Cream that helps treat urine burn in rabbits

Audrey Libouton

Rabbit skin is delicate and sensitive. It is easily irritated by external substances like urine.

Urine leads to yellow staining of the fur	Urine leads to alopecia on the ventral abdomen	Alopecia on the foot sole can lead to pododermatitis
Emma Staub PP, a rabbit suffering from incontinence caused by a bacterial infection. The condition improved after administration of antibiotics. (the pictures illustrate urine scald dermatitis, and are unrelated to the cream description and use hereunder)

Urine scald dermatitis can relate with poor husbandry, when cages or litterboxes are not cleaned frequently. Mostly, in pet rabbits, it is due to health problems, e.g., improper functioning of the urethral sphincter, which controls urine retention and voiding of the bladder, or in the inability to assume a correct stance for urination due to, e.g., fracture, congenital deformation, hip dysplasia, and arthritis or due to the parasite Encephalitozoon cuniculi.

As a pharmacist, and with the help of my veterinarian, I developed this cream for my rabbit Kimy, after he started to suffer urine scald dermatitis. Taking into consideration that rabbit are grooming themselves often and may ingest the cream, all used ingredients are safe:

- Chloramphenicol : 1 gr

- Zinc oxyde : 20 gr

- Cod liver oil : 15 gr

- White vaseline : 60gr

The cream is applied once a day to once every other day, after cleaning the skin with water and “allercalm" (Virbac). It is important that the cream stays on the skin, and does not penetrate it.

It successfully treats the skin of my rabbit and fur has started to regrow.

My wish is that this recipe can help other rabbits suffering from the same problem.

Thank you very much for sharing the recipe with MediRabbit.com

e-mail: info@medirabbit.com