Help! Rabbit’s ear is ripping/peeling off??

[cornflakes]

Hello!

I’m currently nursing and taking care of a rabbit that was attacked by other rabbits in a pen.  She had some blood on her ears, nose, and tail/back area.

I took her to the vet, and we gave her antibiotic shot and she was given some kind of paste for the ears where it was ripped and cut from the bites.  

About 2 weeks later now cuts have seemed to healed and her nose is all clean now (no more dried blood), but her ear seems to be crusting or cracking off the edges.  There were some rips and torn parts initially but it looked like it was healing.  Then the other day I saw her ear and it was ripped about 1.5 inches inward.  It looks to me after closer inspection that maybe the skin of the ear is crusting or drying up due to lack of blood(?) and is cutting off when the rabbit scratches her ears.

There isn’t any blood or any signs of infection but it doesn’t look nice at all.  I’m hoping that the ear’s edges will just crust off and she will be left with a smaller/diminished ear.

I don’t know what will happen if I take her to the vet.  My concern is the cost.  I’ve read about how sometimes the ear is trimmed down so that those torn edges won’t possibly lead to more future damage or tears, but not sure how much it would cost (the work, the anaethestics, the post-recovery medication etc).

Has anyone ever experienced this with rabbits?  She looked to be healing fine but just suddenly it looks like her ears are drying out and the skin or chunks of it from where there is a tear is just starting to fall out.

[Bam]

It appears to me as her body is getting rid of the ear in an orderly manner i e without infection. It’s due to loss of blood-supply to the tissue and in people it’s called dry gangrene. In people, you often let dry gangrene progress until the (most often) little toe falls off. It’s common in diabetics. (or rather not uncommon, I should say.)

I don’t know what you do to rabbits in these cases. It doesn’t strike me as anything that would be very expensive to fix, it would be a fairly simple procedure, but I don’t know. Maybe a vet would cut off the dry parts and a little bit into the healthy tissue and stich up/burn the edges so they’ll heal and the tissue destruction can’t progress further. You could call some vets and ask. Maybe they’d recommend you do nothing so long as it’s all dry and not wet/red/infectious. Wetness etc is an acute situation because it can lead to sepsis and death.

I hope someone here knows more.

[cornflakes]

thanks for the response.  Yes, so far as I’m keeping a close eye on it, the parts that are falling off or ripping off I should say is dry and no blood present.  It just looks a lot worse.  The other ear looks like it is starting also.  I found a big rip in the other ear that has formed and it looks like it will start to rip off also.  I just hope that it won’t lead to any infections or anything serious.

[Bam]

Apparently this seems not too uncommon in rabbits =( Their ears can fall off due to frostbite or as in your case, after bites from another rabbit.

If the blood supply to the other ear is destroyed as well, that ear too will fall off I’m afraid.

Perhaps you could call the vet that you saw two weeks ago and get some more antibiotic ointment to put on the ears, just so their won’t be any infection. I don’t know where in the world you live, but in many countries antibiotic cream is OTC. Just make sure you get a rabbit safe ab.

[Megabunny]

Maybe I’m reading this whole thing wrong, but is the ear just possibly going to look like Peter Cottontail’s ear and how it healed? Just permanently raggedy? There was a rabbit at the shelter, too, that had that and it’s just the way it is, though I think those buns don’t like their ears messed with, like, forever, for good reasons!

[Eepster]

There was a rabbit a few months back on dailybunny.org that had lost a large part of one of her ears. I will try to find it and maybe the site owner could get in touch with the owners of the bunny to contact you.

Is your vet an exotics vet, or just a general practice one?

[Eepster]

Found the link.

http://dailybunny.org/2013/12/23/whatcha-doin-where-ya-goin/

[debbie]

I woke up the other day and one of my bunnie angel who lives inside the top of her ear was hard like a rock with dried blood inside i already spent a few thousand at the vet didnt know what to do but i made up a solution of 5ml saline and .8 f10 antiseptic used gloves cotton wool thoroughly cleaned it saturated it with f10 ointment next day used bactroban but her ear was tearing but this is a good sign it was gangrene its coming off.. rushed her to the vet who have her a baytril injection.i have oral baytril at home 2.5% but im worried about the dosage rate she gave me 2.5ml per day she weighs 4kg i thought it was .2ml kg twice daily..

[Bam]

Debbie, please start a new thread on this subject, this thread is old. You start a thread by clicking the “Add Topic”-button to the upper left in your forum-section of choice.

Medirabbit says 5-15 mg/kg Baytril is the recommended dosage. Higher than that, prolonged use might lead to seizures. 

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm

(Enrofloxacine is the same as Baytril).

[debbie]

How much is that in mls the baytril ive got 2.5% one shes 4kg and how many days

[Bam]

If you choose the highest dose that medirabbit recommends, i e 15 mg/kg bid, it’s 0.6ml/kg twice a day of the Baytril 2.5% from what I can find out.
In your case thats of course 2,4 ml twice a day.

I can’t say for how long though. You will have to ask your vet. It’s often a week- 10 days. This is a high dose though so maybe you should give it for a shorter while.

0,2 ml/kg is the lowest dose that Medirabbit recommends (5 mg/kg), but you were probably prescribed that dosage for some other ailment? Both prescribed amounts are consistent with Medirabbit’s recommendations though.

[debbie]

Ok thanks she said give 2.5mls once a day for 7 days i was worried it was too much o had baytril at home i dont know why her ear suddenly went like that shes in a cage on wheels nothing could have bitten her but herself poor baby. ?

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