Possible ear infection?

[Bartleby1]

I just came home after being out all day and our bunny appears to have an ear infection. He keeps shaking his head and he is keeping his one ear down close to his head. He isn’t letting me get a good look in it but from what I saw, it is red inside. He ate his lettuce just now and I called the vet but they don’t have a rabbit vet on call until 10:00 in the morning tomorrow. Is this too long to wait? I was hoping they would get him in tonight but the vet on call doesn’t do rabbits. I’m worried about waiting another 15 hours.

[LBJ10]

Redness and holding the ear funny could be ear mites too. As long as your bunny is still eating/pooping and not experiencing head tilt or vertigo, then it should be OK to wait until tomorrow when the rabbit savvy vet is in.

If it’s ear mites, you’ll need a bunny-safe flea/mite treatment like Revolution. Do not use Frontline.

If it’s an infection, you’ll need either an antibiotic or antifungal (depending on the infection).

[Bartleby1]

Thanks. After taking a second and third look, I’m not seeing redness in the ear but it is definitely bothering him. I don’t *think* there is any head tilt but I am afraid that it will be by morning. I’m hoping it doesn’t get too bad over night. He seems better if he stays calm and sits in one place but when he starts running around he shakes his ear and scratches at it like crazy. 13 more hours to wait!

[Bartleby1]

Just got back from the vet.

Good news, no infection they can see.

Bad news, not sure why he is doing what he is doing with his ear. They gave him revolution ‘in case’, but didn’t see any evidence of mites. They also gave us an ear drop called Posatex, which says it has orbifloxacin, mometasone furoate monohydrate, and posaconoazole. Again, vet said it is ‘just in case’. Said it is antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory.

Vet thought maybe it could have something to do with his teeth. Saw small spurs in back on that side but not bad enough to do anything about it unless this continues.

So, for now, we watch him. He did seem a little better this morning and had both ears up when I got him up and gave him his breakfast. After he calmed down and he started running around the room he did put the ear down again and started shaking his head/ear though. Last night he wouldn’t lift that ear at all, even when I called his name. Today he seems to be listening with both ears when I call him so that is an improvement.

[LBJ10]

I would be cautious with the ear drops. They contain a steroid.

Hopefully it is ear mites and the Revolution treats it. Even when a skin scraping is done, sometimes they don’t find mites even though they are there. The Revolution can’t hurt and if he gets better with it, then great.

Teeth can do funny things to the sinuses, eyes, and ears so you never know. I would look into it if he doesn’t get better.

[Bartleby1]

Thank you for sharing your opinion. I too am concerned about the ear drops. I have googled and googled and can’t find any info about these drops being safe for rabbits even though the vet said they were. He did the drops at the office today and told me to do it once a day for 4 more days. I’m not sure I want to do that though.

The Revolution he did at the office but didn’t send me home with any. Is one time enough? I would think the risk of mites is small since he is strictly an indoor rabbit and we have no other pets but I guess anything can happen. 

The only other change in his behavior recently is that he has discovered he can chew off his toenails so they are shorter now than when I used to cut them. Maybe he has always had an itchy ear but could scratch better when his nails were longer?

If only rabbits could talk! It would make things so much easier!

[LBJ10]

The other things in the ear drops are OK. It’s the steroid that I would be worried about. There are a few instances where a steroid is warranted. I had to use steroid eye drops on one of my boys once, but the vet was desperate. It really was a a last resort sort of thing (steroid or surgery). He wasn’t on them for very long, which is what is recommended if a bunny is on a steroid. I don’t know if 4 days of those ear drops would do harm or not. That’s why I suggest being cautious.

You never know with ear mites. They can lie dormant for some time, only to surface after a bunny becomes stressed and their immune system weakened. One treatment should be enough, but it doesn’t hurt to retreat after an appropriate amount of time has passed.

Hmm, I don’t know about the nails. Did the vet find any earwax stuck in his ear?

[Bartleby1]

The vet did not find any ear wax – that’s what he was hoping for, but he didn’t find any.

I’m hoping that it is mites and the revolution will clear it up. He is letting us pet him now, unlike the first night when we saw him holding his ear down. He still shakes his ear a lot, but is holding it up sometimes. If it is mites, how long does it usually take to see improvement?

I think I’m going to hold off on the ear drops to see if the revolution works first (unless he gets worse).

The vet also said he has the beginning stage of sore hocks on both feet (small missing patches of fur). He recommended putting desitin diaper rash cream on it once a day. Again, I can’t find any info on using desitin on a rabbit. I’m beginning to think this vet doesn’t know what he is doing. I KNOW BunBun will eat the desitin off immediately. He is a neurotic cleaner (as most rabbits are). He is out of his cage most of the day on carpet but his cage is plastic so I added a soft fluffy towel to his cage on the shelf where he sleeps to make it more comfy on his feet. He hates having it there though. Keeps pulling it off. I tucked it in really well last night into the sides of the bars on the cage but he wouldn’t go to sleep last night until he got it off. Once he got it off, he peed on it. Think he was trying to tell me he doesn’t like it! I put a new one in and hope he gets used to it.

[Bam]

With Revolution you should see improvement within a week, usually sooner. If there are sores, they can take longer to heal of course, because that’s sth the body has to do, the Revolution only kills the mites, it doesn’t help with healing.

Diaper rash cream is often recommended for sore hocks.

[LittlePuffyTail]

For the sore hocks, I strongly recommend outfitting your buns living space (or at least where he spends the most time) with memory foam bath mats (if you don’t think he will chew them). They helped a great deal with Olivia’s hocks and one of them was pretty bad. I bought the ones from Bed Bath & Beyond.

[Bartleby1]

bam – Thank you for the info on the Revolution. He is definitely twitching and scratching his ear less often and he is holding it upright most of the time along with the other one. There are no sores and the vet didn’t see any evidence of mites but I do think this might be the issue. I’m holding off on doing the ear drops until I see if the Revolution clears the problem up.

Good to hear about the diaper rash cream too! I couldn’t find any info on that.

LittlePuffyTail – The memory foam bath mats are heavenly to stand on but I have a feeling he would think they were a lovely snack too, lol! I may try it and see what he does though because that probably would feel really good on his feet. I think we caught the sore hocks at the very beginning stage. I’m still fighting with him at least leave the towel on his shelf when he sleeps but he keeps pulling it off. Crazy animal – doesn’t know what’s good for him! We also were using wood pellets in his litter box which may have contributed to his foot issues so we switched to thick layers of shredded newspaper for now and are cleaning it often to make sure he’s not standing on anything hard. He was running a lot more today than I’ve seen him run in the past so I think his feet might be feeling better.

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