Horrible, horrible ear mite infection not improving

[mlittle]

Our rabbit Thumper (the kids named her!) is an almost 2-yr-old big beautiful NZ. She has always been our biggest doe and very healthy. She has had 5 litters. She was born in Ohio and we lived there until she was 18 months when we moved to Savannah, GA which was in July. After several months of miscarriages due to heat and a predator problem, she finally kindled 2 weeks ago, 7 kits.

The day before she kindled I noticed she had ear mites. We have had rabbits for almost two years, always kept outdoors in wire cages, and NEVER had a mite problem. I rubbed her ears all over with oil and she kindled that night. For the first 6 days, I applied oil every other day but I noticed the mites were getting worse. She was miserable.

I started applying oil every day and did until yesterday. She has lost all the fur on her ears and around the base of them, partway down the back of her neck and fur loss is creeping closer to her eyes. The scabs went away for a few days but now they're back. She looks horrible!

However, due to the discomfort and stress of the mites, we have had two babies die of starvation and the others aren't very chubby. We are holding out that they can live for one more week and start them on pellets early, but she goes in to feed them every few hours and basically sits in her nest box all night. Shes always had very big healthy babies and we haven't lost any after the first litter (a unexpected heavy freeze killed her first litter). We are terrified of the other five dying because we are planning on expanding our rabbitry and we had 3 miscarriages with her while trying to control the predators.

What do I do? Around here rabbits are "exotic" and the few vets who are willing to see her don't have opening soon/are on Christmas vacation. I know we could give her ivermectin, Revolution, cat flea powder but because of the kits I am really hesitant to do anything with chemicals. Buy she is miserable and we hate seeing her suffer. Would a medication be worth it in this case?

She is very healthy and eats pellets and fresh fruits and veggies every day. She has always been an easygoing rabbit but has grown increasingly morose during this infection.

 

[ladysown]

1. get her a separate box to sit in so she's not in with the kits. OR remove the box from her and return twice a day for feedings. Personally... a doe who gives you three miscarriages... isn't a doe I'd be using a foundation stock for a new herd.

2. throw some ivermectin in her. Where to get it? Get some horse wormer paste with ivermectin or bimectin in it. Take a pea sized amount (think normal pea size not baby or giant pea). Put it on a popsicle stick and plop it in her mouth. 10 days later repeat. Kills the mites.

3. figure out where the mites are coming from or you'll just get repeated infections. For all you know at this point though the ear mites could be so deep into her ear canal as to be causing some major damage.

All you can do is try though. You cannot keep her the way you are now. It's not good for anyone, particularly the rabbit. Poor thing.

 

[JBun]

Liquid ivermectin(Ivomec) is much better for getting an accurate dosage with. I've read of people accidentally overdosing their rabbits with the horse paste, as the ivermectin isn't consistent throughout the tube.

With it being a really bad case, you may need to give 3 or even 4 doses 10-14 days apart. There's also the chance of an infection having developed. A visit to the vet would be best. They can give Revolution(selamectin), which only requires one or two doses, 30 days apart. Revolution may even be a better choice. I don't know if it is considered safer for nursing animals or not. Plus if she is in pain, she should really be getting some metacam for the pain as well. Then there's the possible need for antibiotics. The babies may need treatment as well. I don't know if anything is passed on through nursing or not. At this point you do need to treat this more aggressively with proven meds.

http://medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/earmite/Psoroptes.htm

I agree with ladysown, that you will need to figure out if it's a one off thing, or if the mites are being spread from bedding, hay, etc. You will at least want to give her living space a thorough cleaning and replace any hay or bedding.

 

[majorv]

You could also get the liquid ivermectin and put a couple of drops in each ear. Given how far it's gone, dosing orally might be better. We've had to give it to pregnant does, with no problem. You really don't have a choice at this point, and clean everything real well. We never knew for sure where the mites came from in our case. We were at a rabbit show so it's very possible ours picked it up there.