Bunny cut his ear — stitches?

[serabeth]

Hi,

My lop was trying to bite his sister through a baby gate that we had up to separate them. He got his ear caught in it somehow and panicked, pulled it down on himself, and tore away from the gate.

I did not see the original wound, but my husband said it is a tear at the end of his ear that goes about a third of the way across. I tried to take pictures, but he is self conscious of the wound lol and keeps turning away from me when I try to see it.

We attempted to call the vet that neutered him for advice, but did not have any luck. There are no rabbit vets in the area, including that one. I would rather not have to drive 2 hours to the nearest one if it is not necessary. But how do I know if it needs stitches?

I can’t see the wound very well through the bandages my husband put on and I don’t want to remove them. But it stopped bleeding and appears to have closed completely.

We don’t care what he looks like cosmetically, but the concern is if the ear does not grow back together, what if there is then a small flap and it becomes more likely to snag on something?

My husband did put some triple antibiotic ointment on the wound before putting the bandaids on, and it doesn’t appear to be infected. Just wanted to know if anyone has experienced this with their bunny before. I tried to google it and found some interesting articles that seem to suggest rabbit ears can regenerate to some extent?

The bandaid keeps getting looser because he scratches at it from time to time. Not looking forward to pulling it off though because I’m sure we’ll rip out some fur as well .

 

[JBun]

The ear won't regenerate, though it can close over and heal if the tear isn't too severe. But a significant tear will likely require stitches or the avulsed part of the ear be surgically removed.

The main issues will be that in the case of a large part of the ear torn, that this partially severed flap may not have a blood supply restored and so become necrotic dead tissue. In which case, this would be why surgical removal of the avulsed flap is necessary. Then there's the risk of infection, which will likely need a rabbit safe antibiotic prescribed.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm
So, you'll need to determine if the wound is a minor laceration that is likely to heal without needing a vet. If you feel this is the case, I would suggest to keep a very close eye on it's healing, and if there is any sign of the tissue becoming necrotic or signs of infection, I would suggest getting your rabbit seen to immediately.

If you aren't sure how bad it is, it's best to have a knowledgeable rabbit vet check it out.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

 

[serabeth]

The ear won't regenerate, though it can close over and heal if the tear isn't too severe. But a significant tear will likely require stitches or the avulsed part of the ear be surgically removed.

The main issues will be that in the case of a large part of the ear torn, that this partially severed flap may not have a blood supply restored and so become necrotic dead tissue. In which case, this would be why surgical removal of the avulsed flap is necessary. Then there's the risk of infection, which will likely need a rabbit safe antibiotic prescribed.

http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Antibiotics/Safe_antibiotics.htm
So, you'll need to determine if the wound is a minor laceration that is likely to heal without needing a vet. If you feel this is the case, I would suggest to keep a very close eye on it's healing, and if there is any sign of the tissue becoming necrotic or signs of infection, I would suggest getting your rabbit seen to immediately.

If you aren't sure how bad it is, it's best to have a knowledgeable rabbit vet check it out.

https://rabbit.org/veterinarians/

Okay, thank you! My husband is much better at handling the bunny than I am -- I think he senses my uncertainty and always runs away from me. He'll squish himself down for my husband though and let him do things like clip his nails and such lol. So I'll wait until he is able to check on the wound and we'll see how it looks.

I'll try to get some good pictures of it and email the vet that we go to and see if he has an opinion....he really is not a rabbit specialty vet, but he's all we have in the area that will even look at a rabbit. He is a regular vet though, so I assume he'd be able to determine better than we would if we need to take him in to treat his ear.

 

[serabeth]

Seems to be healing so far. I’ve been squeezing a bit of antibiotic ointment onto it every so often. There’s a lot of scabbing over, but as far as I can tell it looks normal and other than occasionally scratching at the bandage, he seems unbothered by it and is playing as usual .

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Generally, after 4 hours stitching is not a good idea unless the area gets cleaned off making it like a fresh wound. Best to keep and eye out for problems--necrotic tissue and infection.