My poor bunnys eyes...!

Question
Hello.. I am in dire need of an experts advice for my poor bun bun! I recently moved out of my home to go away to college and asked my younger sister to take care of bunny while I was away..  But apparently she wasn't the best person to leave in charge of the care of my pet bc yesterday when I came home to visit, I was getting ready to help clean out his cage and noticed a very hard white substance on his skin/fur just beneath both of his eyes. I dont have the money to pay a vet to take care of this matter for me but I certainly dont want anything worse happeneing to my bunny! Please where can I go to get some sort of antibiotic for him for this infection? Please hurry.. I feel his pain...

Answer
Dear Amanda,

I can't see your bunny to know for sure, but this sounds more like mange (caused by parasitic mites) than an infection.  Antibiotics will not cure this problem, and you should NEVER administer antibiotics to a rabbit without a vet's supervision.  Some antibiotics that are perfectly safe for a human, dog, or cat (e.g., amoxycillin) are deadly to rabbits.

Mange is safely treated with Revolution (selamectin) from your vet.  DO NOT use Frontline or any other over-the-counter treatment, as many are NOT safe for rabbits.

I know you say you don't have the money to visit the vet, but that's really what you have to do, even if it means getting a loan from your parents.  Your bunny relies on you for medical care when it's needed.  That's part of what being his "caregiver" means.  So I hope you won't delay in getting him to a good vet for treatment.  You can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

and read more about mange and its safe treatment (along with before and after pictures) here:

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

Hope that helps.

Dana