Ear Mites & Revolution

[Little Dove]

Hello!

I have an 8 week old lilac tort Holland Lop named Snickers and I believe he either has fur or ear mites but I am leaning moreso toward ear mites as I see some brown speckling in his ears. As luck would have it, I am not near enough to vets who carry Revolution but my dad’s cats’ vet does carry it and he has agreed to bring me a dose to split into parts to use for dosing Snickers. I have not gone to a vet yet (lots of financial things cropped up shortly after I picked him up + lots of unexpected changes) but I will be taking him next month if his situation has not improved. I’m not asking for medical advice here, I am only asking for dosage advice since I’d rather try Revolution first than put little man through a 2hr drive + poking and prodded at the vet only to be prescribed the exact same thing if it is something I can fix at home, where he’s comfortable. I will be on the look out for bacterial infection and I’ve been sniffing his ears, they do not smell fruity or otherwise off so I think I have caught the infestation just as it has begun.

Anywho, that little bit out of the way, the dose that my dad is giving me is for 7lb+ cats. I don’t know the exact mg etc just yet but I will soon when he gets here this afternoon. (I asked him but it confused him, haha. So I’ll just wait and read the packaging) I’m aware that you can split doses, even the larger tubes, for cats/kittens and I was wondering if this one would be okay for rabbits? I plan on getting a syringe when I take my cat in for ear mite and worm treatment (I think my rabbit came with the earmites but my cat escaped the house and picked some up last week) and I will draw the entire dose into the syringe and refrigerate it in a tupperware container. Does this storage method sound okay? I hate to waste the entire dose when it seems like it’ll be enough to dose him several times.

From what I have read, I dose 2 weeks after the first; would this be safe for Snickers since he is 8 weeks old?

I also wanted to vertify that this Revolution guideline from HRS is correct/safe:

“Revolution is usually dosed at 6mg/kg. If you have the 60mg/ml solution (i.e. the kitten solution), use 0.1cc per kg of body weight (1kg = 2.2lb). If you have the 120mg/ml solution, use 0.05cc per kg of body weight.”

Does that sound about right? I am getting a kitchen scale today so I can weigh little guy to get the most accurate dosage but from what I gather, even a little more than the ‘right’ dosage is typically pretty safe. If I had to guess, I’d say my little guy is about 1lb, maybe a few oz lighter.

Also, should I use some baby oil on a q-tip/cotton ball to remove the brown specks in his ears? Its not ‘down in the ear’ but it is close enough to the flaps that I think I could remove them. I know ear mites turn into scabby things and I don’t want them to try setting up before I can dose him Wednesday.

One last question concerning cleaning living quarters. He is currently in a kennel with a pull-out tray that serves as the floor. His blankets will be laundered but what of his kennel, tray, litterbox, food bowl, and water bottle? How should I approach cleaning those? I plan on washing them very, very well every time I apply his Revolution. At the moment, our dishwasher is broken so I can’t put them through the hot cycle unfortunately.

Sorry if my post is all over the place and thank you in advance for any insight!

P.S I attached his first ‘bunny flop’ picture as thank you for your patience! I know the cage is small but that’ll be rectified next month.

   Natasha

[jerseygirl]

I believe the cat packs and the kitten/puppy packs are same strength. ie. 60mg/ml. It’s just size of dosage that varies.

An 8wk old holland would be pretty little I imagine! Is it only the brown specks that have you thinking ear mites?

I’d contact place you got him from and check he hadn’t been dosed with anything before he went home with you. So as not to double up.

I wouldn’t try remove anything with oil. It’s generally not recommended. If it is ear mites, the revolution and rabbits own grooming will take care of it.

[Little Dove]

Thank you for your response!

I’ve opted to have my dad pick up a kitten dose for me and I’m going to split it instead; it should be about 2 doses worth which, at worst, will get rid of his ear mites I hope! It is not just brown specks I’m seeing, he has been scratching pretty persistently, his ears/shoulders/neck have lost some hair from all the attention he’s giving them. At first I thought it was fur mites due to the balding spots, which I initially assumed were from sibling squabbles, but I’ve noticed some dry skin at the rim of his ear and then the brown specks in his ears. So I’m still debating if it is one, the other, or maybe even both.

