Ear infection ><

[Binkles]

Yet another new developement with the new baby dwarf angora. I was going to take her to the vet to have her checked out today anyway, but as I was snuggling with her on the couch, I noticed something..

Her eyes would be facing forward and then drift slowly backward -along with the eye drift, her head would move too.

Frightened, I took her on an hour-long car ride to my bunny’s vet who determined that it was a bad inner-ear infection. (He determined that she doesn’t have ear mites, and I had her fecal matter tested and she’s negative for E.C.) Thankfully, he said it’s not contagious to other bunnies. He told me to swab out her ears gently twice a day and put in a few drops of an ointment called "DVMax". (Gentaminicin Sulfate, USP, Betamethasone Valerate, USP and Clotrimazole USP Ointment) He told me to do this twice a day for about a week and if she doesn’t improve, to call him back.

But just now I got online ato research bunny inner-ear infections and the sites I found said that inner-ear infections can take anywhere from 6 months to an entire lifetime to completely treat. =S

So I need to know:

Are the ear drops I was given for her safe?

and

General information about ear infections, please? xD

[Scarlet_Rose]

Hi Binkles, that was very wonderful of you to take the bunny in, an ear infection can be serious. For a great place to find medical info (and put in your favorites) go here: Charky and Ash’s web site of course Binky Bunny too, but I find it a very comprehensive place to find out about a particular medical condition. 

As for the meds:

I think that you might want to read up on antibiotics in rabbits: Appropriate Use of Antibiotics it lists the Gentaminicin, the antibiotic portion of the oitnment, which is used externally (Do not use on a rabbit internally!) it does not mention its use for ears though, just eyes. Hmm. Hopefully someone else can help us out with that, but my thought is that it is safe to use on your rabbits ears.  Keep an eye on the bun though and make sure none is ingested.  I do want to warn you though, never EVER give a rabbit amoxicillin, if your vet precribes this, take your bunny and run!

[Binkles]

Oh I know about amoxicillin. ><

I’m just -TIRED- of bouncing around from vet to vet being told different things and finding out different things on the internet.

And now I’m reading things that say that not only are certain stains of bacteria that cause ear infections are contagious -they can live and travel on clothing and skin. Which terrifies me because I have Binkles as well.

I live in Destin, Florida. If anybody knows of ANYONE around the area that is TRULY a rabbit-savvy vet, PLEASE tell me!

[Sarita]

I have used Gentamicin in my rabbits ears before and it was fine. This sounds like a mixture of stuff too. He probably doesn’t want to do any oral antibiotics on a rabbit so young too as that would be a last resort. He will probably try several different ear drop treatments if this doesn’t work. It sounds a little like she had nystagmus by what you are describing too. I’m not an expert on ear infections though – I’ve had bunnies with ear infections but never that severe.

I think when they say internally they mean orally.

I’m so glad you took this baby rabbit too!

Keep us updated on her condition.

[Binkles]

Sarita, how long did it take to treat your bunnies’ ear infections?

[Sarita]

Mine weren’t full blown like your baby sounds but it only took a couple of weeks.

I think the nystagmus in your bunny is what worries me. If had the nystagmus type symptons in one rabbit who was a few years old and my friend had a rabbit who had this on and off (she was a Jersey Wooly but a senior) and the vets were able to medicate with oral antibiotics and pen-g shots but I’m not sure that would be an option for your baby rabbit right now.

[Binkles]

I also need to know about contagiousness. How contagious is it? ;_;

[Sarita]

I would not imagine an inner ear infection is at all contagious unless someone else knows otherwise.

[kittsbuns]

Hi my vet has been treating Ziggy off and on since Oct. The first med she have him was a ointment called Otomax it has every ingredient that you said was in you ear drops. I was to squeeze some in his ear twice a day I had to end up taking him to her and let him stay so they could put them it took two people to get them in. I did research on it.  It was used on cats and dogs but was safe for buns as long as the ear drum was not purforated. You can check out what all the meds my vet has used so far on a post I put on the Diets and Cares forum under Ziggys ear infection or just ask me all look them up for you. We are still treating him he go’s back Mon for a recheck.

[Binkles]

Well thanks for all the info, guys. I just mainly worry that the bacteria that’s causing her ear infection is something like Pasteurella. I’m more than willing to take her for the long haul and have her on antibiotics for a few months, half a year, whatever it takes. I just don’t want her to have it for a lifetime… But from what I’ve read on different sites so far -including this one- most ear infections seem to be eventually treatable. (So long as the bacteria isn’t Pasteurella!) So I’m hopeful. I suppose I mainly need to find a bunny-savvy vet that is willing to take a culture and screen it for everything that needs to be screened…which will be difficult, because the vets in my area…eeeeuggh.

Also, it -COULD- just be my optimistic nature playing on my senses, but I -THINK- that after the dose of DVMax the doctor dropped down her ears, her nystagmus has calmed down quite a lot. Especially when her attention is diverted. So maybe, just MAYBE whatever bacteria it is afflicting her ear is vulnerable to DVMax.

All that aside, she’s proving to be a feisty little thing! Her nystagmus doesn’t seem to be affecting her much at all if any. Though I think she’s definitely feistier today than she was yesterday. When I take her out and try to snuggle with her on the sofa, I can’t keep her still. >< She's now eating her pellets well and her dropping output is quite satisfactory. I've watched what I'm pretty sure was a cecal snack as well.

