Thin fur on baby’s ears???

[luvmycritters]

Hello Everyone!  I’m a brand new owner of two bunny brothers, 8 weeks of age, and I have a question:  One of the bunny’s fur on the ears seems a little more sparse than the rest of his body, but the other brother has noticeably less fur on his ears. 

I do not see any signs of mites, dry skin, etc.  Is it common for a two-month-old baby bunny’s fur to have not filled in completely on the ears?  If not, any ideas as to what it could be?

Thanks for any responses!

Terry

[BinkyBunny]

Fur on ears, even on adults, is usually thinner than the rest of their body. And of course, with babies, it can be even thinner. That’s normal.  But do you have any pictures you can post?  Are we talking almost bald ears?  Do they groom each other – lick each other’s ears?

I am also checking with allexperts vet , and a friend who is also a rabbit expert about this. I’ll get back to you with their answers.

[MooBunnay]

Hello luvmycritters! Congrats on your bunny family! Just as a side note, how were your bunnies sexed? If it was by a pet store I highly reccomend taking them to a rabbit rescue or vet to get them sexed to make sure you really do have two boys – bunnies can get pregnant at 12 weeks old and it is extremely common to get bunnies that have not been properly sexed if they are from a store – you don’t want to end up with an unexpected multiplication of bunnies!

Concerning the bald ears – as BinkyBunny asked, is the one with the bald ears getting groomed a lot in that area? Bunnies can overgroom or ‘barbar’ each other when they get nervous – possibly because they are adjusting to their new surroundings. Try giving them lots of toys, and try to keep them on a regular schedule to help them adjust!

[luvmycritters]

I took some pics, but I haven’t been able to upload them to my computer.  I’m waiting on my daughter to do it for me!!! 

Anyhow, don’t worry about an unexpected pregnancy.  My 25-year-old daughter actually wanted one of the babes, and she actually came tonight and took our "Gizmo" away. 

I’ve decided that they must have ear mites.  I have seen them both scratching their ears, and it makes sense to me that this is what is causing the problem.  I can hardly get them to stay still long enough to get a good look inside the ears.  I’ve taken a look at some other pics on the internet of 8-week-old Holland Lops, and they all have "furry" ears.

Is there anything over the counter that I can use for ear mites, or does this require a visit to the vet??? 

As soon as I can get the pics uploaded, I will post a picture so you can see.

Thanks!

Terry

[BinkyBunny]

Well I learned something new when seeking out information about why ears would be baldish if there weren’t mites present –  the one expert I talked to said that babies at the the bottom of the pile (of other babies) don’t always grow fur on their ears like the ones on the top (guess they don’t need it since they’d be all nice and cozy)   Anyway, she said the fur eveuntually fills in.   So before I read your second post, I thought I’d pass along that info just in case yours were "bottom bunnies" (though I know you may not know the history of their position) 

However, now that you are saying their ears may seem bothersome to them afterall, then I think a trip to the vet would be best.   If they have mites, a series of Ivermectin treatments is known to be the best as it gets rid of the mites, their eggs etc.   There are some other treatments, but so far nothing seems to work as well as Ivermectin.  And my understanding is that is only available at a vet, plus only a vet should distribute it as an overdose can be deadly.

Do you have a rabbit savvy vet?

[luvmycritters]

Yes, we have a “farm” vet who is very experienced with rabbits. I am going to take them in sometime soon.

In the meantime, we were able to get a really good look inside their ears last night. They looked totally clean. I took a cotton swab with baby oil on it and swabbed the ears. NOTHING was present on the swab. I’m going to check closely for fleas this evening when my daughter gets home to help me, but we haven’t seen anything that looks like flea dirt.

I’ve been watching them…yes, they scratch from time to time at their ears, but do rabbits ever scratch their ears? Now, I don’t know if the scratching is anything to worry about. If they had “fur” mites, what would I be looking for?

I heard from a Holland Lop breeder who told me that this is very common. That her babes sometimes have so little fur on their ears that it looks translucent (which is how the one bun looks right now). She said that they go through the “uglies” and that the fur should fill in completely by the time they’re six months old.

So, my plan is to take them on to the vet to make sure there’s nothing going on. If not, I’m not going to worry about it…I’ll just wait for the fur to fill in.

Thanks,
Terry

[luvmycritters]

Finally I have a picture to show everyone.  This is Gizmo and the brownish coloring on his ear is actually the skin showing through…I’m assuming it’s going to fill in as time goes on.

Terry

 

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[Gravehearted]

oooo Gizmo is precious!! what a cutie, he’s soooo tiny. his ears look ok to me, it’s common for the fur to be a lot lighter / thinner on the ears – especially babies.