I’ve been in touch with his breeder (I contacted her first, since she’d know what to do & so she could check his siblings and mom, I know mites can crop up anywhere under any circumstances due to shows, etc) and she offered to give me some ivermectin to put on him, topically, but I’ve seen mixed reviews about that as an anti-mite treatment when made topically and I didn’t want to be a bother. He hasn’t had anything put on him so he’s good to go on the Revolution. I gave him a few days to see if he lessened and it is hit or miss whether or not he’s scratching a lot – seems to be determined by how much interest he has in his hay but he has stopped several times in the middle of things (play, eating) to scratch fervently, not just little scratching like you see – he really digs. I figure it is at least worth trying some Revolution on him, see if it helps, and if it doesn’t it means I can mark that off the list of ‘tried things’ when I take him into the vet. The vet would probably prescribe this or ivermectin for him and with him being so young and new to the environment, I’d rather not throw an antibiotic on him, too. So I thought Revolution might be worth a shot, might save him some stress.

He has no other symptoms besides the scratching, dry skin around his ear, and the specks in his ear. Otherwise he’s happy, healthy, and his usually sweet but spunky self. He doesn’t seem to throw his head like some people say but I don’t think the mites have progressed very far, either. I will try to get a picture of what his ears look like tomorrow! Its just hard to do so when the subject matter is less than well-lit.

Also thank you for the warning about removing the specks! I’ll leave them alone, I don’t want to cause him any more discomfort than I absolutely must to get him on the road to recovery. Luckily he loves being held and is like puddy in your hands, so hopefully he won’t be uncomfortable at all!

[LBJ10]

If he hasn’t had any other treatments, then I’m sure the Revolution will work just fine. Keep an eye on things and be sure to ask a vet if the condition persists.

[Peapod026]

Poor little snickers!
Revolution for kittens helped my bunny with his ear mites. In terms of cleaning his kennel, yeah–wash his bedding/blankies using hot water. Also wash any metal/plastic parts (like the pull out tray and litterbox ) with a water/vinegar mixture (I think it’s supposed to be 50/50). I use water and vinegar mixture with some stalks of Rosemary in the bottle as I’ve heard Rosemary can be a deterrent for pests (and makes it smell better!). Food dishes and water bottles just need to be well washed as you would regular dishes (and well rinsed!)
I hope the revolution works for your bunny!

[jerseygirl]

He sounds like he’s in good hands. : )

Revolution will take care of ear and fur mite so you’re good with that. It’s actually a form of ivermectin but gentler on their system.

You might even be looking at 0.05ml dose so that’ll be tricky to draw up!
I’ve used revolution but my bunnies are around 2kg (5lbs)
I found I didn’t need to do follow up doses. It was pretty effective.
To me, it smells like rubbing alcohol so I wonder if that is what the active ingredient is carried in. Take care to put it on his neck where skin looks good. I think it would sting any irritated skin.

[Little Dove]

Thank you all for your input! I certainly hope he is in good hands, I feel like I’m still new to the rabbit front every time I encounter something new. I worry over every little thing!

That’s very interesting about the rosemary! I just so happen to have some mint plants and I know mint is a deterrent to a variety of pests (fleas included). I may begin putting some mint in my solution bottle where I keep my vinegar-water. Maybe it’ll make the place smell like spearmint lol! Definitely will wash everything down with each application, floor included. There’s not much of my floor (linoleum) he actually touches, I often have blankets, towels etc down to give him traction to run around so I’ll be sure to launder those.

I’ll know how much Snickers weighs this evening when I clean his cage before letting him romp. He’s sleeping peacefully right now, I hate to poke him awake when he looks so content! Is it difficult to pull Revolution into a syringe? I’m wondering if the kitten dose will have very little liquid in it and be difficult to apply without applying all of it. I planned on taking the pouch of liquid with me to the vet’s office when I take my cat and ask them to draw it up for me/show me how. I’ll be going to my dad’s tomorrow and I will check then on the strength of the formula and everything. I, too, assume it’ll be the same strength but I can’t be sure. I’m just concerned it’ll be really difficult to handle the kitten dose since it will likely be a very small amount of liquid. I’ll be sure to put it on his neck where it isn’t irritated! Thank you for the recommendation to make sure I put it on good skin on his neck! I think his neck is seeing less attention lately, he seems to be homing in on his ears mostly.

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