licking fur off paws

Question
I have three rabbits and one of them seems to be in great health but we noticed that the fur on the top of her paws is gone.  She seems to be licking it off.  Do you know what the problem is?  She is showing no other symptoms and is eating, drinking and pooping fine. She is also not pregnant. Thank you for your help.  PS - she is an outside rabbit if that makes a difference.  

Answer
Dear Karen,

The following article has information on diagnosis and treatment of various causes of fur loss in rabbits:

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

However, since the baldness is restricted to the tops of her feet (is it her front feet only?), it could be due to molar spurs or other dental problem making her drool onto her paws.  This will cause fur loss due to the caustic nature of the saliva.  You can read more about this here:

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

If the fur loss is on all four paws, the most likely cause is mange.  The diagnosis and (easy!) treatment for this problem can be found in the furloss.html  article above.

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you have more questions.

Dana