The Giant Chinchilla buck I posted about earlier, who had raw, scaly patches on his hindquarters was taken to the vet today and his fur floresced (glowed when a blue light was shined on it). Whatever this is does not look like typical ringworm and we are not going to culture it to see exactly what we are dealing with. I am to apply a topical medicine and adopt a wait and see attitude. Have any of you dealt with fungal infections of any type in your rabbits? Were your treatments successful? How long did you treat them before throwing in the towel?
When I got back this morning I broke down his cage, washing it thoroughly with a solution the vet gave me (chlorine-based), cleaned out all the poop and hair, scrubbed the frame the cage was resting on and will tackle the back wall later. The cage is now in full sun so really, all the disinfecting I could do has been done. I am going to isolate him totally away from the other rabbits. I will also be disinfecting the puppy pens I let the rabbits run in. What I cannot do is dig up all the dirt...this is where the fungus came from. The vet said, and confirmed what I already felt, for him to get sick from this, he had to be immunocompromised already. So, now it's up to me to provide him the healthiest food and environment as possible. If he recovers I betcha his show career is over 'cause if the hair grows back in it's going to look terrible.
Whoever said raising rabbits was easy had never done it!
When I got back this morning I broke down his cage, washing it thoroughly with a solution the vet gave me (chlorine-based), cleaned out all the poop and hair, scrubbed the frame the cage was resting on and will tackle the back wall later. The cage is now in full sun so really, all the disinfecting I could do has been done. I am going to isolate him totally away from the other rabbits. I will also be disinfecting the puppy pens I let the rabbits run in. What I cannot do is dig up all the dirt...this is where the fungus came from. The vet said, and confirmed what I already felt, for him to get sick from this, he had to be immunocompromised already. So, now it's up to me to provide him the healthiest food and environment as possible. If he recovers I betcha his show career is over 'cause if the hair grows back in it's going to look terrible.
Whoever said raising rabbits was easy had never done it!