So needless to say, other than this nasty ear infection, she’s a really healthy happy hoppy bunny.

(She flopped yesterday as well.)

[Martie]

hmmm…with dogs and chronic ear infections most times it’s food allergies..I wonder if rabbits can have this too. Does anyone know?

[Binkles]

Well I have an appointment scheduled for her to have a culture of her earwax/ pus screened for what bacteria is causing it. Though she’s currently on said eardrops, so test results may be a little hazy.

But the way I figure it, if the test results are hazy because of an antibiotic, that means it’s working! So, win-win.

[Sarita]

That’s great – keep us updated!

[Binkles]

I will. Does anyone here have any experience with ear infections? D: I’m just super worried..

[wendyzski]

Pepper got a bad ear infection when I first got her, and we had oral baytril, a probiotic, an antibiotic ear drop once a day and otirinse 2x/day.  It took a little over a month but she’s been fine and infection-free for more than a year now.

So they can be bad but they are treatable, though overkill may be the correct strategy

[Binkles]

Okay I took Little-Bit to the second vet today who said that since the infection was bacterial, the original eardrops the first vet gave me wouldn’t do much good. (She said they were for yeast inefections..? Which I’ve never heard of in bunnies before..) I had them send a sample of her earwax off to be screened and the tests will be back in about a week to identify the bacteria. In the meantime she prescribed 1/8 a tab of oral Baytril twice a day, and despite their saying that the eardrops won’t do any good I’m going to keep giving them to her anyway.

How old was Pepper when she had her ear infection, Wendy?

So I have another new question -is oral Baytril safe for babies? And does 1/8 a pill twice a day sound like an appropriate dosage?

And what exactly does Baytril do anyway? xD

Like I’ve said before, I’d probably put her at right around 6-8 weeks old. No younger, no older. I’ll get a pic up soon.

[Sarita]

Baytril is an antibiotic that is used alot for rabbits and it can be very effective. It’s not usually recommended for young rabbits unless the vet feels it’s very necessary which it sounds like your vet feels it is – this vet sounds very good. I’ve heard of many rabbits with yeast infections. I guess she figures too that the eardrops won’t hurt and maybe they might help.

I gave a baby that was injured baytril before and she did just fine – the vet said she normally wouldn’t do that but she felt in this instance it was needed. Not positive on the dosage – it’s probably based on kilograms so a small dosage sounds like it could be correct but I’m not a vet or vet tech :~)

[MooBunnay]

I have also given Baytril to young bunnies before – I was fostering two babies who just had horrible sneezing fits with discharge, I felt horrible for the poor little things – but they did just fine on the Baytril. While baby bunnies can be more sensitive to drugs, I find that they are also very resilient! It sounds like you are taking excellent care of your little baby, try not to stress yourself out too much I was giving the babies Baytril that was in liquid form, but it was a tiny bit like you mentioned, so I think that sounds OK. I think its a good idea to keep giving the ear drops just in case. Its also a great sign that your lil bun is still eating and pooping OK, and thats sooo cute that she flopped! I love baby bunny flops!

[Binkles]

=3 Thanks for all your imput, guys! It really helps and makes me feel a lot better. It’s good to know that babies can take Baytril.

Any imput on how to get her to injest her baytril? It is in solid form and I’m not sure how to convince her to eat it. =S

[Binkles]

This is me with a measuring tape on her yesterday. And that is your standard mid-sized igloo. She is 12 ounces. >w< (SO sweet.)

And JUST for the sake of cuteness…

 

[Sarita]

She’s so cute! I hate when the vet won’t compound the medication! I will sometimes “compound” it myself. I take the dosage amount of pill prescribed and put it in a syringe and put the syringe topper on and fill a ways with distilled water and let it melt and then add a little sweetner (fruit juice) to make it more palatable and then just medicate that way. That seems to work for me most times. You may have to break the dosage up a bit to fit it in the syringe and make sure you don’t add the sweetner before it’s melted for some reason that slows down the medication dissolving. I hope that makes sense.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Sorry, I couldn’t help but notice, but are those pine shavings in the cage (they emit phenols that damage the liver and kidneys)? You might want to consider something else even if they are aspen. Shavings have a lot of dust and little bits that can get stuck in the eye.

[Binkles]

Lol don’t worry. They’re not pine shavings. The only kind of bedding I use is Aspen. ^^

[Scarlet_Rose]

Cool. My bunny radar went up. LOL ; ) What a cute little ball of fluff!

[Binkles]

Ah, understandible. I have hat Bun-dar as well.

Well giving her the baytril was easier than I’d ivisioned. (Thank goodness!) I just crushed it up and dispersed it in about a teaspoon full of applesauce. You KNOW that bowl was licked dry by the time I came to check on her.

We also snuggled a lot tonight. BOY, does she like to lay all out. Binkles has never really been a lap bunny, but Little-Bit? TOTAL glutton for snuggling. :3

[Scarlet_Rose]

Awe so sweet!

[Sarita]

Oh, that’s a great idea to dispense the baytril to her! I’m glad she’s a snugglebun for you too.

[Martie]

what a cutie pie she is!

[Author]

Messages