ear wax?

[poopy]

How much ear wax is normal? I haven’t been able to find any pictures online. The only ones I’ve seen are pictures of ears progressed to extremely bad states of ear mites. It seems like Medusa scratches her ears alot. So when she is asleep I looked inside with a flashlight. At the very end in the ear canals there is a little bit of light yellow wax. Now I read that ear mites can produce this type of buildup. How do I know if its wax or ear mites? I’ve got 30 more days before I can enroll her for VPI insurance and I wanted to wait to bring her to the vet until then. Should I try cleaning it with a Q-tip? I’m just worried since its kind of deep if she wakes up in her sleep and jerks it might injure her.

[Gravehearted]

From what your saying – it most likely is wax. Ear wax can be lifted out with a cotton swab, being careful not to push on wax in the canal, or you can try a mild ear cleaner containing Chlorhexadine.

Mites can’t always be seen, sometimes they’re only visable with a microscope. One of the big symptoms of mites is signs of dandruff in the fur. The other thing is a lot of scratching of the ears. If you see a thin, brown flaky crust along the inside of the ears then it likely is mites and then it’s important to get into the vet. The two safe treatments for mites are Revolution or shots of ivermectin.

[poopy]

thanks–do bunnies scratch their ears alot normally– several times in the grooming process? it seems like that ear wax is itching her. i couldnt, however, successfully get at it because she started shaking hear head when i put the q-tip in.

also, is wax as a result of ear mites generally all over the entire ear? not just in the inner portions?

[Gravehearted]

ear wax does not mean she has mites – just to clarify. if there is a real build up of wax or gunk – especially if it’s dark bronw that likely is an issue. but a small amount of yellowish wax is normal.

it’s not uncommon for healthy bunnies to have itchy ears. sometimes they will have an especially itchy ear, and will really work at it!

[poopy]

oh good, thank you! i was getting worried hehe. you hear so much about ear mites…fur mites…bladder infections….etc. i start to think Medusa has everything! looks like she can hold out till her vet visit in feb. then when i get my VPI insurance

[wendyzski]

Is that Medusa in your pic?  My bun is a lop too, and my vet recommended that I rinse her ears out once a week with OtiRinse.  You can get it from most of the online pet meds sites for something like $5.95/bottle.

[poopy]

Posted By wendyzski on 01/02/2007 7:43 AM
Is that Medusa in your pic?  My bun is a lop too, and my vet recommended that I rinse her ears out once a week with OtiRinse.  You can get it from most of the online pet meds sites for something like $5.95/bottle.

thanks for the suggestion! is it like a lavage? and yes, thats medusa she is a lop

[wendyzski]

OtiRinse is actually an ear-cleaning agent designed for dogs.  It has a drying agent in it as well.  When I first got Pepper the shelter gave me a little bottle and told me "a couple of drops" in each ear once a month, because lops can be prone to ear infections because their ears don’t dry out as well as those of uppy-eared buns. 

Turns out she already had an infection going, and once it was diagnosed the vet had me giving it to her daily.  Yeah, that was not fun for either of us.  I personally gave up on the bunny-burrito thing in favor of just kind of leaning over and holding her in plac with my chest and my left hand on her chest so I had my right hand free to handle the meds.

Now that the infection has cleared, I’m supposed to be doing it weekly – I do it the same day  I clear out the litterbox.  I got a couple of larger bottles but I decant it into the smaller bottle because it’s easier to handle.  I also put the bottle into a cup of hot tap water for a few minutes to warm it up a bit.  She seems to appreciate that. 

I get a good hold of her and settle the bottle in one ear.  I *gently* squeeze out a bit, and then massage the ear while holding it up, to make sure it goes all the way down.  Same thing with the other ear, keeping hold of her the whole time.  Then I let her go and quicky get out of the way as she shakeshyakheshakes her head to get all that nasty wet stuff out of her precious ears.  Then it’s off to the kitchen with her following at my heels because she has learned that she gets a treat for being a good bunny and taking her medicine.

[poopy]

cool, how could you tell she had an ear infection?

[wendyzski]

Actually I had no idea!  I took her to the vet because she had been sneezing and once I noticed her sneezing out an actual bunny-booger (eew) I popped her in.  While they were looking around she noticed a severe infection in Pepper’s right ear – she had me look through the scope and it was all red in there and there was a little pus. 

She is my first bunbun, and ever since I adopetd her in Sept she had never liked having her head touched – which I thought was wierd but chalked it up to just a thing she had – goodness knows she certainly is odd enough.  But combining that with the severity of the infection and the fact that the vet said her molars were starting to get a bit uneven and it seems that she had this for quite some time and no one knew.  Since rabbits are prey animals they hide it when they are hurt or sick, so I had no idea.  I thought I had a naturally quiet bunny, but it turns out that I had a sore and sick bunny.

It took a month of oral Baytril (plus a probiotic), antibiotic-antiinflammatory ear drops and daily ear washes before she was pronounced all better just before X-mas. She certainly is a lot more energetic, outgoing, and mischievous than when I first got her so I guess she is feeling better.  She has decided that she likes the occasional head-pets and ear rubs rather a lot thank you.

[BinkyBunny]

Posted By poopy on 01/01/2007 10:56 PM
thanks–do bunnies scratch their ears alot normally– several times in the grooming process? it seems like that ear wax is itching her. i couldnt, however, successfully get at it because she started shaking hear head when i put the q-tip in.

also, is wax as a result of ear mites generally all over the entire ear? not just in the inner portions?

You’ve gotten some great advice already, but I just wanted to answer one question I didn’t see answered. 

It is normal during the grooming process for a bunny to scratch and shake their ears.  If they seem to do it when they are just resting, hanging out, and just basically more than normal, then there could be reason for concern.

 

 

[poopy]

I took her to vet and she did say the wax looked crusty and symptomatic of ear mites. So she did a swab test and it turned out negative. She just gave me some drops to help dissolve the oil and stop the itching. She said Medusa may have had ear mites earlier at one point but doesn’t now. Weird!

[Gravehearted]

well it’s good that you got her in to be checked out. mites are fairly common, so it’s not surprising she had them at some point, but I’m glad they’re gone. i hope the drops will help dissolve the wax.

[Author]

Messages