Skin under chin

[Allan Bloomfield]

My two year old rabbit suddenly lost the hair under its chin. There is
a patch of skin which is growing to the sides and down his chest. Has
anyone ever seen this? We're pretty sure it's not ringworm. The vet
thought he may be "chinning", or rubbing his chin on something, but
haven't seen him do it and there doesn't seem to be anything in the cage
to do it on. Otherwise the bunny seems to be fine.

--
Allan Bloomfield
all...@optonline.net

[Arlette, Cocoa&Brownie]

Hi Allen,
what does the skin look like? Is it pink and healthy? If there are any signs
of flakes or redness, it could be mites. Does your rabbit have a dew lap...a
flap of skin there? Sometimes they get water on them when they drink and the
skin gets chapped and irritated.

The fur under the chin does tend to be different, they have a scent gland
there. My boys' fur there is shorter and lighter coloured.
Is your vet very experienced with rabbits? You might want to get a second
opinion if they are not.

There is also glandular problems that can cause a rabbit to lose its hair.
Maybe if Rhonda Surmon sees this post, she can help. Her rabbit had a hair
lose problem.

--
God Bless, Arlette, Cocoa & Brownie
Need a bunny vet? Check my World Bunny Vets site
http://charm.air.on.ca/raytec/RabbitVetsMain.htm
Still under construction, just ask me for other countries.

[MK]

I know of at least a dozen people (so far) that have had ringworm problems-
this is going to be a bad year for fungi. Have the vet do a skin scraping,
just to rule out fungal infection (takes about 2 weeks for results to come
back, as it germinates slow). I had similar problems with my rabbits. Mine
slowly developed a mysterious loss of fur on either side of the nose and
around the eyes that then spread rapidly down the chin, across the chest and
over the body. As it turned out from the lab results, it WAS ringworm
(trichophyton spp). >:(

Ringworm is a fungal infection, spread by spores that can live up to 3 years
(I believe) in the environment. A single rabbit hair can be highly
infective- if you have other pets they can also fall victim to ringworm (as
can you). Clean, clean, clean- scrub scrub scrub. Ordinary bleach WON'T
kill the fungus (or so I was told by a vet)- you'll need something stronger
(chlorhexidine). Be sure to sterilize all bedding and laundry, especially
after handling the animal. WASH YOUR HANDS WELL after handling the rabbit.

If it is ringworm, you can probably use the same medication & treatment I'm
using on rabbits at my facility (get a vet's blessing, tho):

Fungisan topical applied to the skin, 1-3x per day (wet the fur and skin
thoroughly on the vent, face, feet, ears and chin where the fur is thin-
that is the first place the fungus attacks).
Disinfect cages, feeders, watering valves and other equipment with properly
diluted chlorhexidine-based spray like Novulsan (sp?) daily, using a quart
plant spray bottle.
Deep clean, disinfect and scrub & rinse all equipment weekly using
industrial-strength disinfectant called "Tek Trol" (or similar product),
allow to air dry, and finish with a misting of chlorhexidine spray. (Take
the rabbit out while spraying, don't let it come in contact w/wet surface)

One final thing- be VERY careful handling that rabbit until you rule out
ringworm by lab analysis. I found this out the hard way, when a mysterious
itchy red rash formed on my hand...and spread.

Hope this helped.

[Joyce Reynolds-Ward]

On Wed, 7 Mar 2001 22:28:48 -0500, "Arlette, Cocoa&Brownie"
<coco...@air.on.ca> wrote:

>Hi Allen,
>what does the skin look like? Is it pink and healthy? If there are any signs
>of flakes or redness, it could be mites. Does your rabbit have a dew lap...a
>flap of skin there? Sometimes they get water on them when they drink and the
>skin gets chapped and irritated.

Could also be a molt.

Usagi is starting out what looks to be a spectacular spring molt with
losing the fur under his chin. However, judging from the blackish
color spots on the skin where new hair is growing back, it's clearly a
molt.

jrw

[Olga & Rufus]

This is interesting. Years ago my dad raised beef cattle and they got ringworm
and my brother got it on his face. But that ringworm always appeared as a
circle with a raised red edge. It was very distinctive. Are there different
kinds of ringworm?

Olga

[Allan Bloomfield]

After much more watching, it is clear that the bunny is chewing the hair off of
himself. The vet thought it might be mites, and is doing a ringworm culture. The
bare skin spot is spreading as the bunny keeps chewing.

Olga & Rufus wrote:

--
Allan Bloomfield
all...@optonline.net
http://www.bloomfieldlaw.com

[Arlette, Cocoa&Brownie]

Gee Allan,
I hope it is the ringworm, at least you could get a treatment then. Some
bunnies do have obsessive behaviours. Hope you find out what it is.