Ear problem?! Scared and not sure what to do!

[zebraprint]

I was holding Abby close to my face with her right side close to me and I pulled her away for a minute and noticed I had gotten a bit of lipstick on her cheek close to her ear. I went to rub it out with my finger and she started frantically shaking her head and scratching her ear. I checked it out and nothing's in there... but that was about 10 mins ago and she's still shaking her head back and forth a couple a times every minute or so... Anyone know what could have happened. She seems okay, maybe it was really itchy?

 

[zebraprint]

*insert sigh of relief here*
Abby's calmed down now. I wiped at her cheek and just under her ear with a damp cloth and she shook her head and was cleaning herself frantically for a few more minutes before settling down and heading to her litter for some hay. She's sprawled out on the other side of the cage now about to doze.. so I think she's okay. Still not sure what happened... but just a little scary for a few minutes.

 

[zebraprint]

And it's started up again on and off... is it possible something's in her ear? Has this happened before to anyone? She's also keeping it (the right ear) down mostly... when should I be worried and calling a vet?
I looked really well and gently and can't see anything wrong with it....

 

[ZRabbits]

Had the same kind of scare with my Willard. He was laying down in his crate and then all of sudden jumped up and started to shake his head, scratch his ear and really looked upset. I got him out and after a lot of looking in his ear with a very high powered flashlight, we found a minor scratch due to straw or his nail scratching. My husband got Willard calmed down and put some room temperature hydrogen peroxide on it (very, VERY little) and cleaned the area very lightly. Willard was very thankful but still held that ear to his body for some time. By morning, everything was back to normal. Willard was fine and both ears were up and alert waiting for us to come see him.

I don't know what happened to your bunny, but this was our experience.

Hope all is OK now.

K

 

[zebraprint]

I've checked the ear a couple times and can't find anything, but she seems better. I'm watching it though and she may be favoring it (she was keeping it lower/less active than the other) still but only a bit... or I'm just getting paranoid. So I'm hoping it was a teeny tiny scratch somehow and just checking it over the next couple days. It doesn't help that I changed her hay yesterday to the spare alfalfa hay (I do this when I run out of Timothy Hay and don't have time to get to the store for a day or two) and it makes her pretty wired.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

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