Dutches Losing Hair....Pics Please Help

[Moonshine]

Our doe had a litter 6 weeks ago and when we went to move the babies to their new cage we noticed light brown sticky ooze all over her hind legs and tail. Patches of fur and layers of skin would just slide off in clumps when we touched that area. Anyway we bathed her rump and got her cleaned up and put iodine on her skin. Its not raw and red like it was before and there's no signs of ooze. Does anyone have any experience with this or even know what it might be? We have quarantined her in a cage with no other rabbits around her but I'm not sure if it is contagious as none of her kits had any signs of this with them. Is she going to live? Is it treatable? What could it be?

 

[animalmom]

Moonshine, I've not run across anything like this... yet, so I'll be watching to see what the others might have to say.

Just a wild guess, could it be a bad case of urine scald? Has there been a change in her diet? Was there enough room in her cage with all the babies for her to move around? As I said, just a wild guess.

Maybe put some triple antibiotic ointment on her raw skin. The petroleum base might help keep the skin from drying out.

Good question and good pictures.

 

[Moonshine]

It's possible it could be urine scald. The only change in her diet was she was getting calf mana and then when the babies were about 3 weeks I took her off of it. As of right now she is back on it. She has lost so much weight! She so boney!! I put her back on it in hopes that she would put some weight back on. I have no idea if she had loss of appetite or was eating because her babies were with her. Her babies and she had enough room in her cage to move around.

 

[Moonshine]

Anyone else have any thought? She doesn't look to good today. I'm thinking she might not make it.

 

[Moonshine]

I thought I'd update this too. The doe is much better! What we did was gave her a bath and washed all that gunk off her legs, and hind end, then a 48 hour duramycin antibiotic treatment in her water, and moved her to a cage that had no wood on the inside. A couple of days later we checked her and her legs weren't as raw but they were pealing so I sprayed all the places that were bare with blukote. The blukote is starting to wear off and we can see a thin very fine layer of hair growing back.

Also, the doe was skin and bones so we upped her feed and I started giving her calf manna to help her put weight back on. This girly is not usually miss personality but I believe she feels better than ever now. We give our rabbits pine cones and they love to roll them around and chew on them and she's been playing and having fun. She's next to Grande (a HUGE NZ) and Grande doesn't particularly care for neighbors and was giving this little doe a hard time and my lil dutches didn't back down and gave ole Grande a run for her money! She has gained her weight back and starting to look good.

 

[VickieB]

I'm happy to hear she's doing better. I couldn't help but feel bad for her when I saw the pics of her. I hate it when one of the animals is not doing well and I don't know what's going on.

 

[Moonshine]

Oh I know we are the same way here. Those pics were took the day I put on the blukote. Two days before is when we washed her and she looked so bad. He legs were bright red a raw. But yeah she is so much better now and growing peach fuzz on her bald spots.

 

[TherapyBunnies]

The top pick looks like fly strike to me (flies lay eggs on the rabbit & the maggots burrow into the rabbits skin/ hide). Maybe I am just seeing skin that fell off. She could of had hutch burn, but I think it was more than that. I lean toward wet tail / poopy butt, which after some time will cause the fur to fall off. Calf Manna can cause loose stools in rabbits. The good thing - she is better now. Keep an eye on her weight. She may have a form of worms or other parasite that will cause weight loss even when eating. Breeders often use Corid, Sulmet or Ivamec and Safegaurd. We have the best results with Safegaurd & Corid. You did the best thing by cleaning her up and getting her dry then using an antiseptic. Good job.