Help! Diagnose this young rabbit

[JBun]

I'm so happy you were able to help them. I hope the baby recovers quickly. Please keep us all updated on his progress.

 

[Pipp]

Unfortunately ear mite tend to multiply when other issues, like stress, are challenging the immune system. I don't like the looks of the sores on the back of the neck, I hope they're not bites. Do you know for sure the baby is a boy?

And almost any pesticide-free, clean grass will do, but if you want hay, just find someone with horses. Native diets vary from country to country, eg: a lot of Asian areas will use sweet potato vines as a staple. But any variety of vegetation is fine too.

A little pile of tree branches might be nice, tho not sure what you have there. I use fruit tree branches from fruit that doesn't have a pit, eg: apple and pear. Willow and birch are also good in this area. Just in case, I leave the leafs intact but I'll throw them in the oven on low for a few hours to dry up any sap and kill any bacteria, although either are rarely an issue.

Thanks for helping these guys.


sas :clover:

 

[Sweetie]

The mineral oil does work on ear mites, but you will have to do it for a total of three weeks as that is the life cycle of the ear mite. I had to use mineral oil for Sweetie's ears when she had ear mites for the second time and I didn't have money for a vet. Swab the mineral oil in the ear once or twice a day for three weeks. Then clean the ears with a cleanser made for rabbits ears, I believe it is called Otic cleanser but not totally sure.

 

[cornflakes]

Yes, it's a boy. After applying the medication on both of them, throughout the rest of the day I kept coming back to watch them. They seemed calm and they were often cuddled close together when they slept. I certainly hope to that the dad rabbit doesn't attack or bite the baby rabbit. I have yet to see it and just taking the word of the worker who told me.

But after reading a lot of info from others here and links, I'm sure its the ear mites problem that had been left alone and untreated for so long that is the main problem for the crust and fur loss. I remember clearly that it was only a small portion of the ears at first (the ends of the ears) and then it became the whole ear and then a small patch of fur loss appeared behind the neck and it was really spreading.

I'll be eagerly watching him everyday hoping to see improvement over the next 4 weeks. I have a second dose ready in case he might need it again in a month's time.

Meanwhile I'll be trying to buy some Timothy's Hay today if any local pet stores have any. I put in a cardboard house today but the dad rabbit was chewing and eating the cardboard. It had printed ink on it so I decided to take out the cardboard house. I threw in some non-printed cardboard pieces (i made it into a criss-cross structure and also into rings using slits to connect the ends and not tape or anything they might eat). The dad rabbit chewed on them a bit but i think they've never really seen anything like this before and probably were cautious.

I'll update here for the next month or so, hopefully with good news and back to full recovery.

 

[Sweetie]

The mineral oil does work on ear mites, but you will have to do it for a total of three weeks as that is the life cycle of the ear mite. I had to use mineral oil for Sweetie's ears when she had ear mites for the second time and I didn't have money for a vet. Swab the mineral oil in the ear once or twice a day for three weeks. Then clean the ears with a cleanser made for rabbits ears, I believe it is called Otic cleanser but not totally sure.

 

[cornflakes]

sorry i dont know how to delete multiple posts. it was lagged for 10 minutes!

 

[Pipp]

Unfortunately ear mite tend to multiply when other issues, like stress, are challenging the immune system. I don't like the looks of the sores on the back of the neck, I hope they're not bites. Do you know for sure the baby is a boy?

And almost any pesticide-free, clean grass will do, but if you want hay, just find someone with horses. Native diets vary from country to country, eg: a lot of Asian areas will use sweet potato vines as a staple. But any variety of vegetation is fine too.

A little pile of tree branches might be nice, tho not sure what you have there. I use fruit tree branches from fruit that doesn't have a pit, eg: apple and pear. Willow and birch are also good in this area. Just in case, I leave the leafs intact but I'll throw them in the oven on low for a few hours to dry up any sap and kill any bacteria, although either are rarely an issue.

Thanks for helping these guys.


sas :clover:

 

[cornflakes]

I have a quick question. I've already applied Revolution some 14 hours ago on the rabbits. While I'm waiting over the next 3-4 weeks, can I also pour a little bit of olive oil on the ears or the crusted parts? Do I need to wait until AFTER revolution is complete or can I do the olive oil thing at the same time (just wondering if the olive oil might counteract or interfere with revolution from doing its thing?).

The other problem with applying olive oil (i can't find mineral oil here) is that they are wild rabbits and dont come up to ppl. So the won't come up to me. Either I have to try and spend some time with them in the pen so they might get comfortable with me (cuz I feed them everyday) or just try to drop droplets onto the ear from outside the pen while hanging overtop/above the rabbit when its eating or resting.

