Mite prevention and treatment

[Bug616]

Hi, looking for ideas for mite prevention. My daughter's show bunny was just treated. Not a big fan of the idea of monthly Revolution. Thanks!

 

[eco2pia]

There are more than one kind of mite. For instance ear mites, sarcoptic mange, wool mites...all require different types of treatment and have different options for prevention.

I would say in a northern climate you might get away with a few rounds of revolution and eradicate them in your rabbitry, but a show bunny travels, and florida doesn't really freeze...

If you can elaborate on what kind of mite your rabbit has, and what you object to about revolution (cost, contents, something else?) maybe someone will have some good ideas.

 

[tambayo]

What housing does this rabbit have? Wire or solid floor? And if solid floor what bedding?

 

[Bug616]

There are more than one kind of mite. For instance ear mites, sarcoptic mange, wool mites...all require different types of treatment and have different options for prevention.

I would say in a northern climate you might get away with a few rounds of revolution and eradicate them in your rabbitry, but a show bunny travels, and florida doesn't really freeze...

If you can elaborate on what kind of mite your rabbit has, and what you object to about revolution (cost, contents, something else?) maybe someone will have some good ideas.

He had fur mites. Not bad at all, the vet had to use a microscope to find them and most were dead from the diatomaceous earth I had put on. No bald spots or itching. We brought him to a fundraiser grooming since our fair is coming up and she was the one that told us he had them. I got a dose of revolution from the vet, but looking for something more affordable for regular maintenance. I have read about using ivermectin, but only find rabbit doses in England. We use cattle ivomec for our working dogs instead of heartguard and it saves a lot of money, I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar option for rabbits.

We live in South FL, no freezes here. I have 2 mini rexes, will be showing 4h locally, but no plans for regular arba showing.

I have seen several essential oil options as well that would be more affordable, but have to be applied weekly. That would be fine for me as long as they work, but hoping someone has some suggestions.

 

[Alaska Satin]

He had fur mites. Not bad at all, the vet had to use a microscope to find them and most were dead from the diatomaceous earth I had put on. No bald spots or itching. We brought him to a fundraiser grooming since our fair is coming up and she was the one that told us he had them. I got a dose of revolution from the vet, but looking for something more affordable for regular maintenance. I have read about using ivermectin, but only find rabbit doses in England. We use cattle ivomec for our working dogs instead of heartguard and it saves a lot of money, I was wondering if anyone knew of a similar option for rabbits.

We live in South FL, no freezes here. I have 2 mini rexes, will be showing 4h locally, but no plans for regular arba showing.

I have seen several essential oil options as well that would be more affordable, but have to be applied weekly. That would be fine for me as long as they work, but hoping someone has some suggestions.

I'm curious about how the vet found fur mites if there were no bald spots or itching. Did she use a microscope on every rabbit? Or perhaps there was dander on your Mini Rex? What prompted you to use DE and how did the vet know to look at your rabbit under a microscope?

Husbandry practices can go a long way in keeping fur mites at bay; it's a lot easier to keep mites away from rabbits than from dogs or range livestock. Keeping rabbits above the ground in all-wire cages (with no build-up in the corners!) minimizes the chance for mites to contact your rabbits, as well as reducing the places mites can shelter. Mites can still come in on hay, and I've found they're even more common in straw, but you can minimize that as well by feeding hay cubes instead of loose hay (or no hay at all - if you're feeding a good-quality pellet, hay is not actually necessary). Even though I like straw for nesting boxes, I've gone back to hay for that since the mites always seemed to be associated with the straw in my area.

If I have an outbreak, I first try DE, oil applied to the area, or Listerine (for some reason, drawing a line of that down the rabbit's back sometimes gets rid of mites!).

I'm not a fan of using any drug prophylactically, especially something like ivermectin, which is extremely important in a broad range of applications. It would be such a bummer to reach the point that ivermectin didn't work any more. For a bit more explanation of my concern see
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/ear-mites-please-help.36834/#post-357394
Having said that, I have used ivermectin very occasionally to deal with fur mites when our rabbits came home from the fair with an infestation that did not respond to other treatments. I use the apple-flavored 1.87% horse paste, giving a blob of about 1/8-1/4 of an inch to the rabbit (the lower end of that amount to a Mini Rex). I have not found it necessary to give more than one dose. It's more expensive than the cattle pour-on (which may also work, but I have no experience with it for rabbits), but still a lot less expensive than Revolution, and it does not require a vet to access.

 

[Bug616]

I'm curious about how the vet found fur mites if there were no bald spots or itching. Did she use a microscope on every rabbit? Or perhaps there was dander on your Mini Rex? What prompted you to use DE and how did the vet know to look at your rabbit under a microscope?

