Intern Terence who is in National Service comes on Sundays to learn about vet medicine as he will be study vet medicine after his NS. I got him to view the process of the diagnosis and treatment of scabies in a rabbit purchased from a pet shop and asked him to co-produce a video.

How good this video will be is up to the readers depends on the script to be written by Terence with my advice. I asked him to insert images of other rabbits with sarcoptic mange, from www.toapayohvets.com and not to steal other images from the website.

STORY
A young couple from Tampines brought in a newly purchased grey and white rabbit from a pet shop on a bright sunny Sunday July 15, 2013.

"Were there any crusts on the paws when you purchased her?" I asked as the pet shop operator is responsible for selling a disease-free rabbit. The "lemon law" in Singapore which requires sellers to compensate the buyer or take back defective products may apply to the purchase of new rabbits.

"A bit," the tall and slim young lady and her male friend had researched the internet and had diagnosed scabies. Vets nowadays may be redundant as owners treat scabies themselves through acquiring veterinary knowledge from the internet and buying medication online. The couple did buy an anti-mite spray from the pet shop.  

"Did you take some images after purchase?"

"No," she did buy some anti-mite spray. "The spray did not work as the crusts keep growing."

"Your rabbit has ringworm in the ears too," I showed the circular hairless spots on the ear flap. "The pet shop operator had treated this rabbit for ringworm and scabies and therefore the lesions are not so prominent.  In fact there are no crusts on the edges of the ears and little on the nose unlike untreated rabbits.

"However the paws seem to be untreated or the treatment was ineffective. So, the crusts keep enlarging as the mites keep burrowing inside the skin."

I got the rabbit's paws clipped and gave the paws an anti-mite wash. Crusts on the paws were peeled off gently. I gave an anti-mite ivomectin injection. The owners would bring the rabbit home to nurse and decontaminate the environment and bedding.

"Recovery with new hairs will be in 2 weeks usually," I said. "However, the rabbit may or may not need another anti-mite injection after 2 weeks depending on the recovery."

P.S. A video will be much more interesting and will be produced soon. I told Terence that this case is not the classic case of scabies as the pet shop operator had treated it with partial success. The classic case will be crustful ear edges and noses as you can see in the two images of the brown and the black and white rabbits. .
 

Updates will be on this webpage:
www.sinpets.com/F5/rabbit_scabies.htm


More info at: Dogs or Cats
To make an appointment: e-mail judy@toapayohvets.com
tel: +65 9668-6469, 6254-3326