Why Won't my Rabbit Lift one Ear?

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This topic has 2sd replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 10 years, 4 months ago by Bam.

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- 11/25/2015 at 4:22 AM
  Ernesttherabbit
  Participant
  7 posts
  A few months ago we got a male rescue rabbit. He’s a lovely, friendly creature, however he can’t lift one of his ears.
  
  Usually both ears are down, however he’ll lift one when he’s interested in something, the other however, even if we lift it for him, he can’t keep it up.
  
  He’d been in the rabbit center for a week before we took him, having been found wandering around on the road in a residential area. He wasn’t microchipped, and we never found out why he’d been abandoned. He was never claimed despite ‘Found Posters’ being put up, and he wasn’t microchipped. Both ears looked damaged when we got him, however the lame ear in particular had quite a few chunks taken out of the tip.
  
  The Rabbit Sanctuary we got him in wasn’t particularly good either, and he caught mites from the hutch he was in, which we had treated after we got him.
  
  We know one ear is lame, but we have no idea if it was caused by the mites, the damage done to his ear or something else. It affects his hearing quite a bit, and I suppose I was wondering if anybody else had experienced something similar, and if so whether the rabbit was ever able to lift the ear again.
- 11/25/2015 at 1:32 PM
  RabbitPam
  Moderator
  11002 posts
  I’m surprised the vet who treated him for mites didn’t speculate on why he can’t lift his ear, unless you didn’t know it at that time. I’m afraid I can’t say, but expect a vet may be able to determine the cause. Some bunnies can be partially lop eared, ie. one up and one down, but I am not sure whether they are able to lift the down ear on occasion. From your description of his situation when you rescued him (and that was wonderful of you, btw) it may have been more damaged internally along with the chunks taken out of the tip. Was that from another animal bite? Possibly a muscle was damaged at the base if he was grabbed there.
- 11/25/2015 at 2:02 PM
  Bam
  Moderator
  17033 posts
  I too think it’s wonderful of you to have rescued him. He needed you and you took him in!
  I just wanted to add that lop earedness shouldn’t affect hearing a lot. Dogs with down-ears hear just as acutely as up-eared dogs, research has shown. If he’s hard of hearing on one side, I’d suspect damage elsewhere as well, f ex to the tympanic membrane (ear drum).
  I very much doubt that mites would cause permanent paralysis of an ear. It implies muscular or nervous injury, and mites as far as I know don’t cause that.
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