 

[Geoff]

I would not touch the ears... Revolution or ivermectin will kill the mites and the ears will 'heal themselves'... it's actually pretty miraculous. Cleaning or treating these rabbit eats causes them unnecessary pain. Just wait. Revolution has to usually be given to rabbits every 2 weeks (they metabolize it a lot faster than a cat or dog does).

 

[cornflakes]

I think you're right. I guess I just thought maybe a "double team" (revolution from the inside and olive oil from the outside) could help. I read somewhere that the oil suffocates the ear mites so they die. I was thinking of just dropping some droplets without touching them since I can't even touch them (as they wont come to me).

But if you think it's best to just leave it and let Revolution do it's magic...then I shall step aside and painstakingly wait and watch.

Would you advise also NOT to feed them any hay or alfalfa hay at this time? Or is a little ok? The baby rabbit actually started to eat small pieces of cucumber I fed to the dad. I think he likes it now. He at it twice today but very slowly and then the dad rabbit finished his and took the rest the baby's cucumber slice lol.

 

[Imbrium]

I would definitely feed them some grass hay (ie anything but alfalfa) if you can find some, it's SO important for their digestion.

 

[whitelop]

They NEED hay. Hay is probably the most important thing you could feed them. Timothy hay, orchard grass, botanical hay, oat hay any of those.

What kind of enclosure are these rabbits in? A lot of this doesn't make any sense to me. Like how the rabbits are being kept, why they aren't socialized and why the people you work for don't want to take care of them.
I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering what is going on with this.

 

[JBun]

I know these aren't your rabbits, and you've done a wonderful thing in helping this little guy out. Hay is important for rabbits, so if you would like to get some for them and you are able to find some, I'm sure the rabbits will love it

It sounds like the cucumber was a hit! If you're feeding them veggie treats very often, they actually might become more friendly

It sounds like Geoff is suggesting to retreat in two weeks. That might be pretty important in making sure the mites don't come back, especially with them being as bad as they are on this rabbit.

I have a nephew that went to China and taught english there, and he commented that they didn't seem to treat their animals very well there. Have you found that to be the case as well there in Korea?

 

[Imbrium]

I've also heard 2 weeks due to rabbits metabolizing revolution faster than cats/dogs

 

[cornflakes]

@JBun, well in the rural area where I am, I think so but in the city, ppl are lot more animal friendly or at least I think so.

I know it's only been since Monday but just wanted to say that I think some of the crust has begun to fall off but the hair too, so the young rabbit has got some more bald patches but the pink skin looks clearer and hopefully that means the new hair will start to grow again. I'll post pictures a bit later on say around Friday-ish.

The other thing is I'm still not sure if the dad rabbit is responsible for some of the fur coming out. I see hairballs of fur on the ground and i dont know if it was due to natural shedding or forced hair pulled out by the dad rabbit biting or nibbing at the baby or if the process of crust falling off is the reason.

They stay together or cuddle a lot when they dont do anything (ie. rest or sleep) but im not sure if the dad rabbit is doing something harmful to the young rabbit.

 

[lauratunes12]

As somebody mentioned before, the dad might be trying to help the baby rabbit and just gets too rough.

I'm so glad you got medication and that it is helping!

 

[missyscove]

Thank you for taking the initiative and helping these rabbits! I agree with the advice to treat them again in 2 weeks (or at the very least treat the baby with the bad ears) as the half life of Selamectin is shorter in rabbits than in the cats and dogs it is marketed for.

 

[JBun]

It's possible the dad could be mounting the baby, and pulling out tufts of fur when he does it, but that doesn't mean that the dad is attacking the baby. If that was happening, I think you would be more likely finding wounds on the baby.

 

[cornflakes]

Yes, I did see once the dad was trying to mount the baby but other times it was chasing the baby around from time to time and I didnt get to see what it was going to do cuz the baby rabbit kept running away. Shortly after though the baby goes to the dad rabbit and snuggles with him...i even saw the dad rabbit today lay down for the first time and the baby rabbit kinda lay on him. So i'm confused. I looked closely at the exposed skin on the back (which is quite big now...almost the size of my palm) and while it looks cleaner than before (less scabs/crust) it does look like there are tiny red dots around...not bleeding but kinda reddish tiny dots ...not sure if they are bite marks or scratch marks.

I could get a picture if you want?

 

[JBun]

They could be bite marks from the mounting. Normally a buck would kind of grab a hold of the doe (or his baby in this case) with his teeth, on the middle or upper back area while he is doing the mounting. And all the chasing around that the dad is doing, is most likely that he is trying to mount the baby and the baby doesn't want to let him and so is running away. I don't think the baby would be snuggling with dad if dad was scaring him and attacking him.