skin probloems

Question
I have had an indoor rabbit for 1 year now and have noticed that lately he is constantly itching and biting at himself.  He is now starting to lose a little hair and I think all the itching is affecting his behavior, he is not the same loving bunny I brought home.  Do you think that lotions and soaps on my hands could be causing him to have a skin irritation?

Answer
Hi Diana,

they could very well be.  However it could be a lot of things.  It could be irritation to household chemicals.  It could be it's too hot and dry in his area.  More realistically, he could have either an infection or an infestation of something.  If you have pine or cedar shavings anywhere around him that could be the problem.  Rabbits can have allergies to synthetics, to chemicals, to dust in the house, to weeds.

As he is in your words 'constantly itching and biting' I would suspect he has fleas or mange or some kind of infestation of some kind that requires vet diagnosis and prescription meds to treat properly.

Generally speaking rabbits won't lose their hair over what normal skin lotions or soaps are on your hands.  It probably is more of a medical problem.  I would recommend taking him to your normal, good rabbit-savvy vet for a checkup and specifically paying attention to his hair loss problem.  The vet should be able to help diagnose what is going on.

If you don't have a good rabbit vet, go to:

www.rabbit.org/care/vets.html

and find a House Rabbit Society-recommended vet in your area.

Lee