HELP! bunny with white scabs on ear

[shareen]

I just noticed this morning my rabbit has some white scaly scabs on the outside of both ears, looks like dandruff, or maybe scabs from scratching with the white. My bunny was out last night in her pen playing for about an hour…seems fine other than the scabs/scales on ears…ill try to add a photo of the ears..im abit worried so if anyone know what this is and how to treat it..please let me know asap. thanks.

hopefully this link to the pic works

[Sarita]

It may be fur mites – you definitely need to get him to a vet so they can do a skin scraping and give you medication. It looks very uncomfortable.

[shareen]

it just happened overnight, yesterday shes was fine..

[Sarita]

Do take him to the vet and let us know what he/she says. It doesn’t look like an injury – many times with mites (if that is what this is) owners don’t see the mites right away – really the only way to see a mite is to have the vet do a scraping – it may be some other kind of skin infection as well.

[shareen]

ty im trying to get an appt. now to see a vet…

[KatnipCrzy]

I agree- it looks like something that needs to be treated by a vet.  If your bunny is not spayed or neutered yet- this will give you a good chance to meet your rabbit vet if you have not already done so.

[shareen]

cant get a vet appt for 3 days…been told its probably just mosquito bitesor sand fleas..there really bad in florida right now…and to put a little neosporin on.

[Deleted User]

Neosporin won’t kill fleas. Don’t let him outside again until you can get him treated and the bugs have gone down. Ask the vet about flea prevention as well if you are planning to let your bunny outside again; fleas can infest your house in no time.

[shareen]

no the vet said to put neosporin on any open scratches.. but she doesnt have any anyway..& im in florida and sandfleas/mosquitoes and mites are everywhere outside and its going to be hard in summer to avoid them, so im just not going to let her go back outside for abit. A man in the pet store told me i could use a drop or too of cat flea medication to treat a bunny…but that didnt sound safe to me so i didnt but any..im just gonna wait till my vet appt. to get her treated..

[shareen]

i really do think it was mosquitoe bites though because i wait until evening to let her go play in her playpen out in the yard..because its cooler around 7pm..its just too hot in the day time..and last night she played for about an hour..& i got bit alot too,…Does anyone know if the flea treament for bunnies also repels mosquitoes? the treatment i use on my dog repels everything. that would be good.

[Monkeybun]

It doesn’t look like mosquito bites to me. Looks like fleas or mites, with the flakey skin. Usually mosquito bites don’t have that.

[shareen]

*update–today is not half as bad as yesterday, ears look way better and the scabs/flaky stuff have fallen off…still going to the vet just to get some sort of treatment for her. thankyou all for the help.

[BinkyBunny]

I wouldn’t think mosquitoes either because of the flakey patches — it looks like there is another big flaky area toward the right of the photo.

Oh, and you were right about not following the pet stores recommendation of flea treatment. (not sure what he was recommending)

Advantage and Revolution (which also kills mites) can be used on the Rabbits, but you cannot follow the dosage on the box. You need to get a vet’s recommended dosage for it which in my case has always been different than the box instructions.

[shareen]

yes he said to use a drop or too..but i didnt want to risk it, since my bunny is still a baby i want to get vet approval first, it probably was mite bites, today i let the bunny run around the house for abit and she loved it, she didnt mind that it was inside instead of out..probably happy to have the ac in this heat.

[BinkyBunny]

She was able to cool off AND be with you.

Does she normally stay outside?

[lashkay]

I think Binkybunny raises a good point. I wouldn’t let her be outdoors anymore until or unless your vet suggests or prescribes a good pest prevention that will prevent infestation of all kinds. The baby will enjoy being in the cool indoors with you, assuming your indoors is well bunny-proofed for her safety, and her injuries will have a chance to heal once you have something for her from the vet. You are doing well by her – best wishes!

[KatnipCrzy]

The Neosporin is probably helping with some of the raw areas and dryness- but it will not address what CAUSED it to happen or caused the bunny to scratch until drawing blood.

Definitely always make sure to follow your vets recommendation for flea/parasite treatment- MANY of the dog, cat, other pet products are fatal to rabbits.

