur.  (We use whole goat milk with a bit of heavy cream and whey powder added to nurse our baby hares, and they do very well.  In the very young, freeze-dried colostrum from the health food store can help boost the immune system and prevent intestinal problems.)

Mites are not always obvious, so you might also want to read this:

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

I hope this helps.

Dana