Please help bad ear

[hwilde26]

I'm new here. From Tx a family friend has a bunny with a wounded ear. I think it's really bad ear mites because she's had them before. I cleaned the ear with warm water and put mineral oil in it. What else can I do? I feel so bad for her :/

 

[Imbrium]

Poor girl! Unfortunately, she really needs to go see a rabbit-savvy vet - there's no way around it that isn't going to make her miserable for a lot longer than she needs to be. Aggressive treatment is needed to quickly and effectively get rid of mites - selamectin (Revolution) is generally considered the best route, but ivermectin is also viable. Given how bad her ear looks, the vet may also prescribe metacam (for pain/inflammation).

Revolution is incredibly safe for rabbits... here's a recent post regarding dosage:

Rabbits have a much faster metabolism then dogs and cats. And due to this, with the way some drugs are metabolised through their system, require much different doses then dogs and cats. Another common thing to see with heavy infestations is dosing weekly/bi-weekly instead of monthly.

Revolution is a very safe drug. Numerous studies have been done and shown it safe at more then 20x the recommended dose.

5lb rabbit = 2.2kg. 18mg/kg
2.2kg rabbit x 18mg = 39.6mg so round up to a 40mg dose.

The revolution for cats you were given is the "Blue" so it has 45mg per tube.
Here is a break down that shows all the colours in comparison https://www.revolution4dogs.com/media/5604/revo%20pi.pdf

Never, EVER administer over-the-counter flea/tick medications for cats or dogs to a bunny and never let a vet prescribe Frontline (fipronil) - the vast majority of cat/dog medications have a main ingredient that's potentially fatal to bunnies. Revolution and Advantage are the only two that are safe for rabbits (and Advantage doesn't work on ear mites).

Texas is a massive state... but if you guys happen to be in the San Antonio or Houston area, I could recommend one of my exotics vets

 

[hwilde26]

We are in cypress right outside of Houston

 

[Imbrium]

Wow, quite close to me! Surprising, for such a huge state, lol. I'm slightly NE of I-10 and the beltway.

My vet here in Houston is
Animal Avian Hospital of the Village
2422 Robinhood St
Houston, TX 77005
(713) 524-3800

Dr. Jordan is an exceptional vet... their exam fees are a bit high, though (granted, I also got really spoiled by my San Antonio vet - Dr. McGeehee charges $46 for one pet/$58 for 2+ pets with no limit on the "+"; Dr. Jordan doesn't have any sort of multi-pet discount and we've got 8 pets). It's either $75 or $79 for an exam at AAHV, I forget which. They're also off of 59 by 610 on the south/southwest side of town, which is pretty far.

I'd recommend him in a heartbeat for serious/difficult to treat stuff but for something routine like mites, I would honestly go for a cheaper and closer exotics vet. When I moved here, I was referred to Dr. Jordan by a large-scale breeder I've gotten a few of my sugar gliders from - he treats all of their gliders, so I've been using him for my little glidies (they've had numerous vet trips since I moved here last May while the bunnies haven't needed to go at all... though we're a bit past due for a check-up now).

Houston vets who treat rabbits... of that list, these five are the closest I saw to the Cypress area:
Animal Emergency & Referral Center Of West Houston
Bingle Veterinary Clinic
Memorial 610 Hospital-Animals
VCA Spring Branch Animal Hospital
Prestonwood Animal Clinic

There are two bunny vets in Katy; they're closer to you than a lot of the Houston ones.

My recommendation is to start calling around to the 7 that are closest (well, after the holiday, anyway) to find out who's familiar with rabbit ear mites, has a cheap exam fee and can schedule an appointment for the bunny very soon. Also, you might check online and at HEB to see what the prices are like for Revolution so that you'll know if the vet tries to really overcharge you at the appointment - if their exam fee's great but they price-gouge on the drugs, you can always get them to write a prescription instead and then get it filled somewhere cheaper.

 

[Imbrium]

Between now and the vet appointment, you guys will need to keep an eye on how much she's eating, drinking, pooping and peeing - GI stasis isn't particularly likely with mites, but in a severe case there's a chance she could go off her food because she's in pain or very uncomfortable. Once a rabbit has gone 8-12+ hours without eating, drinking and/or pooping, it's a medical emergency... however, if you caught a lack of appetite very early, you could treat with home remedies and avoid a trip to an e-vet. If you run into that issue, I can give you a run-down on the home remedies and I've actually got almost everything needed for them - only thing I'm missing from my first aid kit is Critical Care, and I've got a new bag arriving on Saturday.

If you can't get her into a vet on the 26th, I could meet up with you sometime that day and give you a little bottle of vetericyn to spritz on her ears (it won't actually treat the mites, but it soothes, disinfects, etc. and is 100% animal safe even if ingested) - it may help her a little during the wait for the vet appointment; I may also have a bit of metacam in my first aid kit that you could have (you'd need to let the vet know how much you gave and when, since each dose lasts 24h).

