White “crystals” on ears… what could it be?

[Vienna Blue in France]

Hello all,

Whilst giving my bun ear massages (like any devoted bunny owner does!) I noticed on both ‘rear’ edges of her ears a slight white line (she’s vienna blue). On closer inspection they are small white crystal shapes side by side making a line. With rubbing they don’t come off so aren’t dry skin, but are hard, like large salt. My vet didn’t know what it was (he said “all the blood vessels go out to and end at the edges of the ears and maybe they were ‘blocked up’ and are now producing these “crystals”…..”) and gave an anti-bacterial cream for direct application (with a massage of course) and an antimite pipete for her neck. The crystals seem to have reduced in size but are still there. (Not sure which of the vet’s treatment had effect, if any, or if its just coincidence they’ve reduced in size….)

She doesn’t seem particularly bothered by them, she doesn’t scratch and I can touch them. But they’re obviously not normal. 

The photo was difficult to take (with one hand) as it is very thin on the edges of her ears and the camera wouldn’t focus on her dark fur – hence the presence of my finger! But I think it’s OK to see the “crystals”.

Any ideas greatly received, thank you.

[Vienna Blue in France]

(PS : I hope I’ve uploaded the photos correctly…..)

[Bam]

I can’t see your photos. If they are bigger than 500 Kb you need to resize them, you can do that using a free program called VarieDrop. Or you can upload them to an external source like Photobucket or Picasa and paste the link here. Or upload them to your photoalbum in your profile and ask people to go there to look at them.

I have never heard of crystals on bunny ears, but in people, demodex mites can cause little crystals to form in their eye-lashes. The mites live in the hair-follicles and as long as they can’t multiply excessively, they don’t do any harm. Not saying this is what causes the crystals on your bunny’s ear, but if it is mites, the anti-mite droplets should take care of them within a week. It’s great that she doesn’t seem bothered by them.

[jerseygirl]

Does she spend time with another rabbit or other pet that grooms her?

If you don’t mind my asking, what was the anti – mite medication the vet gave you?

[Vienna Blue in France]

(OK so it helps if I’d clicked on ‘insert image’…. got it – here they are !)

To Jerseygirl – the name “Advocate Spot On” is on the invoice and I can put another one on 4-6 weeks after the first which is in one week.   The cream was Cortanmycetine.

The crystals were all along the ‘rear’ edge of both ears from the base right up to the tip. Funnily enough not at all on the ‘front’ edges.

[Bam]

Advocate is effective against demodex mites. It’s not effective against the most common type of mites on bunnies, fur mites, but those on the other hand have other symptoms (skin flakes, like dandruff) and are generally found on the back or the nape of a bunny’s neck. Great pix! Really weird condition though =(

The cream is a glucocorticoid (prednisolone) and broad-spectrum antibiotic (chloramphenicol) cream for use on skin and ears for infections sensitive to chloramphenicol. Chloramphenicol is bunny safe according to medirabbit. 

[Vienna Blue in France]

Well there’s no dandruff, so that’s good and another pipette of Advocate will prove if it was that which helped the first time or not…
Thanks for the medication précisions bam – though I felt I was learning an eastern european language trying to pronounce all of that ! (Easy when you’ve ‘got it’ but like learning to read again for the first couple of trys !)
I’m pretty sure the guilty culprits (whatever they were) came from a dodgy hay portion which has long gone in the bin…

[Bam]

I hope she’ll be fine soon! She seems rather fine as it is, so whatever this is, it doesn’t seem to be sth very serious =) Mites can exist in low numbers on rabbits and in fact, they generally do (even most people seem to have demodex mites on their faces!), but it’s not until the mites get a chance to multiply rapidly and uncontrolledly that they cause a problem. They can get the opportunity to multiply when there’s a dip in a bunny’s immune defense, which is common f ex during a heavy shed.

Please keep us posted if you like, many of us are very interested and I don’t think we’ve had a bunny with crystals on its ears before. Many vibes for her quick recovery!

[Vienna Blue in France]

I will do, now I’ve found you….! Thanks for all your information.

