A lot of you rabbit folks on here have chatted with me and heard about my grumpy old man (rabbit lol) Lion. He's a Lionhead I found over 9 years ago (probably closer to 10 years now). I suspect he's around 11-12 years old by now.
Was just giving him a beauty treatment today (got him groomed, nails trimmed, scent glands cleaned, y'know the works) and lastly I was giving his ears a flush since I haven't done that in a while. He had an ear infection a while ago, probably a few months ago now, and the vet told us to give him ear flushes every now and again with a saline solution they gave us.
I did his right ear first, and usually he'll shake and scratch at his ear (which is what I want him to do) but when we got to his left side he was barely scratching at his ear at all. Instead he twisted his head way sideways and just kind of half heartedly scratched or twitched his foot at his ear. He got a couple scratches in but he mostly just stood there with his head bent. Did it on my lap or on the ground (we have a screened in porch I was doing this on). Just standing there shaking most of the time.
He hops around with no trouble and I haven't seen him off balance. I thought perhaps he was getting arthritis in that leg? Or maybe it's just old age finally catching up with him? I don't know.
I wanted to ask around here for some opinions. Anyone have any ideas what's wrong?
Usually he scratches and shakes with gusto on both sides. He was certainly doing it with his right side today. I'm not too worried yet but I want to keep an eye on him. I'm not taking him to the vet unless it gets worse or until I do some more thorough research.
Was just giving him a beauty treatment today (got him groomed, nails trimmed, scent glands cleaned, y'know the works) and lastly I was giving his ears a flush since I haven't done that in a while. He had an ear infection a while ago, probably a few months ago now, and the vet told us to give him ear flushes every now and again with a saline solution they gave us.
I did his right ear first, and usually he'll shake and scratch at his ear (which is what I want him to do) but when we got to his left side he was barely scratching at his ear at all. Instead he twisted his head way sideways and just kind of half heartedly scratched or twitched his foot at his ear. He got a couple scratches in but he mostly just stood there with his head bent. Did it on my lap or on the ground (we have a screened in porch I was doing this on). Just standing there shaking most of the time.
He hops around with no trouble and I haven't seen him off balance. I thought perhaps he was getting arthritis in that leg? Or maybe it's just old age finally catching up with him? I don't know.
I wanted to ask around here for some opinions. Anyone have any ideas what's wrong?
Usually he scratches and shakes with gusto on both sides. He was certainly doing it with his right side today. I'm not too worried yet but I want to keep an eye on him. I'm not taking him to the vet unless it gets worse or until I do some more thorough research.
