The right canal?

[wabble]

So I’ve just been back from the vet today with waffle (and marble for moral support) because he’s been scratching his ear and shaking more often than usual and I wanted to share a bit of my adventures today (plus ask a question or two). My (rabbit-savvy) vet diagnosed him as having an ear infection, but he did mention that he has rarely seen anyone catch an infection so early and kudos to me (proud moment here ). So waffle’s gone home with some baytril drops and oral metacam (banana flavoured- his favourite). Since this is the first time he’s had an infection, the nurse showed me how to syringe the baytril into his ear. However, when she did so, she mentioned something about rabbits having two canals in their ear, one of which goes no where. She gave me a strategy to ensure I drop it into the right one, which is to hold the syringe near one side of his ear, stick it in a little bit and then dispense. 

 However, I now have a dilemma. I don’t remember which side of the ear i’m supposed to hold it near to!!! Has anyone had this experience and does anyone know?? Waffle’s a lop, so say for example I hold his right ear upright, one side is closer towards his bum while one side is closer to his nose. So which would it be?

 The second question is, does it really matter or does it all go in the same place? I was looking at an image of the anatomy of a rabbit’s ear and it certainly does seem to matter, but I’d like to hear some opinions if anyone has any.

 

Thanks all!

[Roberta]

Might I suggest ringing the vet ro possibly check online and see if someone has posted the procedure somewhere.

[DexterBunnae]

I’m not an expert but I took a look online and from what the house rabbit association says it looks like there’s only one. Ill provide the link but again I’m not an expert by any means.

http://www.rabbit.org/journal/4-11/ear.html

[LBJ10]

From what I understand, a rabbit’s ear canal has almost a 90 degree bend in it similar to a dog’s. It goes down and then in. I speak strictly from experience with a dog’s ears. My dog would get ear infections and the vet instructed us to point the applicator tip directly downward when squirting it into her ear. I’m not positive, but I think it’s the same with rabbits. Perhaps this is what your vet meant? If you don’t get the medicine down where it needs to go, then it could sit outside in the outer ear.

[jerseygirl]

I’d ring and ask to speak to the nurse you saw if possible. She’s most likely able to get a mental image of your rabbit and best describe which “side” i.e. the one closest to bum or nose.  They sort of have a false canal on the nose “side” but I’m not certain if that’s what you are meaning by two canals.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Bunnies have what I call “a little pocket” in their ears. And it can be frustrating because often the drops want to go down there. I find the Baytril particularly difficult to administer as the syringe tip is so short. My lop has chronic infections and when I have to put 2 drops of Baytril, I usually squeeze one in his canal, as best I can, and then put a second drop on the tip of a Q-Tip and (carefully!) insert it into the canal. Then I massage the base of the ear for about 5 seconds and wipe out any excess with a tissue.

[wabble]

Posted By jerseygirl on 01/16/2013 10:42 PM
They sort of have a false canal on the nose “side” but I’m not certain if that’s what you are meaning by two canals.

I think this is what she meant as she called it a faux canal. Anyway, I made sure I massaged the ear real good and try to slosh things around so you get at least some stuff in the right canal… Haha. Thanks for all your help!

[Author]

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