dry skin or mites?

[Emma]

Hello,

About three weeks ago I got my first rabbit,an almost three month old Holland Lop. I have never owned a rabbit before so I’m still learning a lot about normal behaviors, health, and everything. He has already been to the vet for a general check up and she found nothing wrong with him. I am a student and have brought him back to school with me which is ten hours away from his vet. He is not around any other animals here and is in a cage which I open up for him to hop around when I’m there to supervise.  Anyways, I recently noticed that he has dry and flaky skin around his ears. The inside of his ears looks fine to me but at the base (front and back) and the edges of his ears have dandruff like flakes. He doesn’t itch an excessive amount that I notice, the most noticeable is after I’ve been looking at his ears and inspecting the flakes, then he will scratch vigorously at his ears and pull them down to his mouth for biting. 

After reading online, I tried putting a very small amount of vitamin e oil on the skin of the back of one of his ears and while i don’t see flakes anymore the skin looks a bit red (maybe thats normal?). I have looked through the rest of his fur after reading that mites typically start at the back and while there are some flakes it doesn’t look too concerning to me. There isn’t a rabbit vet near me (the closest is about an hour away) and I would rather not take him if its nothing to worry about. Finally, he does seem to be shedding a decent amount I have been brushing him and lots of fur comes out with a few white flakes attached. I have attached some photos of the flakes I see around his ears and what comes out in the brush. Apart from all this he eats, poops, plays, and acts perfectly normal.

Do you think this could be mites, if so what should I do? I’m worried since he’s so young and only weighs a little over a pound that any sort of medication will be too much for him. Do rabbits normally have dry skin/dandruff? Could it just be a side effect of losing his baby fur and growing an adult coat? 

Thank you!

http://s32.photobucket.com/user/ec1294/library/?sort=3&page=1

[jerseygirl]

They can get a little bit of dry skin here and there. It doesn’t look too bad in the photos. Is he able to clean his ears effectively? It might be that he had others doing it for him before. Since he was seen by the vet recently, it might be worth just ringing the clinic and asking if they can post some kitten/puppy revolution out to you, to keep in hand if you think it gets worse.

Keep a close eye on the fur around his toes, as this is an common area (along with edge of ears, nose and eyes) to see effects of mange mite.

[Bam]

I agree with Jersey, it doesn’t look bad. They absolutely can get a bit of dry skin esp on the ears. My Bam gets that sometimes. It goes away with some beeswax cream. Vitamin E oil is good too. Bam had fur mites once, when he was new with me, and it was quite different, bigger flakes of dandruff centered to his upper back/nape of neck with a small area of thickened skin, not red but white.

[Emma]

Thank you for your reply! He seems to be able to clean his ears alright. I called his vet and sent some pictures so I’ll see what they say I guess.

[Emma]

These definitely don’t seem like big flakes, but perhaps I’ll try the beeswax cream. Thank you!

[skysblue]

This sort of looks like what my rabbit has – she is a bit over a year old now.
Couple months ago she had very noticeable flakes, dry skin on both of her ears, hair would fall off when you pull on it, and if you scratch it a bit, it comes off like fish scales and dust.
She had some big flakes on her butt, but it went away.
She ears are still the same today, it didn’t bother her at all.
I made sure it wasn’t mite by dosing some Revolution.
I’d observe her for couple more weeks.

[Author]

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