Ear mites in rabbits?

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sophiaw00

sophiaw00

Songster
Apr 27, 2015
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Illinois
My newest pet, Ollie, was dumped outside in negative degree weather and survived on his own for who knows how long. He has really bad cataracs in one eye that prevent him from seeing out of it and has a pretty bad case of ear mites that I need help treating. I don't have any medication for it, so I tried a home remedy tonight of a few drops of olive oil in his ears. He hated it and was very upset with me about it. Is there an easier way to treat it? He hates me touching his ears, so I've had to restrain him (gently), quickly stick the dropper by his ear and spray the drops into it. I do it twice with each ear because hs shakes his head and gets some of it out. I'm afraid it won't work? He also has a lot of gunk in his ear from it and I'm not sure if I should be pulling it out or not.


Also, does anybdoy have any idea on a breed?

 
No rabbit likes to have their ears treated for ear mites. Restraining him by wrapping him in a towel will help. I use baby oil to drown the mites. You can clean some of the gunk off of his ears as it comes out, but sticking a q-tip in the ear of a fighting rabbit can be dangerous.
 
What enola said. There may be open wounds under some of that gunk, which can be really, really sore. The oil can help to soften that stuff up; a lot of it will come out on its own.
 
One of my favorite treatments for mites is ivermectin injected subq once and then a second time two weeks later. Ivermectin is very effective at killing mites and is relatively safe for use in rabbits with the right dose. Most of the studies I just glanced at showed use via subq injection but I didn't look at the efficacy and safety of pour on, which is another easy option.

I've heard that the oil works as well and as long as you can get the rabbits to cooperate for it, it should eventually clear up the mites. I liked restraining rabbits by using a sock that fit them snugly with holes cut out for the ears (I used to tattoo and this was an easy way to restrain on my own). When the rabbits are held snugly like that, they tend to react a lot less.

I know it is tempting, but don't pull any of he crusty stuff out of the ears. You could risk opening a sore that can get infected, and it is pretty painful. The crust will come out of the ear as it heals and the rabbit grooms.
 

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