Ear Infection

[isaleistar]

I just found out this week that my two 6 year-old rabbits have pretty bad ear infections.  They’re on 1.1 ml of Baytril twice a day and the vet tasked us with cleaning out their ears once a day.  She called me back tonight asking us to bring them back in Saturday for a more extensive cleaning, strong antibiotics, a flush of their ear canals, and some anti-inflammatories.  The vet office has a great reputation with exotics and comes recommended by the House Rabbit Society but I still wanted to run this treatment past some fellow bunny owners.  For those of you who have had bunnies with ear infections–what worked and what didn’t?

Also, neither of my buns enjoying being held and one in particular is so panic stricken when we take her to the vet that she has to be put on oxygen.  As you can imagine I’m having a hard time even getting them into a bunny burrito to clean their ears.  Any recommendations for getting a bun to sit still for this? I’ve tried food to no avail.

Thanks!

[Sarita]

I think that sounds like a pretty sound treatment.

Did she do a culture?

I would take your rabbit to a bathroom and sit down with him between your legs (with your legs spread out) and kind of block him in. It helps too if your bathroom has tile floors so they don’t have as stable of a flooring and more likely to flee.

[BinkyBunny]

Sounds fine to me too. Just wondering though why she is having you come back to get strong antibiotics. Did test results or something come back?

[LoveChaCha]

A culture is really recommended. It took 2 vets for me to find out what was going on with my rabbit’s ear. Now I have an experienced HRS vet that is the one that figured it out. My bunny had a ear yeast infection. She treated it by having me give baytril droppings into my bunny’s ear. It cleared up.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Just consider me the “ear infection Mom”. I’ve dealt with many, many outer ear infections with my lop, Bindi Loo. He’s actually being treated for one right now.

Are your bunnies lops? And I assume these are outer ear infections? Are they pawing or shaking their heads?

The effectiveness of treatment will depend on what type of bacteria is in their ears. Some types of bacteria will only respond to certain treatment. I agree with LoveChacha, you should ask your vet about doing a culture to find out the exact type of bacteria because most ear infections will re-cur at some point and it helps to know what you are dealing with. Bindi gets different types so his treatments vary but it always consists of some type of ear meds, and, depending on the severity, oral Baytril. A culture might be a bit pricey but it’s really worth it in the long run.

They should really be on topical ear meds as well as the oral Baytril.

I have a bunny who hates being held and panics when I do anything to her. My bf and I discovered a trick, if you cover buns eyes gently with your palm it usually helps calm them down.

Wishing you and your buns a positive vet visit and speedy recovery.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Ditto the cultures-and asking for the treatment to be lengthy-over 30 days of treatment is recommended to aggressively treat and ensure you don’t grow an ARO that can progress to the middle and inner ear. Normal doses are 14 days, ears should be treated more aggrssively.

But to your point of tips on how to administer medicine. I’d put them up on a counter or the washer/drier-to put them in a bit of a state, out of their elements. They’re more likely to hold still and you can give the meds/clean ears that way. Have a partner help if you can and/or use a towel over the entire bunny to get them to hold still (even if you can’t burrito) or burrito put hold them on the floor between your legs while sitting and give meds that way.

[isaleistar]

Thanks everyone for the very helpful suggestions.  I will be sure to ask for a culture today.  The vet isn’t sure if it has progressed to the middle ear or not.  Apparently they had so much puss and gunk in their ears that she couldn’t see very well but she believes the one has a burst ear drum in the one ear.  I noticed a bit of shaking/pawing before I took them in but its gotten much worse since the vet did the first ear cleaning on Wednesday.

She wants us to bring them back in because she decided that the treatment she sent us home with probably wasn’t aggressive enough.  She just set them home with two weeks worth of Baytril.  It sounds like she wants to do a full ear canal flush plus replace the antibiotics with stronger ones and add an anti-inflammatory.

I’ll keep everyone posted.  I sure hope we’re able to nip this in the bud before it gets worse.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By isaleistar on 09/01/2011 05:34 PM

I just found out this week that my two 6 year-old rabbits have pretty bad ear infections.  They’re on 1.1 ml of Baytril twice a day and the vet tasked us with cleaning out their ears once a day. 
 

That seems like a high dose. *unsure* So they have 2.2mls per day?  How much do they each weigh? Maybe it’s to do with the strength of the med. idk.  For 25mg strength, my 4.5lb rabbit got 0.4mls 2x a day.

 

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Kokaneeandkahlua on 09/02/2011 02:41 PM
Ditto the cultures-and asking for the treatment to be lengthy-over 30 days of treatment is recommended to aggressively treat and ensure you don’t grow an ARO that can progress to the middle and inner ear. Normal doses are 14 days, ears should be treated more aggrssively.

ARO? Translation please?

[LittlePuffyTail]

(((((((Ear Vibes))))) for your buns.

[isaleistar]

Good news! We took them back to the vet Saturday for an in-depth ear cleaning and they didn’t have any gunk. The vet also got a better look at the ear drums and they are intact! We’re continuing the prescriptions and I plan on taking them back in two weeks for another once-over.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Yay! Glad to hear it.

[Gingerandalgy]

hi I hope this is posting to the wider group. One of my house rabbits, Ginger, is in vet-hospital, as of 4 nights now, with Pasturella that has caused an inner ear infection. Though her severe head tilt and spinning/rolling has improved, she still refuses to eat, and so remains at the vets. She has had conjunctivitis, snotty nose, as well as nerve damage to her face (due to a passing ear infection it seems the X-ray showed), since Christmas. It has flared up again and this time cause severe neurological issues. Naturally she is on the right meds, but having tried long courses of Baytril in the past, the specialist is trying Penicillin G now. My sister is a vet, and I have a lot of meds at home, so as and when administer accordingly What I am seeking is stories of those who have overcome severe middle ear infections/chronic pasturella. Ginger is only 2, my best friend and loving sister to Algy. When should she come home? Is it less stressful to be in normal environment. or where

[LittlePuffyTail]

Hi, Ginger. This is an old thread and I see you started a new thread with your questions so I’m gonna lock this one.

[Author]

Messages