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Strange feeling under skin and noise

22 11:15:22

Question
When I pick my 5 month old rabbit up, there is a strange rustling noise and a strange touch under his skin. It is very difficult to describe, it feels like there is something under his skin and there is a strange noise when I stroke his skin. He looked a little under the weather yesterday, but the skin thing as not apparent yesterday. Today he is eating again and playing with his toy, so he seems happy within himself. But I am very worried about what is wrong with the skin. THere are no visual signs of anything else. I sprayed fly killer in the room next to where I keep my rabbit, do you think the vapours could have caused this? Please help as I am very worried and do not have the money to spend on a vet that will probably rob me blind. Thanks

Answer
Hi Danielle,

I won't be able to give you a concrete answer.  I don't think I have ever heard the sound or feel that you are describing on your rabbit, and I have handled a LOT of rabbits!

Is he a shorter-haired rabbit?  Because normally you never really feel the actual skin of a rabbit, just his fur, which even on shorter breeds is pretty dense and difficult to get to their skin without doing some combing apart and digging to reach.  

If you are talking he has bald patches where there is no hair and skin is visible, this requires a vet visit to determine what exactly is going on because this is not normal.

As for the fly spray, it could have bothered him then but unless you have a lot of airflow from that room to his cage area, probably not.  And I don't think it would do that to his hair, it would probably bother his lungs and eyes more than anything.  

As for the vet thing, rabbits, like cats and dogs, need annual health/wellness exams.  Especially with rabbits, as they tend to mask illness and problems, so if you don't get him checked out annually, a small problem you could catch early or prevent from occurring may go unnoticed and become a life-threatening, expensive problem.

What is essential that will help you from incurring unnecessary expenses, is finding a good RABBIT vet.  Not all vets are good rabbit vets, even though they may be excellent cat and dog vets.  The House Rabbit Society web site has a good reference section for people looking for a recommended rabbit vet in their area:

www.rabbit.org\vets

I would seriously look for one in your area and schedule a wellness exam.  That way you can have an experienced rabbit vet look him over and get to know what is 'normal' for him, and you can ask him about the skin question you have.  A good rabbit vet will be able to help you faster and more accurately than a vet who doesn't have much experience with rabbits (which will save you time and money).  

I just took one of my guys in for her annual exam.  A cost of $40-45 is what you might expect it to run you.  They usually run about 1/2 hour of time, and you can use that time well by having questions you'd like to ask the vet ready to go (I write mine down) so that you can get the most out of your visit there, too.  But you always need to factor this kind of expense in before you get any kind of pet.  You've already made the committment to take care of him, and one of the things you need to do to take care of him is routine annual wellness exams, at the minimum, by a good rabbit vet.

Write back anytime.  Lee