[luvmycritters]

Thanks for the compliment on Gizmo! The guy in the pic is my 25-year-old daughter’s boyfriend. Gizmo is their “baby”. We kept Pongo…they’re virtually identical twins except that Gizmo has a little brown around his nose…and the slightly thinner fur on the ears…otherwise, we wouldn’t have known who was who! Actually, they look so much alike that the first pic I had as my Avatar I realized later was Gizmo, so I just switched the pics a little while ago…WILL THE REAL PONGO PLEASE STAND UP!!! (You may not be old enough to know what that last comment meant…)

Anyhow, they are both totally precious!

Terry

[BinkyBunny]

SOOOOOOO cute! Oh, and yes, it is normal for bunnies to scratch their ears. It’s only when you notice them doing it more than normal that it can be cause for concern.    So I’m 40 years old, and I don’t know what  "Will the real Pongo Stand Up" refers to.    All I can think of  is "Will the real slim shady please stand up…please stand up"

Is it broadcast related? Would I have seen it on TV? If so,  I don’t know what your talking about probably because I grew up in a small podunk town of Alaska, we only had three tv channels, and some goofy radio stations, (I used to listen to TV stations though on the radio – listened to cartoons – you have to have a great imagination for that.)   I just started creating my own pretend radio shows with the tape recorder and using the garage as the stage for a pretend television show.  You can see I was sorely deprived….and bored.   Maybe that’s why I escaped to the "lower 48" soon after my 18th birthday.   So you’ve sparked my curiosity, what does it mean, what does it mean?!

[luvmycritters]

“Will the real ___________ please stand up” refers to a show back in the 60s called To Tell the Truth. I am 47 this year and I was pretty young when that show aired, so you are probably too young to remember. On that show, they would have three people all claiming to be the same person. The contestant would ask questions and it was their challenge to determine who was telling the truth. After the contestant had made their decision, then they would say “Would the real…” and the real person would stand up…and we would all gasp, laugh, etc. (Guess it didn’t take much to entertain us back then!!!) Anyhow, that phrase just popped in my head last night since I had confused their pics – not hard to confuse me these days!

I’m so glad I found your site. My 16-year-old registered, as well, last night. The info here is invaluable!!! We’ve never had bunnies before, only dogs and cats. If it wasn’t for this site, we would be thinking the bunnies didn’t like us ’cause they don’t want to cuddle up with us for hours on end. I have a LOT to learn about rabbits!!!

Terry

[Lionbunny]

Ohhhh I’ve watched reruns of that show on Game Show Network I believe… someone will go on who is a lion trainer or something like that, and two other people will pretend also to be the lion trainer, and they get interviewed by the person playing… It’s a very good show, I think

PS The bunny in the avatar is adorable! So is the Pongo imposter

[luvmycritters]

Thank you for the compliments!  Your baby is precious!

I’ll have to check out the Game Show Network…I’ve never turned it on…probably a lot of shows from my childhood!

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Ha! So I don’t know if anyone will remember this post but…that’s my little Gizmo back when my mom was trying to figure out his ear baldness! Just wanted to let everyone know that the fur did fill in after a few weeks. Guess maybe he was a “bottom bunny”. It was his bald ears that got him the name Gizmo. When you would look at him from behind and he had his little ears to the side the light would shine through and they looked like Gremlin ears!

…and never, never feed him after midnight!

[babybunsmum]

lol… i thought ‘…please stand up’ was referring to slim shady too.  should’ve known eminem got that from somewhere! 

your bun is adoreable!  my lop is a senior – 7yrs old – and i recently noticed that her ear fur seems to be thinning.  i wouldn’t have noticed actually, except i was looking at a pic of her fromseveral years ago.  i assume its an age thing since she doesn’t scratch at her ears a lot and since neither the dog or i over groom them    maybe we can start a fur-club for buns?

[Beka27]

haha!  i was with BinkyBunny and babybunsmum thinking of Eminem!  i’m 24…

welcome here!  they are both such beautiful bunnies!  i’m excited to ehar more about them and you.  is this your first house rabbit?

[Gizmo_Fluffybutt]

Yep, first house rabbits for both myself and my sister. I didn’t intend to get a bunny, I was just riding along with my sister to get hers, but I couldn’t help myself. When we got back my boyfriend came over and we were showing him the bunnies and I asked if he thought we could get a bunny. As soon as he said sure I was like “yay – cause this one’s ours!!!!”. That’s the day the picture was taken of him holding little baby Gizmo with the little bald ears! As soon as I get my camera software set up I’ll upload a photo of him now, all grown-up *sigh*

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