ive had this floppy eared rabbit for the last 2 years. he has long one inch soft fur, yet only short about 1cm on the area of his forhead. winter is getting near and he is shedding like crazy, he usually only shed during the summer, but oddly he has begun for the last 3 weeks shedding by the millions and one of these days i noticed on the side of his belly (a litte more above, but on the side) he looked like as if he was missing an extra spot of fur, i looked closer and it wasnt at all a bald spot, but instead a round spot about the size of a quarter, all covered with only short 1cm inch fur, like the type on his forehead. i noticed he has the same thing on the opposite side, its symetrical therefore.
i looked in other spots on his body and he has some spots under the long hair where there is short hair and some spots that there arent any short hair at all...so my rabbit is growing a mix of long and short. he looks kinda wierd, fine with me, but....
my question is: is this normal??
2006-10-18 06:22:54 · 3 answers · asked by sueet2b 4 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
i've never owned a rabbit, so i dont know what to expect, and i dont worry much about this, but im very curious to know if this happens often to many rabbits? or this an odd bread?
2006-10-18 06:24:58 · update #1
As long as the shorter haired areas are not red, inflamed or otherwise abnormal he should be ok. If you see him scratching or chewing himself a lot then you need to see the vet. In that case it could be fleas or another type of parasite.
2006-10-18 06:30:42 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not necessarily normal. Rabbits are prone to skin conditions but most clear up after the weather changes are done. As long as the hair isn't down to the bald point I wouldn't worry. Also look to see if the shorter hair spots have scaly skin underneath compared to the rest of the areas that are normal length hair.
Rabbits also are prone to nervous conditions, like changes in diet, new cage etc. So if no scaly or red skin don't worry too much and if it does concern you you can brush like a cats hair. I don't know the temperature where you are at but he may be going through a second shedding.
2006-10-18 13:31:15 · answer #2 · answered by mntlady739 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think its anything to worry about. If your rabbit has bald spots I would take it to the vet. Make sure that you feed it papya tablets or some other kind of enzyme as rabbits ar prone to get hairballs that they are unable to cough up.
2006-10-18 13:29:18 · answer #3 · answered by sugarcarat 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