Ear Surgery

[PancakesMommy]

My lop bunny Pancakes has suffered ear infections since March 2015. I recently went back in July and the vet said the ear infection has not been cleared up, she took a culture of Pancakes ear and sent it away for testing. The culture came back negative meaning the culture did not grow any bacteria. The vet thought maybe there wasn’t enough of a culture and suggested I did a full ear flush on pancakes to remove the discharge in her ear and give the vet a chance to dig in the ear and get a better culture. While she was in there she found out the infection has been so bad in her ear, her ear drum is gone and she is deaf in that ear. She sent the culture away again to see what antibiotics we should be using the get rid of the infection. Once again the culture came back negative meaning there is no bacteria in her ear. However her ear continues to fill with puss and is a bother to her. Pancakes is alway flopping and scratching her ears out of discomfort. The vet suggested we do surgery on her ear to remove the ear canal and fill it in with bone cement (the same stuff they use in humans for hip replacements). This will eliminate the puss in her ear and allow Pancakes to not have anymore ear problems. I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this, if my vet is completely off, or if I should get the surgery done. I have not gotten an estimate yet but I believe it will be very pricey. 

[LBJ10]

Megabunny has experience with chronic ear infections and her bunny had surgery for it.

[Bam]

Yes, our member Megabunny has had ear-surgery done on her bunny Gus. Here’s a link to her thread about it: https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/134036/afpg/4/Default.aspx
(Don’t reply to that thread, only read it.)

[LittlePuffyTail]

After chronic ear infections, bunnies, especially lops can develop goop in their ear called “exudate” which is basically a mix of pus and wax. Bindi’s ear are always completely full of this gunk. I don’t think he can hear very well because his canals are completely blocked. I used to clean it out with flushings frequently but he was getting so many ear infections my vet suggested I just leave the stuff. The more you clean it out, the harder the ear works to protect itself and make more of this stuff. Since I stopped cleaning the infections are farther in between.

How often are you cleaning her ears?

I’ve heard of the ear surgery but my vet considers it a last resort. Never heard of filling the ear up with bone cement.

[Author]

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