 

[hwilde26]

I don't think they will take her to a vet cause they have had her for a long time and she gets mites and they just clear up with oil. So since I'm becoming a vet myself I'm taking her on as my new patient she says the bunny is totally normal/eating and drinking great

 

[majorv]

You would need to see a vet for the Revolution. Since you don't think they would, if you're familiar with ivermectin you can use that. The rabbit doesn't look like a BEW or Dutch so she should do okay with it.

 

[Azerane]

Oh gosh, that is a serious case of mites. It looks like it could almost be infected too which means you need something for the infection as well. If you're washing out the ear, I would be very careful as any moisture that gets stuck in the ear could cause further problems.

Please take the rabbit to a vet if you can (since I know it's not yours)

 

[Imbrium]

I don't think they will take her to a vet cause they have had her for a long time and she gets mites and they just clear up with oil. So since I'm becoming a vet myself I'm taking her on as my new patient she says the bunny is totally normal/eating and drinking great

The thing is, this is a really severe case... she's surely miserable, her ears are possibly infected or on their way to being infected and the mineral oil won't get rid of the mites as fast as other treatments will. It's truly in the rabbit's best interests to see a vet who can prescribe all the medications she needs (Selamectin, probably metacam and possibly Baytril or another broad-spectrum antibiotic that's rabbit-safe; as a note, probiotics should always be given when an animal is on antibiotics).

I do understand, though, that even if I convince you that she *needs* a vet trip, she's not your rabbit and the decision regarding whether or not she gets taken to one isn't up to you. If you're unable to convince them to take her in, there are a couple options left, though they're far from ideal.

For pain, you can use baby (or low-dose) aspirin or baby ibuprofen in lieu of metacam (baby tylenol is NOT safe to give a rabbit). However, neither choice is without risks. Her ears looked bloody, so aspirin (being a blood thinner) could make that worse if she's still bleeding. Like metacam, Ibuprofen is an anti-inflammatory, which I think is a better choice in this situation... but it "can cause gastric irritation, or ulceration" according to MediRabbit. While that sounds scary, it's worth noting that the exact same warnings apply to Ibuprofen when taken by humans. If her GI tract is healthy, she's eating well (meaning her stomach won't be empty), the dosage given is appropriately conservative and the baby ibuprofen isn't being given long-term, the risk of any side-effects should be extremely low. If it were me, I'd go with baby ibuprofen (available at Walmart, HEB, etc. in the infant section) and wouldn't give it for more than maybe 2-3 days.

Dosage info: http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Analgesics/safe_analgesics.htm

As for the mites, it IS possible to get ivermectin (to be administered orally) without a prescription - many feed stores sell it in a paste form, marketed for horses. If you tracked some down (shouldn't be hard, as there are a lot of feed stores in and around Houston), you could do the calculations based on the strength of the paste to determine the proper dosage for her. She'd need 2-3 doses total to completely eliminate the mites, each around 10 days apart.

Keep in mind, though, that the product is designed for horses and obviously they get a HUGE dose compared to rabbits - try to mush the paste around in the tube as much as possible before measuring out a dose (it'd probably help to squeeze a bit of it out into the trash to make room to mix it up better), as the ivermectin isn't necessarily distributed equally throughout the tube. Unlike with getting Revolution from a vet, I can't say with confidence that giving feed store ivermectin is totally safe. In my opinion, though, the risks are outweighed by the benefits in a severe case like this *if* Revolution simply isn't an option and *if* you're extremely careful and cautious in the dosing.

Dosage info: http://www.medirabbit.com/Safe_medication/Anti_parasitics/safe_antiparasitic.htm

 

[majorv]

Just a note, I've never felt comfortable using the ivermectin in paste form, just because it is hard to accurately dose. I much prefer the liquid form, 1% Ivomec is a more common brand, and you can find it at a feed store or at a Tractor Supply. With the number of rabbits we have it is way too expensive to treat with Revolution. We're careful with the dosing and we didn't have any problems.

 

[Imbrium]

I much prefer the liquid form, 1% Ivomec is a more common brand, and you can find it at a feed store or at a Tractor Supply

I wasn't aware that there was a liquid form of ivermectin that's OTC/available at feed stores - I'd only ever heard the paste mentioned. Liquid would be infinitely better/safer to use, since (as I mentioned earlier) the paste is very iffy to dose properly because the ivermectin isn't necessarily equally distributed throughout. I'm pretty sure you can't take a major highway out of Houston without encountering a Tractor Supply along the way - there's like half a dozen of them spread around the outer area. I go to the one in Katy, but I think there's one even closer to Cypress than that.