I found this red-spot thing on my bunny’s ear.. Help?~

[Alice]

Hi, so I just signed up to this wonderful place. I got -rescued- my little bunny, Cloudy, 40 days ago on a rainy cloudy day after university and he was pretty young -I’m still unsure of the sex, but let’s go with he-. 

And everything has been beautiful rainbows as this is the first mammal I ever get to enter my home. 

Already litter trained and is the most caring affectionate pet I’ve ever dealt with. 



https://imgur.com/a/j4lNbRQ



But yesterday I discovered this thing on the outside base of his right ear.. 



https://imgur.com/a/hV5oLWt



I don’t know if it’s a scar he caused to himself while scratching his ears, or a bug bite -which I suspect- or scab or whatever.. I’m new to this and I’m genuinely worried although he’s still healthy and normal.. I asked around and people said I should cleanse the spot with some povidone but I’m still not sure.. And I’m worried about taking him to the vet cause where I live people don’t care for rabbits and only focus on cats and dogs so I’m afraid the vet is not exactly qualified to look at my bunbun.. Do you guys know what this spot is and whether or not it’s serious for the health of my rabbit and us humans?

[Bunny House]

Hi!

‘He’ sure is adorable!
So you can do a couple of things.

You can watch him and make sure it doesn’t get worse and heals-make sure there is nor pus or blood. You need to make sure he is still eating and pooping, and not scratching the area.

I would not use anything on the ear unless recommended by a rabbit savvy vet. I do not know where you live so I can’t recommend any vets, but I know here and Houserabbitsociety have a page of vets that you can see live near you. You can also call the vets around you and ask them if they have a rabbit savvy vet ( you need to do this regardless of anything because you need to have a vet you can go to in case of an emergency- IE go stasis) If you have a Vet school near you, they should be able to see exotics-thats what I do.

If you don’t feel comfortable letting him just heal and want to make sure it isn’t anything, like I said above, call around and see if there is a rabbit savvy vet who can see him because you will probably want to get him fixed in the future because you don’t want those hormones running around haha.

I don’t see there being any harm for humans of that wound.

I hope that helps!

[Alice]

Thank you for replying, I really appreciate it. No, unfortunately I’m not from the states nor UK, I’m from Iraq, where such cute little things are hardly cared for and usually mistreated. I lost my two cute little budgies because there are no avian veterinarians who would care .. Excuse? “It’s a cheap bird, just buy another one.” And this bunny was also a cheap one, a 5$ kind of cheap, stuck with like 10 other small bunnies and hamsters and guinea pigs in a small bird’s cage on wired bottom.. I wished to buy all of them. 

So I really can’t trust a vet with Cloudy, all they care about are those expensive dogs and cats.

And as you can see, he’s not even a specific breed, just a mix, which really frustrates me not knowing what breed it is.. I was recommended that Povidone solution thing by a group on facebook that specifies in rescuing cats managed by a vet, the people there seemed to have knowledge in treating animals but I wouldn’t say they’re good with rabbits cause like I said, they don’t really take them in as pets and are mostly left out doors and bred and all .. 

I checked the spot now as well and it seems to be drying off and getting less and less red, I don’t know if I should use this disinfectant or just stand by and see.. 

Yes, of course I’m watching his eating and pooping, he’s literally in my sight as long as I’m awake. He eats, flops, binky’s plays, licks and bites me for attention, grooms etc, but this little silly thing is pissing me off.. I want my baby in the healthiest state possible. 

Again though, thank you for replying!  

[Bunny House]

Oh yeah, that makes it way harder… Oh my gosh, I can’t believe they said that. All animals need to be taken care of and can’t just be rebought.

I would not use that on him because its safe in cats doesn’t mean its safe in bunnies (almost nothing is safe in bunnies). You can use rubbing alcohol to clean it but I wouldn’t use anything else. But I am glad its looking better!

I get how you feel, I want all of my babies healthy but they are all sick at the moment haha.

