Rabbit Ear Infection

[Serenity]

Hello!

My 6 mo. old doe, Hermione is showing signs of a possible ear infection. Shaking her head, sometimes she tilts her head to the side slightly but it’s almost unnoticeable. I’m getting slightly worried because she’s also scratching her ear now and I can’t really tell which ear it is, she switches off sometimes. I know she can get seriously hurt if she starts tilting her head too much and it can stay like that permanently?  If someone could give me a little more information on symptoms and other things because I’ve stopped really trusting google with all of its conflicting opinions and answers.

I plan to make an appointment with the vet but I want to know if there are any home remedies or anything I can do to stop it before it really becomes an expensive thing. Any and all suggestions/answers are welcome and appreciated!

[Luna]

Signs of an ear infection could include eating less/weight loss, ear discharge, ear scratching, loss of balance, head shaking, and/or head tilting/listing. Luna just recovered from an ear infection, but she did not show any symptoms, and it was only by a chance physical exam that the ear infection was discovered. She only started to show some symptoms after the ear infection was discovered, so I think it was caught early.

Ear scratching/head shaking is also an indicator of the potential presence of ear mites.

[LittlePuffyTail]

If she continues the scratching and head shaking, I think a vet visit is warranted. It may be something simple like needing an ear cleaning or something that requires vet treatment like an infection or mites. An ear infection that starts on the outside and is left untreated can migrate to an inner ear infection which can cause head tilt and a whole myriad of problems. The longer an infection is left untreated, the more difficult it can be to cure.

[Serenity]

So I should probably run her by the vet just to be safe? Or would it be okay to wait a week or so to see if she shows any other symptoms. She doesn’t seem to be in any kind of pain at all, she’s definitely not eating less or losing weight she was just as excited for breakfast this morning as every other morning. She’s always been kind of a klutz because she’s pretty young and the wood in her cage doesn’t have much traction so she’ll start barreling toward something and end up falling to the first level through the hole for the ramp. There’s no discharge or anything like that but George has been sneezing quite a bit recently so I think I’ll probably take them both in anyway. Got anything for maybe stopping the infection (if there is any) before it gets worse? I understand a check-up is probably over-do but antibiotics are expensive and I might be able to do something more natural at home?

[tronbunny]

If you have a good vet, go right away.
I’m sorry to say, but a friend’s lop didn’t show symptoms until the infection was far advanced. He was treated with oral Abx and finally 30 day course of PenG injected. By 3 weeks in, the vet saw no improvement and insisted that the best course was an operation to open the canal. This bun was 7 years old and very healthy and well cared for all his life.
The bunny crossed the bridge during sedation. ?
The necropsy showed the infection has destroyed the entire inner ear and advanced into the skull bone.
I know it’s scary. This bunny had been to 3 savvy vets. Ear infections are right up there in eventual mortality. I recommend aggressive treatment.
These bunnies are amazingly fragile sometimes. I wish you good health.

[Serenity]

SO sorry it took me so long to update. I took her to the best vet I could find (he lived almost an hour away) and it turned out she had a few pieces of debris in her ear. She’s perfectly okay now and is still sometimes shaking her head but mostly because I believe she thinks its fun.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Great news

[Rookie]

I had to take Sprocket in too at 2 months but turned out he is just scratcher. I figured his baby ear hairs are molting so he scratches. Vet saw no infection. I am getting worried now as I seem to have the same thing with you … scratching ear but wouldn’t say more than normal and slight tilt almost unnoticeable and only when on my bed so not sure if he is just checking the edge of the bed with half an eye or not…. he also only scratches the outside and does only the actual full inside ear clean with his bath and only shakes his head when binkiing and dancing. … .we have a vet appointment on the 16th for his neuter so I will have him checked out by am too super paranoid and keep a hawk of an eye. I will look into his ear tomorrow morning just to be safe..i’m at work at the moment…but it is pretty difficult as he is super active lol

[Author]

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