The December 12, 1982 Countryside, pg 44, identifies a skin disease, "If a rabbit has sore skin, matted fur and green staining of the fur, the bacterium Psuedomonas, an inhabitant of wet areas, is the causative organism."

This describes our male New Zealand, with the addition of hair loss and raw skin in the central areas (it seems to radiate out in rings). It probably started when we used water misters to cool them last summer (we live in So Cal). We have all wire cages but also set wood in for them to sit on (which we change or clean occasionally).

We paid a Vet recommended by the Home Rabbit Socety (?) but she was clueless and absolutely a waste of a buncha money...

This is what we developed and seems to work best: cut the affected hair short, wash the rabbit with medicated soap, SOAK with hydrogen peroxide...if we keep at it (every other day) this seems to work....but after a while - its back...

SO, does anyone know how to really control/cure this?? Thanx

-- Guy Winton (guyiii@home.com), February 24, 2000

Answers

10 years of angora raising and ive never heard of this[ learn something new every day.Are you sure its not ringworm ?how about fur mites?for fur mites ivomec works great or you can use cat flea powder] for ringworm people use heavy mineral oil on it for rabbits, ive heard ringworm is very hard to clear up in rabbits.I would be tempted to get some tinactrin[for humans] at the drug store since it clears up a viriety of funguses and use a very SMALL dab once or twice a day [have know idea if you can use it on rabbits so i would use this as a last ditch efort]one thing i have used on rabbits[hutch burn old doe]is desiten and it is for babys so it is safe it is made with mineral oil so maybe it would smother it?[I wonder if desitin and tinactrin could be mixed together for a double wammy?have know idea!sorry im not much help but never heard of this before.

-- kathy h (saddle bronc@msn.com), February 24, 2000.

Try doing a web search ,I heard 1 site for rabbits has a vet I believe it was "show bunny".If nothing else you should find some breeder that deal with lots of other breeders, someone should be able to help.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), February 25, 2000.

In regards to the tinactrin, almost any over the counter drug that is approved for human use will have been tested on rabbits before the FDA will approve human testing. So if you feel that it might help you can be 90% sure that it won't hurt your rabbit.

-- Adam Roberts (aer4529@cs.rit.edu), February 28, 2000.

Is it just the one rabbit? How old is he? Has he been used a lot for breeding? Sounds like you are doing all the right things. Additional things I would do are to add lots of greens (gradually) to his diet and try to cleanse him. I like to crush Rosemary in their water, It's cleansing and disinfecting. I do this to both rabbit and chicken water routinely. Maybe a completely different cage is in order. Sounds like some sort of stress to me, or an immune problem. There is a good article in this issue of CS regarding adding greens to the diet. Maybe a little comfrey, too. Good luck, Chris

-- Christine Allen (cfallen00@hotmail.com), March 02, 2000.

To prevent Pseudomonas, water needs to be replaced frequently and drinking containers also need to be cleaned frequently. Psudomonas in rabbits and mice can be prevented by reducing the acidification level of the drinking water. Also, rabbits are very susceptible to stress during transportation to and from, and they need a post- transport stabilization time of about 48 hours to allow immune system to return to normal.

-- Traci Rae Davis (krystalgrace61@yahoo.com), March 13, 2001.