It does not look like flea bites necessarily- as fleas are more prone to stay IN the fur and live, feed and reproduce in the haircoat as opposed to open skin areas.  I would recommend taking her in- getting her ears examined and getting her on a safe routine of flea/parasite prevention.

Keep us updated!

[shareen]

no she doesnt stay outdoors, she stays indoors..i just let her play out in her pen for an hour or two the other day and thats when she got bitten.
so now shes been playing indoors, its in a rabbit proof room and i watch her and play with her. I made a bunch of things for her to play with out of cardboard boxes, tunnels and things, so shes happy indoors. I dont think it was fleas because i checked her and i didnt see any, and i never see her scratching, when shes inside. my vet appt is tues so hopefully the vet will give me something to prevent bites. thanks everyone!

[skibunny8503]

I was going to say if her nails are long and sharp (usually younger buns have pointier nails) and she scratched her ear and cut it that way. One of mine did that once (they weren’t outside either when it happened) and I didn’t know what it was until I saw her nails were sharp and figured she scratched too hard. Good luck and keep us updated!

[shareen]

took bunny to the vets yesterday and he did a scraping of one of the scabs (which seem to have gotten worse)..he said that it looks like ring worm and that it probably had it before i even got him and that being outside just made the spores bloom or something…he gave me otomax cream for the ear and an oral meication to help with blood circulation for the ear he also gave me chloramax?? or —something to clean the ear with which i pick up tomorrow…he also told me that he doesnt usually see my kind of bunny because people just breed them for snakes to eat (which i didnt even know & i find really disturbing)  and he said he has pet snakes & its just nature then he told me he couldnt tell if it was a boy or girl yet but maybe a boy. he did treat him/her with flea solution. he then showed me the correct way to pick up a bunny by the cartiliage around the ears, & my bunny didnt like it, and her ears went purpleish (is this normal??)…so i didnt like that at all…and he said alot or most of these kind of pups die which scared me because im already attached to my bunny…my normal vet doesnt treat bunnies and ive never been to this vet before..i guess he was ok…i  just feel like me & my bunny are both abit traumatized after this visit.

[Monkeybun]

WHAT???? That is NOT the correct way to pick up a bunny!!!!!! This vet is NOT a bunny savvy vet at all! Definitely look into finding a good one nearby. Poor bunbun I’d be traumatized too if my vet treated my buns like that!

[Andi]

Can’t sex a bunny, and pcks it up from his ears… this is not a good Vet! How aweful!
What was the flea medication, and how was it administered? That now worries me sicne it’s obvious this guy has no clue how to care for a pet rabbit, maybe he treats ‘snake food’ with such disrespect, but don’t let him ro anyone treat your bunny that way… i’m so sorry you had to go through that i would be tramatized as well.

[Sarita]

Shareen, I’m so sorry you had to go through with this with this vet – he’s not a good rabbit vet and doesn’t pick them up properly and had TERRIBLE bedside manner.

If you feel comfortable giving us an idea where you live perhaps we can find you a more rabbit knowledgeable vet.

Hugs to you and your bunny.

[Sarita]

Yes, and as Andi asked, what kind of flea medication did he administer?

And let me find out about chloromax as well…

[Sarita]

Okay, cholormax is chloremphenicol so that is a safe antibiotic for her.

[shareen]

the flea medication he used was revolution, he said he would do it because theres no point buying a box of it, he also looked at her teeth and said she was a year old and then later said no shes probably only about 6 months, so he really didnt seem to know much at all about bunnies. I read online that you should never pick up a bunny by its ears so when he took by the ears like that i was kinda confused, and he held it like that while checking it to see if it’s male or female for like 5 minutes. he also took 3 scrapings from him and after grabbing the ears he was bleeding, and the vet didnt seem to care..I live in Tampa and this was the closest vet that saw bunnies. but i wont be going back there im looking for a new vet that has more experience with bunnies. I feel so bad for my poor bunny he just hid in his cage the whole day afterwards.

[Sarita]

Revolution is fine for rabbits so that’s good he used that.

