Had a bun once.  She had ear mites.  I put the drops in her ear for however many days the vet said and when she went back she was mite free poor thing.

well the next morning  I didn’t put drops in and she made a big fuss about shaking her ears around trying to remind me that I forgot something.  No kidding.  She knew I was trying to hlep and thought I forgot the drops that morning.  I had to go in and play with her ears b4 she would stop shaking her head.

I take it your bun doesn’t like all this.  And yucky smelling Baytril eeew.  Poor thing.

The hay I find that buns like a variety of hay  mine love brome all 3 do   and I get  Oxbows botanical too.  Your bun just might enjoy a new flavored hay.  I would definitely give it a shot.  Maybe 1 of each a brome a botanical and a meadow.

I wish you both the best with this and that buns lovely ears pass the next trip to the vets.

I have used different brands of Orchard grass including the Oxbow and my bunnies have liked it- so I see no problem trying to entice Bindi with that.

I agree that is is annoying that they did not flavor the meds this time.  If it smells like alcohol I am assuming Bindi is getting Baytril in the injectable form which they than can add flavor to.  How much are you giving?  Is Bindi used to any fruits at all?  You could try flavoring it at home- maybe with a little pineapple juice or banana/fruit juice?  Maybe if you can make the meds taste good it will lessen yours and Bindis dislike of medicating.  I think they stuff they typically would sweeten/flavor meds with is probably sugar free (For example- Metacam).  When I gave my bunny Metacam after her spay- after the first drop she was crazy for it and would try to jerk the syringe out of my hand and I swear she practically sucked it out of the syringe.  Maybe you can come up with an alternative to add to the unflavored that Bindi likes- but just be careful not to give him too much sugar/fruit and upset his tummy.

I don’t know how you are medicating now- if you are holding and then having to force??  But try something different if you add your own flavor.  Don’t let him see the syringe- as he might associate that with something unpleasant and not even want to try something tasty.  And I would recommend acting like it is no big deal- pretend you are just offering him a treat.  Maybe wrap the syringe in a towel (or paper, banana peel, anything!) so he can not see it- offer him the end- he should be able to smell the added sweetness (I know my monsters sure can sniff out “sugar”).  And don’t be nervous or anxious- and maybe he will decide to try it willingly.  You could even pretend to offer the other bunnies some (give them unmedicated stuff).  This might lower his suspicions enough to make it not so awful for him and you.  I just leaned over the NIC run and offered my bunny the syringe of Metacam.  Pretend like you don’t care if Bindi gets his share.  (That is how I get one of my dogs to take her heartworm pill monthly- I have to use the other dog and cats to make her gulp it down- a little competition and carefree attitude works wonders for her).

I am not sure how to get him to like the twice daily ears meds- when if he is used to the daily or so cleaning and hates that.  Are you still supposed to clean the ears while medicating?  Did your vet give you good instructions on how to medicate?  What meds are you using?  Please let me know what they told you about the ears and I will see if I have any suggestions.

 Julie

Ahhh puffy!! Poor bindi! Defnitely try like katnip said, you can flavour it yourself. I added some juice (use 100% juice of course) I used a strawberry banana veggie plus kind but you could use pineapple or apple etc.

If he’s not eating that much hay you can increase his fibre as you were already thinking by feeding some critical care, and giving a new type of hay is a great idea too. You could even give him a small handful of alfalfa (nooo bunny turns that down) daily and that could get some fibre going too. The only reason you wouldn’t want to do that is if Bindi has had bladder sludge or high calcium pees before, but I don’t recall you ever mentioning this, so I’m sure it’s fine to offer some. Also does bindi like timothy hay cubes? Sometimes buns really like those and think they are treats and it’s just compressed timothy so it’s fine to feed. You could also step up the greens for more fibre but I know you feed very well and I’m sure he gets more salad then anorexic celebrities as it is !! LOL

Keep us posted! {{ BINDI }} And vibes for your patience getting the baytril down!

Poor Bindi – I know how frustrating medicating rabbits is. I think it’s worth it to add flavor. My concern with trying to put medication in fruits and stuff like that or mixing it with anything is that they don’t get the proper dosage. I think the ear cleaning and medicating sounds more difficult than the oral meds myself.

I think he’s just going to be prone to these awful ear infections and I’ve heard that some lops are prone to this although I have no experience myself since all my rabbits are uppity eared.