I love angora rabbit! I mean, who doesn’t? They have a long hair, make them look even more fluffier than other species of rabbit. Imagine if they lose their hair and lose those cute hairs. How sad! That’s why you need to know how to treat hair loss of angora rabbit.
There are several reasons for hair loss in rabbits. Diseases or stress can trigger hair loss, so first of all, you need to understand what cause your rabbits lose hairs. Then, you can get the proper treatment for this angora rabbit.
Causes
Like I said earlier, hair loss in rabbits is a condition with many possible cause. Of course, other diagnose or skin abnormality that goes along the hair loss can show us what the cause, too. However, sometimes the sign can show us to several other abnormalities, so we need to be careful in determining the cause of hair loss.
1. Diseases
Usually, diseases in rabbits naturally cause the hair loss. But, there are few clinical signs other than hair loss if this is the case. This symptom includes flaky skin or dandruff, crusty skin, and inflammation. Of course, scratches from rabbits itself who cause the inflammation. There are some of diseases which cause hair loss, such as mites and mange, fungus, dental problems, urinary tract disorders, bacterial infection, even cancer.
2. Behavioral Problems
Besides diseases, there are also behavioral problems, like over grooming and fighting with other rabbits. Over grooming and fighting often comes from the stressful environment and overcrowding. Rabbits are animals which can get easily stress. Once they’re stressed out, they can easily get sick or even die.
(Learn about benefit of getting puppy with older dog here : Benefits of Getting A Puppy With An Older Dog)
3. Pregnancy or Hormones
Rabbits with fake (or real) pregnancy also show this conditions. And even though it’s rare happening in rabbits, even hormone imbalance, like thyroid or other endocrine system, can cause hair loss in rabbits, too.
Treat the Hair Loss
Since angora rabbit has so many hairs in their body, you must always pay attention to the hair. You know, that kind of hair can attract parasites, like mites and fungus. If needed, you can check the hair properly everyday to immediately treat this hair loss when it occurs. You must remember, how to treat hair loss in angora rabbit depends heavily on the causes.
For rabbits which is suffered from disease, it’s better you always consult the veterinarian for the treatment. Some of the diseases need to treat medically, with antibiotics and such. If mites attack your rabbit, more often your lovely pet will get injection, mostly Ivermectin. But, some other parasites can infest your rabbit, too, like fungus. Then, you will need mitoconazole or ketoconazole, which is anti-fungus agents.
Some of you might be reluctant to use the medicine for your rabbits. Of course, you can always replace the medicine with natural treatments, like tea tree oil or any other oil. As long as your veterinarian approves that, few of these parasites can be treated with the natural substances.
Of course, other that parasites, rabbits can suffer from cancer or other health problems, such syphilis and urinary tract problems. If so, you need to contact your veterinarian and just follow his/her direction. You can’t act by your own, if you don’t want something bad happen to your rabbits.
(Learn about natural ways to treat ear mites in rabbits here : 5 Natural Ways to Treat Ear Mites in Rabbit)
- Providing the Proper Environment
To avoid mites and any other parasites, cleaning the environment is a must. Providing food only when the meal time, so the hay isn’t accumulated in the cage. Rabbits need a proper place to litter, too. Otherwise, they will just dump all over the cage and cause the mess. It will be a big mess since rabbits literally litter every day in quite the amount.
Besides the health problems, behavioral problems in rabbits can cause hair loss, too. For instance, the barbering or overgrooming, whether from their own or their mate. For most cases, this kind of behavior happen because of boredom. The ideal cage for your rabbit is 4 feet long, 2 feet wide and 2 feet deep for only one rabbit. If you place another rabbit, the cage must be twice as big. And so on.
Overcrowding rabbits in one cage also trigger this kind of behavior. Not only barbering behavior, the stress itself can trigger hair loss. And moreover, it can easily attract mites in rabbits, too. So, always providing proper space for your rabbits to move around.
Exercising is also at benefit. They can move around your yard and taste a fresh grass. It must be very exciting for them to release stress. In the other hand, they will also have plenty of activities that they like to do, so it can avoid them from boredom.
(Learn about symptom of depressed rabbit here : 5 Must Know Symptoms That Your Rabbit is Depressed)
There is always a possibility for the rabbits live in one cage to be fighting. If this is what happen, your best choice is spay or neuter them. Of course, if you want to prevent animals to fight, don’t put one more of same gender animals in one cage. Especially when there’s another gender also in the same cage. More often, several males will fight over one female. So, the best thing that you can do is putting only one pair of rabbits in one cage.
Malnutrition can be a cause for hair loss, also. So, if your angora rabbit suddenly loss his/her hair, you better check again the diet from the food you gave them. Even though you already give your rabbits pellets, you also need to feed them with hay. Hay can help to prevent the wool block in rabbits.
The water is also very important. You need to provide the fresh water that you replace daily to regulate their blood temperature. Plus, fresh water’s also very healthy, without a doubt!
For other rabbits, grooming is important. For angora, it’s even more important. The long hair makes us hard to see what beneath them. So, grooming is not only for beautify your rabbits, but also for observe their skin. Grooming or brushing their hair also helps out few conditions, like dandruff. Not only hair, their teeth and their nails need to take care, too.
So, you need the small pet grooming brush, or what we used to call slicker, and a small-tooth comb for combing out facial mats. You also need double-sided comb to harvest wool and getting at any mats on the skin. Blower can help to blow out dry skin, loose hairs, and other debris. To take care the hair, you need to do it on daily basis. In the other side, you can trim the nail once per month.
(Learn more about taking care cat’s fur here : 3 Steps to Take Care of Cat’s Fur at Home Effectively (Include bathing tips!))
There’s no such a thing as a free meal. Once, I heard that somewhere. The statement really represent on how to treat hair loss in angora rabbit. The cuter the animal is, the more complicated the treatment they need. Well, of course, seeing they’re happy and healthy will bring us happiness, too. So, it’s totally worth it!