Fur Loss – Rabbit

Fur loss in rabbits can due to:

• Moulting
• Grooming or idiopathic overgrooming
• Displacement activity in rabbits that can’t groom – automutilation
• Hair loss due to pseudo- and actual pregnancy is frequently encountered in rabbits due to nest-building activity and obviously requires no treatment. It is self-inflicted.
• Alopecia in rabbits may be due to dietary causes (fibre or magnesium deficiency, or both). To correct magnesium deficiency, the addition of magnesium oxide at 0.25% to the diet may be required.

"Hair eating" localised mainly on the head was recorded by Morisse 1978 in groups of rabbits with experimentally-induced colibacillosis and this should be remembered by the clinician confronted with this clinical sign in pet rabbits that have received oral antibiotics especially those with a reasonable spectrum of activity against gram-positive organisms.

In groups or "gangs" of rabbits the incidence of barbering must be recognised occurring on the dewlap and head areas. Look for hair chewed to stubble. Approach by:

1. segregating the dominant animal from recessive, "barbered" individuals,
2. increasing dietary fibre and
3. reducing the light intensity (Okerman 1994).

Fur loss in vent area is usually due to discharges from the vent:

• Urinary overflow
• Treponema cuniculi
• Clagging (caecotrophs in the area release VFA’s which irritate the skin)
• Uterine carcinoma check for discharge and nipple engorgement
• Localised Fur Loss due to discharges from
  • eyes
  • mouth (teeth or foreign body)
  • rectum

References

• Morisse, J. P. (1978) Induction of a Colibacillosis-Type Enteritis in Rabbits: Revue Med Vet 129 625 to 632.
• Okerman, L. (1994) Diseases of Domestic Rabbits. Blackwell Scientific Publications 2nd Edition