Another question though its prob not supposed to be in this post (oups)… my bun lives in freedom outside (a fenced off terrace with no predators) and comes into the kitchen when I’m home. Now it’s coming into winter I wondered at what temperature I should bring her in? She’s got a humungous coat on her and won’t be too happy in her indoor cage overnight but I don’t want her getting cold…

[Bam]

Rabbits can switch between being outdoors and indoors if the temperature difference is less than 10 degrees C or so. If it gets colder outside, she’ll probably be too hot inside. Rabbits cope well with cold but they need a hutch that’s elevated off the ground and shelter from wind, rain and snow and direct sunlight .If it gets freezing cold bunnies can still live outside provided they have a hiuch like I describe above, but you must provide fresh water twice daily because it will of course freeze.
I’d not recommend that a bunny be kept outside in below zero degrees though, even if they are terrific at keeping themselves warm, but I’m a house-bunny person so my bunnies are always indoors. The above is what the law in my country says about outdoors pet rabbits, I’m in Sweden, we have lots of laws for the protection of animals and it gets really cold here in winter.
Rabbits can live outside without an external heat-source like chicken needs, because they get very thick fur in low temps, but they will need additional food because keeping warm costs calories.
Could you perhaps arrange for her to sleep indoors during winter and go outside for a couple of hours during the day? I’m guessing she enjoys the outdoors

[Vienna Blue in France]

Oh yes of course she could sleep indoors. I have a large dog cage which she stayed in whilst I realised she was houdini and could jump over the 1m high fencing (YES! using the wall as a push off, I’ve got it on camera as I was mystified how she got over it as a youngster)!!!!!! LOL
In the winter I suppose the house is likely to be around 18 deg with zero or less outside which is a big change in temp, so maybe she is better outside (and happier not shut in) and I’m guessing if she’s cold then she’ll choose to go up into her 3 storey open-all-hours bunny condo which is sheltered from everything and just outside the lounge’s sliding doors. (And if there’s a really cold spell on the way I’ll bring her in overnight)
Sweden? Lovely, but ohhhh yes, reaaaaaally cold in the winter! I’m a Brit in France, unsurprisingly I’m not sure there are ‘any’ laws for the protection of rabbits….

[Bam]

If she has shelter raised above the ground and she’s healthy and all, I think she’ll be fine outside. But I can’t really recommend it since this is a house bunny forum. In my personal opinion it rather depends on the bunny and the five freedoms of animal care. I quote from wikipedia but I learned about the concept in a MOOC on Animal Wellfare by the uni of Edinburg:

“The five freedoms as currently expressed are:

Freedom from hunger or thirst by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigour
Freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
Freedom from pain, injury or disease by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment
Freedom to express (most) normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind

Freedom from fear and distress by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_freedoms

The 5 freedoms has an element of freedom of choice to them with regards to the animal’s own choices, and although freedom of choice for any living being can be debated as a philosophical question, we do nowadays generally think that animals in captivity are entitled to and capable of making choices of their own. The choices are of course not huge life-choices regarding the future etc, they are about providing an environment with shelter and enrichment where the animal can chose what to do and where and when etc. If she wants to be outside, is used to it and wouldn’t fare as well indoors, it is physically possible for her to live outside in France. I’m assuming she’s had her myxo ans RHD shots. Those diseases are rampant in France as well as here in Sweden.

(The reason why the text says most natural behaviors is that a bunny f ex can scream with terror, but we don’t have to provide terrors just for the rabbit to be able to perform the natural behavior of screaming with fear.)

Here many people house their pet bunnies inside during winter and then keep them outside during summer.

Sorry if I’m wordy. This is a subject dear to me, animal wellfare =)

[Vienna Blue in France]

Thanks for the info, yes I’ve read about the 5 Freedoms – its the same ‘bible’ for the RSPCA and which I’m totally in agreement with.
And she absolutely does have them – there’s no worries there.
(The only “mental suffering” she has is choosing which (empty) plastic flower pot to throw about next….. Funnily enough although she wants to chew pretty much everything else the flower pots are obviously there just for olympic hammer-throwing practice with her mouth !!)

No worries for being wordy, I’m sorry for bringing up an outside question.
She ‘was’ supposed to be a full-time house bunny, I wasn’t expecting a Vienna Blue which is 5 times bigger … (but I love her 5 times as much !) :o))
Now I know what to look for in the next house move – a bunny play room !!

[Bam]

I don’t doubt for a sceond that you love her, you seem like a very loving bunny-mommy =) She looks truly beautiful in your avatar. Sorry for repeating to you what you are already well aware of – but it’s rather interesting stuff and maybe other people happen to read the thread =)

Don’t be sorry for asking about outdoors bunnies, we love all bunnies here, whether they’re indoors or outdoors. But most of us here probably have little or no personal experience with keeping bunnies outside.

My bunnies are sometimes subject to mental suffering of the type you mention. Should I chew a hole in mommy’s bedsheets now or is it more urgent that I destroy my newest cardboard box? =)

[Author]

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