Here’s a link from the House Rabbit Society for recommended vets in Tampa:

http://www.tampabayhrs.org/Veterinary_Care.html

Just hope that vet is not listed…

[jerseygirl]

That vet…

When he held her like that did he even support her hind end or just let her dangle?  If he didn’t support her, her put her a risk. I want to make a complaint!  I like to think I’d make one and ask for the consult fee back but I’d probably chicken out.

Ringworm is caused by a fungus. Did he identify what it was from the scraping?  How long do you have to use the Otomax cream?   Also, can you give the name of the oral medication for the circulation?

I’m sorry you had a bad experience. Let’s hope your bunnies health improves.

[shareen]

thankyou…no hes not one of the vets on that list…and no he didnt support her he just grabbed her ears and let her dangle, i tried to put my hand under for support and he told me to move..and that its fine…i have to use the otomax 2x daily for 12 days and the oral medication is called metacam which is in a syringe and im suppose to give it once a day….the thing is my bunny keeps washing its ears…i hope the otomax isnt going to cause stomach problems if injested..everytime i put it on his ears he starts washing them right away…

[jerseygirl]

and no he didnt support her he just grabbed her ears and let her dangle, i tried to put my hand under for support and he told me to move..and that its fine…

Ugh!

Metacam is a pain med / anti immflamatory. Otomax is part steroid so you do need to take care with it. I don’t know much about it but hopefully someone else will and can advise. You could always try ring one of the vets from the list and ask also.

[KatnipCrzy]

Horrible vet- find another.
Improper restraint. Unfortunately to do a skin scraping you have to scrape until they bleed to get a good sample- but the vet sounds like he has no compassion for bunnies and THAT is a problem.
The otomax has antifungal properties also- so that is probably where he is going with that- but I would be concerned about the ingesting of the meds. Can you put the meds on- hold the bunny in a burrito a bit longer- and then maybe feed greens, pellets or a few treats to distract the bunny longer to let the ointment sit at least 10 minutes without any grooming???

[shareen]

the bunny actually lets me put the medication on the ears easily, and then ive been letting him play & run around in his room, that seems to distract for a while….he still starts washing though as soon as he realizes its on him..but yeah its on for at least 10 minutes before he starts washing. feeding him right after would be a good way to distract him.. im saying “him” now because i still have no idea if its a boy or girl…wish i knew, the vet couldnt tell yet..he said when it gets bigger it will be easy to tell, but he said if bunnies lay on their side with there legs stretched out when they sleep, they are usually male.

[Sarita]

Shareen, I hope you find a better list on the House Rabbit Society Tampa list – I encourage you to take your bunny to one of them. I don’t think that is correct about the sleep position either…I certainly would not rely on this to sex your rabbit.

[jerseygirl]

but he said if bunnies lay on their side with there legs stretched out when they sleep, they are usually male.

Oh my gosh! I continue to be astounded at his ignorance! (By the way, take care not to name this vet here as we can’t give negative reviews on the forums). However, you can warn people in your life that have rabbits not to see him. As for the rest of us, we can only HOPE he has a clue about other animals & HOPE other rabbit owners don’t go to him.

[Monkeybun]

…both Monkey and Smudge lay like that lol. And they are definitely girls!

[Lintini]

When I adopted Bun her owner said she “felt bad at rabbit shows when the judges picked her up by her ears..” Bun’s ears are only 2 inches long. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!?!!?

What a quack vet! I am so sorry you and your bunny had to go through that! I do however hope that the meds he prescribed clear up those ears! Poor bun bun! {{{vibes}}}

[KatnipCrzy]

Maybe lightly blot the excess ointment off with a tissue after 10 minutes to reduce the amount groomed off???? that ointment is pretty greasy feeling and that might be causing the “must groom” response as bunnies are usually very clean critters.

[shareen]

thankyou everybody for all the help, the medication and ointment seem to be working, and i have found a new bunny vet.

[RabbitPam]

That’s a relief.

[Monkeybun]

Agreed! Glad you found a different vet And glad the treatment is working so far

[Author]

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