lop bunny ear infection antibiotic drops

[Tea]

Hello lovelies. My lop doe, Ivy, got an ear infection in both ears. She’s almost three months old and I’ve noticed her scratching her ears more than usual, took her to the vet two weeks ago and she said she was fine and it was nothing to worry about. Last week I took her to the vet again for her VHD vaccine and the vet checker her ears again and found a little bit of discharge. She did ear swabs and the results came today – she has an infection in both ears and apparently it’s a bacteria that is resistent to most antibiotics. She said that the antibiotics drops we can use contain steroid, but that rabbits are very sensitive to that so she’s calling the lab on Monday to find out what antibiotics are best for her. In the meantime, Ivy has been shaking her head less frequently & scratching less frequently. She eats normally I think and is quite active, but I’m worried sick. I’m too stressed to even wait until Monday Has anyone here had an experience simular to this one? I’m very very scared and I just want her to be okay and happy

[LBJ10]

Do you know what the ear drops were? Rabbits are more sensitive to steroids and they should be used with caution. However, there is less risk when it comes to topical steroids like ear and eye drops. So it would be helpful to know what the vet was wanting to use.

[Tea]

Thank you for your reply! I don’t know, the vet didn’t mention it, she said she was going to call me on Monday after she calls the lab again, as it’s closed in the weekend…

[LBJ10]

I know members here have used Otomax in the past, including myself. Perhaps your vet was suggesting something similar?

[Bunny House]

Hi,
my lop has had chronic ear infections for the last year, her culture came back resistant to antibiotics and there was also fungi in the ears. We put her on ATK ear packing for the last two months. And she is also on Pen-g, its resistant to it but its helping, so weird. her ear canals were swollen shut and now we can see a hole, not big but its better. She will probably need to be on it for the next month until its completely healed. And then, I know I made a post about this and a lot of members suggested good ear flushes for me to use after we are done with treatment. You will most likely need to do daily or every other day ear flushes since she is a lot and air can’t get into her ears. And be sure to have her on probiotics too.

[jerseygirl]

What is ATK, Bunny House?

Ive used Otomax and Baytril Otic in my lops ears before. I think what helps is if the vet can remove a lot of the debris so the topical drops have a better chance of penetrating the ear. Maybe that is why Ivy is bothering her ears less after the visit? The vet was able to get rid of some of the crud?

[Bunny House]

I mean AEK, ATK didn’t work for her in the past. It’s amikacin/enrofloxacin/ketoconazole, the enro is what the fungi and bacteria are resistant to, but the combo of the AEK and pen-g is like a magical drug.

[Tea]

Hello! The vet called me today and I’m going to an appointment tomorrow. She said she called an exotic doctor that is specialized in rabbits and they recommended an antibiotic which doesn’t have a license, but that they say it’s safe to use for rabbits. She said we could either use tablets or injections for seven days (the clinic is closed on Sundays so I’d have to give her half a tablet then). I emailed to ask her the name of the antibiotic but she hasn’t replied yet, I’ll probably see tomorrow, I have a list of antibiotics that have awful side effects for bunnies so I’ll check…What do you guys think? I’m very worried…I think going to the vet daily for an injection might stress Ivy out but I’m afraid she wouldn’t eat the tablet, even if I mix it with things (or all of it). I’ve noticed she’s scratching her cheeks too…tho it might be an attempt to reach the ears…ugh

[jerseygirl]

If it’s safe to give in oral form, you could crush the tablet and mix with a little water then give via syringe into her mouth. You can flavour the water or mix in a little fruit purée.

The antibiotic *may* not be licensed for rabbits.. that is really common. A lot of meds used for them are “off label”.

[jerseygirl]

Posted By Bunny House on 10/22/2018 1:24 PM
I mean AEK, ATK didn’t work for her in the past. It’s amikacin/enrofloxacin/ketoconazole, the enro is what the fungi and bacteria are resistant to, but the combo of the AEK and pen-g is like a magical drug.

Thanks BH. It’s good to know it’s an effective combo. I remember LittlePuffyTail had some success with Bindi’s ear for a while using triple antibiotic drops or ear flush.

[Tea]

Thank you so much for your replies! The antibiotic is Marbocyl, she starts treatment tomorrow. I’m a little more relaxed but still worried… Hope it will be okay.

[Bunny House]

Did the vet prescribe an in ear medicine? There needs to be an in ear one so it can get straight to the source of infection, and help prevent such a huge offset in the gut bacteria. I hope she gets better after all of this❤️

[Tea]

Hi guys, an update: she finished her treatment yesterday (injections with marbocyl). She seemed okay, the scratching was almost non-existent, but the vet checked her yesterday and she still has discharge. I have an appointment on Friday to see if she still has discharge by then. If she does, the vet suggest ear flushing, and if that doesn’t work, surgery. She started scratching again, quite a lot, and I’m super scared and worried. I’m scared of flushing her ears because she would have to be sedated and she’s so tiny, my poor thing. And I’m terrified of surgery. I just read that it might be 1000 pounds!! I couldn’t afford that but I can’t leave her with the infection, I’m so panicked…

[Bunny House]

Honestly, my vet has done ear surgeries and it doesn’t prevent ear infections. And for lops, it’s even lower, it still might work but I personally don’t think it’s worth the money. Like I mentioned earlier, you probably want to do ear packing done in both ears for probably a month or 2 and gram stains to see exactly what is still living in there and change the meds accordingly,and then daily ear flushes after. You need to treat it right at the source, and not through injections or pills (they might work great with the in ear meds like mine is) but you need to be aggressive with medicine for lops with ear infections. My lop has been on ear packing for 2 1/2 months with peng injections, her left ear is completely clear and her right one is shut( accidentally forgot a pen g shot one week) but it should be clear in a week and then we move to ear flushes to prevent ear infections.

[Tea]

Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply and advice!!
So the vet checked her ears today and said we don’t need to flush them, just advised me to clean them twice a week. She also said that lops’ ears are L shaped and she can only see the first part of the “L”, but that she would show other signs (loss of balandev/ appetite) if there was an inner intection. She also said the bacteria in question was supposed to be there but it just went a little crazy. Ivy is still scratching though and I’m still worried. Any thoughts?

[LBJ10]

Ear canal ablation can help, but it depends on what the actual cause of the recurrent ear infection is. It may not be helpful in some cases like Bunny House mentioned. I honestly don’t think your bunny is there yet. Have you tried any ear washes that dry up the inside of the ear? I have used Oti-Clens for dogs with Wooly.

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