Dry Skin on Ears?

[bonnie_bunny]

Hey folks!

Bonnie has been spayed and things are going well! Her incision has the beginning’s of an infection but I noticed and we got right on top of it so it will hopefully go away soon.

Besides that, Bonnie’s ears have been getting worse. When I picked her up from the shelter, they were scaly and dry, so I had the vet check her out and she said it might be stress and to wait and see. Four weeks later at her spay, the vet doing the procedure scoped her ears and everything to look for mites and found nothing. I recently brought her in for her incision check up and the vet (who was not the small animal vet) told me she could only comment on the incision but would pass on the ear issue and have the other vet get back to me. (This is where it gets gross so be prepared) Today though, my roommate and I quite literally pulled chunks of dead, dry skin with fur still attached, in some cases very gently peeling the dead stuff up. The inside of her ears look fine and healthy, but the edges are crusty and the back is bald. Has anyone else had this problem? Could it be fixed by putting some sort of rabbit safe moisturizer on the back of her ears? The bill for her spay was $206 so I’m really hoping it’s not a huge issue. Of course I’ll find a way if it is, but if y’all have any advice since the vets also seem stumped and I hate having to cart her there once a week, I’d greatly appreciate it.

As a bribe for advice, here’s a picture of the snuggle bug herself.

[LBJ10]

Would the vet be willing to sell you some Revolution? Ear mites don’t always show up in skin scrapings. Sometimes people will just treat for ear mites anyway and the problem ends up resolving after that.

[Wick & Fable]

Going through a stressful operation like a spay will weaken a rabbit’s immune system, making them more vulnerable to pick up something, or make it so their immune system stops suppressing something that was already there. The ramp up in ear symptoms makes sense if this is an infection.

Silver sulfadizine (silvadine) is moisturizing, as well as used for treating urine scald and infections like ringworm. Maybe you can try that. You may need to get it from your 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.

[Cocoa]

I don’t have any advice, I just wanted to say that your bunny is adorable

[bonnie_bunny]

They’re having me bring her in again on Saturday, which will be the the fourth time in five weeks and the third vet who’s seen her. Hopefully they’ll have an answer this time, because she gets so stressed during car rides and this vet is 25 minutes away.

[bonnie_bunny]

Well, it’s mites, which the vet somehow missed the first two times. I called the shelter she came from to let them know since her symptoms have been there since I adopted her and they told me they were already treating her for mites. “She was getting better though, I guess they must have come back”. I’m annoyed that they didn’t tell me because I would have gotten her to a vet much sooner. I’m also annoyed the first vet wrote it off as stress, because her ears looked so red and inflamed and gross today which couldn’t have been comfortable. The vet also randomly put her on an antibiotic. What I thought would be a $60 vet visit turned into $116 very quickly. I wish I could have been better prepared, and I wish they could have caught this sooner.

[LBJ10]

Even if the vet did a scraping, the mites don’t always show. Having a false negative isn’t that uncommon. I do find it odd the shelter didn’t disclose that when you adopted her though.

What did the vet give you for the mites?

[bonnie_bunny]

He did mention he only saw egg clusters and not any live mites in the bit they checked, I don’t know if that means it’s a fresh batch. The shelter is really a dog and cat shelter who occasionally has rabbits. When I first got her, she was sitting in newspaper soaked with pee. I’m surprised she didn’t have any urine scald. The cage smelled horrific when I cleaned it out.

The vet tech gave her a treatment of Revolution and said if it didn’t clear up in a month, she might need another one. I will have to go to a different vet if she does though because I’m leaving college for the summer next week.

I’m also confused by the antibiotics because while we did have issues with the incision and some discharge, soap and warm water for six days has cleared it up very nicely. Now he wants her on Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim every 12 hours.

[LBJ10]

Revolution is pretty standard for ear mites. Sometimes if they are bad, a second dose is needed. You should be able to apply that yourself though if the vet sells you a capsule. They can tell you how much to apply, since it wouldn’t be the entire thing.

Antibiotics are not necessarily a bad thing if the infestation is bad. The ears can become irritated and bloody, which opens the door to infection.

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