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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A My bunny is going through medication for head tit and now I am worried that she has ear mites.

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    • lovenova123
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        Hi this is going to be quite a long story so bear with me.

        My bunny had come across head tilt last week. She was circling around in her litter and her eyes were flicking up and down. In that moment I was devastated because I thought I would have to put her down. We went to the vet and she got an exam and an x-ray done. Everything turned out fine, she had no broken bones and her breathing was fine. The vet said there could be a million reasons why she has head tilt so they decided to treat her with anti-inflammatory and pain medicine, and enrofloxacin for possible inner ear infection. Since her oral medicine was taken she has been improving there have been some relapse’s but over all she has improved. 

        My problem now that her head tilt is better and she isn’t circling to the right any more.  I think she might have mites in her right ear and a little in the left ear. I have noticed that she has been scathing her ears a lot more. At first I thought it was because of the medicine that was probably fighting the inner ear infection, but I checked her right ear and there is a lot of flaky skin and quite a bit of flaky/wax build up at the bottom of her ear and all along her ear until the top or her ear. The color of the wax is light brown to dark brown with white dandruff around it as well. I also checked the other ear and it has also a little bit of dark to light brown flakes as well. I researched a lot about it and I think it is ear mites. I want to treat it with vegetable oil and coconut oil mixed together with one drop of tea tree oil, but I am afraid that it might worsen it if it’s not actually a mite infection. I am not sure if I should do anything or wait until she is finished enrofloxacin medicine. She has finished her pain and inflammatory medicine a two days ago. I feel like I have been really paranoid since she first started her head tilt journey and I just want to make sure that I will help her if she does have a mite infection and not make her even worse by putting things her her ears that she does not need. I think I might be overreacting but I want to make sure I do the right thing and double check before doing anything.

        Thank you for reading this long story and any advice you give me.I will try to attach some photo’s I have taken of her right ear.


      • DanaNM
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          I’m not personally familiar with ear mites, but because there isn’t any redness, I don’t think those are ear mites. Looks more like wax and some dried skin.

          I know most of the photos of ear mites are of really severe cases, so it’s hard to know what they look like early on, but usually it starts deep in the ear and has a large buildup of wax.

          My guess (and again, I’m not a vet) is that she wasn’t able to clean her ears properly due to the tilt, but so some extra wax built up.

          If she does have mites, Revolution is safe to treat them with.

          . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  


        • lovenova123
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            If it is just dandruff and wax build up. Should I clean it or let her clean it?


          • DanaNM
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              I would just let her clean it on her own. If it is mites, removing the scale is very painful to the rabbit and should never be done. If wax, it should resolve on it’s own now that her head tilt is better.

              If you notice it getting worse, then I would have it looked at by the vet.

              . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  


            • jerseygirl
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                Posted By DanaNM on 12/03/2018 6:05 PM


                I would just let her clean it on her own. If it is mites, removing the scale is very painful to the rabbit and should never be done.
                If wax, it should resolve on it’s own now that her head tilt is better.

                If you notice it getting worse, then I would have it looked at by the vet.

                Ditto.  

                lovenova, Im glad to read you have a fairly quick turn-around with the head-tilt.

                 I have a rabbit I have just finished medicating for this also. She still has a bit of a tilt but is genreally doing well. However, I do intent to treat her (and my other rabbits) with Revolution.  I was going to do this regardless, but now, after illness, especially. Parasites like to take advantage at those times. It’s mostly fur mite Im watching for because her bond mate has had some incidences of flaky spots. It was not confirmed mites but did clear up with Revolution. I’m also using it as a general preventative. 

                Since your rabbit was recently seen, you could always ring the clinic and ask if you can purchase some Revolution to have on hand. 


              • lovenova123
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                  Is it safe to give my rabbit the revolution even if she may not have mites? I think her head tilt is returning and I think her ear problem might be why it’s coming back. Her left ear as been up and her head has been slightly titled to the right. I would like to treat her with the revolution just in case it’s mites but I am not sure if that is safe or if would it be unnecessary and could potentially hurt her if she does not have mites.


                • DanaNM
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                    Revolution is safe (many people use it on their bunnies for fleas), but check with your vet just in case.

                    You’ll have to get it from the vet anyway, and they can tell you what dosage to use. The vet may also want to prescribe something else for the tilt (maybe a different antibiotic is needed).

                    . . . The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.  


                  • jerseygirl
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                      Yes, likely you’d have to get it from the clinic. Since she is relapsing, it is probably worth a recheck at the vet anyway. Is she still on some of the medications?

                      Ear mites aren’t typically a cause of head-tilt, but a bad infestation can lead to other infections (like bacterial or fungal) that can then cause inner ear infection. And it can be the other way around (as mentioned), where there is already inner ear infection and then outer ear infection (like mites) happens concurrently because the immune system is weakened. Hope Im making sense!


                    • jerseygirl
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                        I wanted to mention the eye movements you noted. There is a bit of a guide about the direction of eye movements and the cause, although it’s not a way to give a definitive diagnosis.

                        Appearance of nystagmus (involuntary rhythmic eye movement) is observed when treatment is late** or inappropriate. When observed, it can be indicative of inner ear infection or E. cuniculi. Depending on the location of the damage, differences of eye movement are, indeed, observed:

                        – Bacterial infection of the inner ear generally leads to peripheral vestibular disease. This is characterized by horizontal and rotary nystagmus, but never vertical nystagmus.

                        – E. cuniculi is generally related to central vestibular disease, which shows typically vertical and positional nystagmus, more rarely horizontal nystagmus. The vertical nystagmus is the one mainly observed in E. cuniculi suffering rabbits that do not suffer from secondary inner ear infections.

                        – Rotary nystagmus (in vertical and horizontal directions). This relates to lesions of the cerebellum, the brainstem or the vestibular connections; causes can be the presence of a tumor or a bacterial infection (encephalitis), to name the main ones.

                        The direction of repetitious involuntary eye movement should not be a basis for a final diagnosis between the two disorders. Nystagmus is a clinical feature of various diseases, including metabolic disorders, eye disorder (glaucoma, cataract, retina problems, and albinism), nutritional deficiencies (e.g. magnesium, thiamin, medication (e.g. barbiturates), the presence of brain lesions, or trauma.  http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Neurology/Otit/otitis.htm

                        Bacterial infections typically need at least 4 weeks on an antibiotic. Enrofloxacin also has some anti-fungal properties, so it could reduce a fungal infection somwhat (including

                         E.cuniculi), reducing symptoms, but not eradicate it.   For E cuniculi, a month long course of fenbendazole or oxibendazole is usually prescribed. 

                         

                        ** I just wanted to make a note here..  Sometimes the eye movements is the 1st visible sign we get as rabbit owners!  Or happens at the same time we noticed other 1st signs. 


                      • lovenova123
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                          Sorry for not responding earlier, but thank you for all the responses. I have decided to let Nova clean her ears out and I will take any ear wax build up out of her ears that I can see. If it gets worse then I will talk to the vet.

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                      Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A My bunny is going through medication for head tit and now I am worried that she has ear mites.