Medical question for my Flopsy bunny

Question
Hello,

I am really sorry to report that I do not know which breed... but she is a brown, very soft, fast-growing rabbit with floppy ears.

Just over the last couple of days I have noticed that has lost a band of fur over her lower back and appears to have some bony lumps and the skin is discoloured.  She is not in any pain and is eating, drinking and playing quite normally.

The two rabbits live in a cage with plenty of space, are cleaned out regularly (the cage is lined with sawdust and sometimes some straw) and eat a diet of purchased rabbit-feed from a pet shop and fresh vegetables.  They go out on the grass most weekends.

The only thing that crosses my mind is that there is a wooden divider that partitions the hutch into two areas with an arch cut out of the wood which is not very well sanded down.  As she is getting bigger, is it possible that she is simply rubbing her back every time she hops through and has rubbed the fur off and created lumps from just rubbing?  Needless to say, I have removed the divider to see if thee is any improvement.  But any suggestion of another skin disease or allergy would be welcome, before I run off to the vet.

Many thanks for your ideas!

Lisbeth from Brussels, Belgium

Answer
Dear Lisbeth,

It does sound like your bunny's fur loss and lumps could be from the board in the cage. Even if you do not know if that is the cause, you might want to sand it down good anyway, just in case she does scratch herself.

It is good that you are so observant of your bunnies and what is going on with them! Have been picking her up, and that is how you noticed the fur loss and lumps, and if so, how does she act when you hold her? Are the lumps red and do they look infected?

Sometimes rabbits get cancer, but I do not know what that would look like if they had it on their skin, though I imagine they may have lumps, and probably fur loss. I am not much help if that is the case, but hopefully it is not.

Also, what kind of shavings are you using? Cedar is toxic to rabbits, and wood treated with chemicals is also bad, though I guess shavings probably would not be treated. I do not know what an allergic reaction to cedar would look like, though, if there were any symptoms, so I am not much help here, either. I do not think a rabbit would loose fur and get lumps due to an allergic reaction, but it may be wise to consider every possibility.

Keep a close eye on the bunny. Sand down the board in the cage. Watch how the two bunnies act together. If they fight and pull at each other's fur, maybe the injured bunny was scratched or something, which might cause small lumps for a while. If the two chew on each other, or pull out each other's fur, you probably should separate them. I do not think that would be a problem, though, since your cage has plenty of space, unless they just do not get along, but you probably would know that by now.

Any way, I hope I was of some help! I hope your bunny gets better!

God Bless
AEJ