Since you don’t have a rabbit savvy vet, I don’t know what site sells this but I recommend you to buy this https://bunnyapproved.com/emergency-first-aid-kit-for-rabbits-in-progress/ also buy some critical care(from amazon if they ship to you).
Now I don’t know if you are a first time bunny owner, but if you are, there is a whole lot to learn and we veterans still learn everyday. I suggest reading up on houserabbitsociety.org and this site to read all about illnesses that can happen and other good first time bunny owner stuff to learn since you do not have a vet, you need to be his own vet. It’l give you a piece of mind to treat him when he’s sick.

I hope this helps

[Bam]

I’d clean the wound and put on some antibiotic ointment.

You can clean bunny wounds with diluted iodine wound wash. Povidone iodine is bunny safe. Another option is chlorhexidine solution, but some buns are sensitive to that. For superficial wounds like this seems to be, you can use hydrogen peroxide solution (never use peroxide solutions on deep wounds in anyone, humans or animals).

Bunny safe antibiotic ointments suitable for superficial wound care include fucidine ointment. I know that can be bought prescription free in Turkey, but I don’t know if you can in Iraq. In some countries there’s prescription free triple antibiotic cream containing neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin. That is also bunny safe. Avoid all ointments containing both antibiotics and corticosteroids, rabbits are as a species very sensitive to corticosteroids.

Keep a close eye on this wound. If it doesn’t heal, if it becomes bigger or if a lump starts forming under it, please post here again.

There is a possibility this is a wound that comes from scratching due to fur mites. If that is the case, you should still clean and treat the wound, but you’ll have to treat the mites as well. Here’s a warning that we always issue when skin parasites are discussed: Never use any compound containing fipronil on a rabbit. Fipronil is sold all over the world under different brand names. It’s fine for cats and dogs but deadly toxic to rabbits. It should say so on the package but in some countries it doesn’t. The best and safest antiparasitics for rabbits are selamectin and ivermectin. 

[Alice]

Thank you so much for this wonderful amount of information, I truly appreciate it. 

I didn’t clean the wound with Povidone at first because it was just a dry patch but then just like a pimple it popped and a dot of blood came out so I had to disinfect it and clean it up. To help the healing process I clipped some of the fur around it as I read in some thread as carefully as possible, it also helps that Cloudy is such a calm angel and it made the task easier.

Then today I noticed the wound is closed so I just cleansed it gently with a bit of anti bacteria soap for kids and some warm water using clean cotton pads and let it be. Earlier I noticed that it’s so much better than it was three days ago, the inflammation is almost all the way gone and it’s drying up and it doesn’t seem to make him itch anymore. 

Here are a couple of pics; 

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

I don’t know if you’re able to tell or if I’m wrong but I’m not that much worried anymore since it’s not really bothering him.

I constantly check his ears for mites, his teeth for over growing, his droppings, his urine etc. All seem fine, according to what I’ve learned from studying bunnies more than my own university subjects for the past two months and few weeks… Hehe.

It would’ve been so much easier if a rabbit pet savvy was available but too bad not many care for such precious pets and consider them ‘dumb’ because they don’t know how to litter train them and tame them so they’re really underappreciated. </3 

Either way, I’m doing my best to take care of him and I hope I won’t let him down, if anything I did contact a normal vet and he confirmed that it was just a superficial wound as you said and that it’s not much of a big deal but I’m still keeping an eye on it. 

Thank you guys so much <3

PS: We usually don’t need prescription to buy medicine from pharmacies and there aren’t many caution warnings whether this or that is pet safe etc, I have to do my own research for about anything and everything… It’s so much of a hassle but seeing Cloudy happy and healthy is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever experienced in my life. God bless your bunnies and pets, they’re truly precious. 

[LBJ10]

It does look better. Perhaps he accidentally scratched himself. How are his claws?

I agree with Bam. Iodine is safe and so are triple antibiotic ointments like Neosporin/Polysporin (not sure what they call it there in Iraq).

[Alice]

Yes, I think so too. They’re actually pretty sharp and kinda long but not too long. I would cut them but Cloudy’s still fairly young.. Only around 2 months old max. Although I can clearly see the pink flesh under the nail and know not to get close to that part and just cut off the extra, I don’t think it’s necessary for now at least…

It does seem to be drying up though and getting paler. 

[Author]

Messages