does my rabbit have mange?

Question

i have a one year old new zealand white rabbit. her name is lucky, last year her sisters won reserve grand champion in the fair. but anyways, she has a bald spot all over her face, like her whole face is bald! we thought it was the rabbit next to her pulling out her hair, they dont get along very well! so we seperated their cages, and it wont go away. i think maybe she has mange. what do you think? and what can i do for her, fair is only 5 months away, and she has to win more ribbons! please help.

Answer 1

You were thinking in the right direction. Most likely it is either due to the rabbit in the cage next to her or due to any babies she might have that have been with her for too long. The babies will chew fur off their mother's face if they have been with her too long. They will do it to each other too. That's why I put solid plastic dividers between all of our wire cages. We get our dividers from Klubertanz.

http://www.klubertanz.com

I seriously doubt it is due to fur mange. If that was the case, you'd probably see fur coming out of her back with a bunch of white stuff attached to it that looked like dandruff almost.

You could give your rabbit a shot of Ivomectin to treat for fur mange if you want. It wouldn't be a bad idea. Just make sure you use the baby pig formula and that you follow the correct dosage per pound.

One other suggestion I would make. I raise and show New Zealands nationally. A rabbit that is already a year old that you are planning to take to the fair which is 5 months away is not going to do all that well at the fair. There is a chance she could do OK. But most New Zealands fall apart by that age. If anything, you should be breeding and raising rabbits with her and not worrying about showing her anymore. If you want to win with a senior doe in New Zealands, she should be 8-12 months old. You want a young one that is in good condition but that is big enough to not look small against the other senior does.

If you wait to long in getting her bred and raising rabbits out of her she will develop fat around the ovaries and you will be very lucky to get her bred and if you do she might die due to ketosis about a few days before she has the babies or she might only have only a few babies 1-5 or so.

If you want to win in New Zealands, first you have to start out with good stock. Second, your rabbit has to be the right size. If your rabbit is too small to compete against the others in its class, no matter just about how good it is it will not do real well. For juniors I like a rabbit that is about 8-9 pounds. For 6-8's I like them to be about 9 (bucks)-9.5 (does) pounds to max 6-8 weight. For seniors, it is also good to have them close to max senior weight. A larger rabbit just stands out better in a class. Third you have to have fur. A good rabbit will only get you so far. If you don't have the fur, it is hard to win the class especially if there is a lot of competition. And finally, you have to have a rabbit that will pose. You can have the best rabbit in the entire show and if it won't pose for the judge he may make it the first one to get kicked off the table. A judge can't tell how good the rabbit is if it won't pose.

So my suggestion from one New Zealand breeder to another. Don't make the mistake many do and show your rabbit too long. Quit worrying about showing her and breed her instead and get rabbits out of her that you can win more ribbons with. I've seen too many really good rabbits, especially Best In Show ones get shown for too long then the breeder wonders why they never could get babies out of them or why they were a bad mother.

I've won Best in Show before at the Indiana State Fair and I've won a few first places in open New Zealand Whites at the National Convention against the best in the country. So I know what I'm talking about.

Answer 2

i also have a new zealand, 7 years old. TAKE YOUR RABBIT TO THE VET. they will probably have to do a skin scraping and maybe blood tests. no one can diagnose with out seeing her. it can be a symptom of many different things.