Fur Loss – Rabbit
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This article is still under construction. |
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:
- segregating the dominant animal from recessive, "barbered" individuals,
- increasing dietary fibre and
- 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