Husbandry practices can go a long way in keeping fur mites at bay; it's a lot easier to keep mites away from rabbits than from dogs or range livestock. Keeping rabbits above the ground in all-wire cages (with no build-up in the corners!) minimizes the chance for mites to contact your rabbits, as well as reducing the places mites can shelter. Mites can still come in on hay, and I've found they're even more common in straw, but you can minimize that as well by feeding hay cubes instead of loose hay (or no hay at all - if you're feeding a good-quality pellet, hay is not actually necessary). Even though I like straw for nesting boxes, I've gone back to hay for that since the mites always seemed to be associated with the straw in my area.

If I have an outbreak, I first try DE, oil applied to the area, or Listerine (for some reason, drawing a line of that down the rabbit's back sometimes gets rid of mites!).

I'm not a fan of using any drug prophylactically, especially something like ivermectin, which is extremely important in a broad range of applications. It would be such a bummer to reach the point that ivermectin didn't work any more. For a bit more explanation of my concern see
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/ear-mites-please-help.36834/#post-357394
Having said that, I have used ivermectin very occasionally to deal with fur mites when our rabbits came home from the fair with an infestation that did not respond to other treatments. I use the apple-flavored 1.87% horse paste, giving a blob of about 1/8-1/4 of an inch to the rabbit (the lower end of that amount to a Mini Rex). I have not found it necessary to give more than one dose. It's more expensive than the cattle pour-on (which may also work, but I have no experience with it for rabbits), but still a lot less expensive than Revolution, and it does not require a vet to access.

I brought him to a grooming event that was a fundraiser for a local nonprofit. That person was very experienced and told me he had evidence of mites. There was a little dander, but you really had to look to find it. He also has a super tight coat. She told me to do the DE since the vet couldn't see him for a few days and our fair is coming up soon.

They are in wire cages off the ground, but do get out for exercise. I have moved the one showing up to the porch at the house. They do get hay, won't eat cubes.

Thanks for input

 

[ladysown]

you can use cattle ivermectin on rabbits. ONE drop at the back of the neck on the skin.

 

[Bug616]

you can use cattle ivermectin on rabbits. ONE drop at the back of the neck on the skin.

Thank you! Do you use pour on or injectable as a topical? My buck is only 3.25 lbs, would this be ok for him?

 

[TKT]

Does anybody have good sources for liquid cattle ivermectin? I have two rabbits who have ear mites. We've treated them with semi-success, in that we didn't get completely down inside the ear with the coconut oil, but they look really good now. The exception is that the doe is thin. I see nothing in her poop but I'm wondering if she could have worms. I figured the ivermectin would cure both but I'm having trouble finding it. She's a gorgeous doe and I was hoping to breed her.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Does anybody have good sources for liquid cattle ivermectin? I have two rabbits who have ear mites. We've treated them with semi-success, in that we didn't get completely down inside the ear with the coconut oil, but they look really good now. The exception is that the doe is thin. I see nothing in her poop but I'm wondering if she could have worms. I figured the ivermectin would cure both but I'm having trouble finding it. She's a gorgeous doe and I was hoping to breed her.

You can also use almond or mineral oil for ear mites, and those tend to dribble down into the ear better than coconut oil.

I don't know about CA, but our feed stores carry the pour-on cattle ivermectin. I haven't used the liquid application, but have found that the paste works well, also sold at feed stores.

For rabbits that I just can't get primed - which happens occasionally after they've traveled a long way to shows - my first stop is Safeguard (fenbendazole). It's worked what looked like miracles on rabbits I just couldn't back to that glow of health. It is sold at feed stores as well, or you can still order it online. It's also sold under the name Panacur, which I haven't tried.

In a pinch, you could contact a livestock vet, who may sell it. Neither needs a prescription (yet), maybe not even in CA.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Does anybody have good sources for liquid cattle ivermectin? I have two rabbits who have ear mites. We've treated them with semi-success, in that we didn't get completely down inside the ear with the coconut oil, but they look really good now. The exception is that the doe is thin. I see nothing in her poop but I'm wondering if she could have worms. I figured the ivermectin would cure both but I'm having trouble finding it. She's a gorgeous doe and I was hoping to breed her.

You can also use almond or mineral oil for ear mites, and those tend to dribble down into the ear better than coconut oil.

I don't know about CA, but our feed stores carry the pour-on cattle ivermectin. I haven't used the liquid application, but have found that the paste works well, also sold at feed stores.

