Effective Solutions for Severe Rabbit Hair Loss
1. Seasonal Moulting: It's quite common for rabbits to experience a seasonal physiological moult in March to April and September to October. This is a natural occurrence for rabbits, as they shed some of their unnecessary fur when the weather warms up in the summer to help regulate their body temperature. In the winter, they shed their coarse fur and replace it with fluffy fur to keep warm.
How to Handle: During the moult, there's no need to worry. Simply brushing your rabbit's coat daily and removing any loose fur or dander will suffice to prevent it from spreading around the house.
2. DietRelated Issues: A lack of essential nutrients like fiber, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, or specific vitamins such as Vitamin A and B in the rabbit's diet can lead to hair loss or fureating behaviors.
How to Handle: This is often a result of an imbalanced diet. You can address this by supplementing your rabbit's food with the missing nutrients to alleviate hair loss and prevent further脱毛 due to malnutrition.
3. Fungal Skin Diseases: When rabbits are infected with bacteria, fungi, or have parasites, they may develop white dandruff and circular patches of hair loss. The itching can be so severe that they may scratch their skin, exacerbating the hair loss.
How to Handle: If this is the case, it's crucial to take your rabbit to a vet for a proper examination. Once the cause is diagnosed, follow the vet's advice for medication. Never selfmedicate at home to avoid potential poisoning.
4. Bacterial Diseases: Rabbit skin and subcutaneous tissue can become necrotic due to bacterial infections such as necrobacillosis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, leading to hair loss in the affected areas.
How to Handle: For bacterial dermatitis causing hair loss, use appropriate sensitive medications for systemic treatment. Additionally, combining these with topical treatments can enhance the effectiveness of the therapy.
Warm Reminder: Severe hair loss in rabbits could also be due to factors like friction from the cage or feeding dish, the mother rabbit preparing a nest with fur before giving birth, or the owner using shampoo to bathe the rabbit. Therefore, it's important for pet owners to correctly identify the cause of the hair loss before deciding whether to resort to medication.