For rabbits that I just can't get primed - which happens occasionally after they've traveled a long way to shows - my first stop is Safeguard (fenbendazole). That is sold at feed stores as well, or you can still order it online. It's also sold under the name Panacur, which I haven't tried.

In a pinch, you could contact a livestock vet, who may sell it. I don't think either needs a prescription (yet), even in CA.


View attachment 39573

 

[TKT]

Thank you I just was scrolling through my Amazon account to total up my bunny balance and found that I did buy Panacur C for canines. How do I figure out the dosage for a 10 lb rabbit?

 

[Alaska Satin]

Thank you I just was scrolling through my Amazon account to total up my bunny balance and found that I did buy Panacur C for canines. How do I figure out the dosage for a 10 lb rabbit?

I'm not sure you'll be able to get the rabbit to eat a dog formulation, as it probably tastes like meat. The nice thing about horse wormer is that it tends to taste like apples, and the rabbits love it.

Canine Panacur is 222mg/g and is dosed at 50 mg fenbendazole/kg (22.7 mg/lb) of body weight. On the other hand, rabbit Panacur is closer to 9mg/g (for the paste, that's the only rabbit formulation I could find), dosed for rabbits at 20 mg fenbendazole/kg body weight.

It's too late at night for me to hazard the dosing math, but maybe the above information will help you.

 

[TKT]

Thank you! I will see if I can find the rabbit version first.

Edit: So far I can't, but there's this on Amazon, looks easily convertible and a liquid, and I've seen it mentioned .

Safe-guard (Fenbendazole) Dewormer Liquid 125ml https://a.co/d/i0eQIa3

Edit 2: Yes I can get the Merck horse paste pictured in your first reply off if Amazon, so a gnat's hair under 1/100th of the tube for a 9lb rabbit is, shoot, how much do *you* use?

I have 50 quail and 23 rabbits, I did not retire to become a rancher, what was I thinking? Lol, but I love them so. I want them all to be healthy and happy. I never knew I was a rabbit person, sigh.

 

[Rabbit Warren Man]

Thank you! Do you use pour on or injectable as a topical? My buck is only 3.25 lbs, would this be ok for him?

Farm suppliers have it

 

[eco2pia]

The trick to breaking down any dose is to have a really nice, accurate scale. And maybe a cup of coffee if math is hard.

If panacur is 222mg fenbendazole per gram of paste, and a rabbit needs 20mg of fenbendazole per kg body weight, then you need about 1/11 of a gram of paste for each kg of rabbit body weight, or 0.09g paste per kg of bunny. (222/20=11.1 doses/gram, 1gram/11.1doses=0.09g/dose)

If your buck is 3.5lb, then he is 1.6kg. 1.6kg x 0.09g=0.14g paste for your buck.

That is beyond most kitchen scales to weigh accurately. I could do it in the lab (and you better believe I do!) but for this case I think you are better finding a lower concentration of medicine. I could tell you how I would do it if I were on a desert island and had a rock, a stick, fur mites, and a tube of panacur, but it would be a ridiculously post long, and we have Amazon.

All this said, most paste dewormers have a pretty safe dosing window, so if you screw it up by a little you don't kill your livestock/pets.

 

[Alaska Satin]

Thank you! I will see if I can find the rabbit version first.

Edit: So far I can't, but there's this on Amazon, looks easily convertible and a liquid, and I've seen it mentioned .

Safe-guard (Fenbendazole) Dewormer Liquid 125ml https://a.co/d/i0eQIa3

Edit 2: Yes I can get the Merck horse paste pictured in your first reply off if Amazon, so a gnat's hair under 1/100th of the tube for a 9lb rabbit is, shoot, how much do *you* use?

I have 50 quail and 23 rabbits, I did not retire to become a rancher, what was I thinking? Lol, but I love them so. I want them all to be healthy and happy. I never knew I was a rabbit person, sigh.

I give an adult rabbit (8-11lbs) a squirt out of the tube of Safeguard, about as long as it is wide (roughly 1/8 inch).

It does not have to be a super accurate dose; as @eco2pia says, paste wormers have a large safety margin. We once had a Satin buck who got hold of a tube, pulled the cap off and sucked down about a quarter of the tube before we caught him (as I said, they love the apple flavor!). Of course we would not do that intentionally, but we never saw any problems come of it.

 

[TKT]

THANK YOU! To both eco2pia and Alaska Satin!

I have a scale for weighing out grams of espresso, I'll dig it out of the coffee bar and see if it does tenths.

 

[eco2pia]

Well, that will help with the coffee for the math too...

 

[TKT]

Yes, yes it will, especially if I pull a couple nice double shots.