Ear mites

[jenniferdavidson]

Hi,

So I took Jude into the vet this morning where they diagnosed her with ear mites (I wasn't surprised as I did some searching of her symptoms on the net last night). They cleaned the crusty scabbing in her ear and gave her a medicine that goes into the skin on her back and should clear up the mites. She does live outside so I went out and garbaged all her straw outside her hutch as well as inside and sprayed and wiped all of the hutch and the flooring of her pen. I shouldn't say hutch as she actually has an insulated dog house with a heat pad in it that she sleeps in. The doghouse is under my deck which is open (wire) on the sides and shares a side with the side of my house. I have panels that I put up when it's windy or snowing so that it stays dry in her pen. I guess the mites can live in the bedding so I am going to stop using straw now. I just put down a carpet for her to walk on outside of her doghouse instead. I was planning on just using blankets in her house now instead of bedding because she is litter trained and doesn't defecate in her house (and making sure she doesn't decide to chew them, though she hasn't chewed them in the past). Has anyone else ever had a rabbit with ear mites? These should be cleared up in a week but I want to make sure she doesn't get them again. I have read on the internet of some people using a little bit of olive oil and rubbing their ears with it once a week but since the mites originate in the canal of the ear, I don't want to be putting just anything down there. So if anyone has dealt with this before, please let me know!!! I also felt like a horrible rabbit owner when I told the vet what I was feeding her. She's between 8 and 9 months old right now and I have been feeding her alfalfa hay and pellets up to this point. She weighed in at almost 11 pounds (which isn't "the minimum" for flemish giants) The vet said that was the worst thing I could be feeding her, but I though that was what she should be eating until about 9 months because she's still growing and needs the protein? I have tried switching her to timothy hay with no success (She refuses to eat it) so could I try a different hay? Oat brome perhaps? I was also told that she should be getting leafy greens in her diet as well. I was under the impression that this would cause runny poop? My poor rabbit has probably been undernourished all this time What should I be feeding her?!!! I want to give her unlimited access to hay (is this right?) and a portioned amount of pellets per day (though I'm not sure how much I should be giving her exactly!) And last, I haven't had her spayed yet- I am DEFINITELY planning on it this month. (they gave me a $300 quote which is about what I was expecting) When I told the vet that I thought I was supposed to wait until about 8 months with the giant breeds, she said that was worse because the surgery is harder on the rabbit because the organs are bigger. So, in short, I am apparently a crappy bunny owner I'm off to buy some timothy pellets now and see if I can find some different hay that she'll actually eat. Please give me any advice you think could help me out!!!

On a happier note- She was sleeping on her heated mat this afternoon when I went out to sit with her. I didn't think she would like it but apparently I was wrong

 

[whiskylollipop]

What is your vet on about? Alfalfa hay and pellets is fine for a flemmie until they reach a year old. You can start transitioning her to timothy, oat, orchard or meadow hay around this time, but I'd hardly call alfalfa the WORST thing you can feed her. Your vet must not have met the multitudes of casual bunny owners around that feed their buns muesli, carrots and lettuce.

Dark leafy greens are good to have, but if her pellets are a good brand complete feed, they are not essential. Its more of a supplement to give her some variety of taste and also boost her hydration levels. Try fresh herbs such as cilantro, basil, mint, and dark leafys like kale, dandelion, broccoli, bokchoy, Silverbeet. Since she's never had greens before you'll have to introduce them very gradually. The only way she will get runny poop is if she gets a sudden big amount of greens that her guts aren't prepared for. So start with small, tiny pieces, and gradually increase it over the weeks.

Waiting to spay flemmies is normal. I don't know what kind of vet that is that says removing big organs are harder on the big animal? Does he refuse to spay big dogs then? The vets I know love big organs, little organs are the hard ones because they're so tiny and fiddly. My vet made me wait till 5 months to neuter my buns because the runt was too small at 4 months.

 

[jenniferdavidson]

Thank-you so much! I felt like I was doing everything wrong! The way I see it, she was deemed healthy (aside from the mites) and a good weight at the vets office, so obviously I haven't screwed up that badly! Her teeth were good, feet were good, bum looked fine etc. And she didn't even try to bite at anyone when it clearly hurt to have her poor little ear scraped I think I'll try to transition her over to timothy pellets but I might have a harder time getting her to eat other hay! I personally think she really likes this brand of hay that I buy at the petstore up in the north of the city so maybe I will try timothy hay in the same brand. I personally think she has more growing to do (she hasn't even got her little "waddle" under her chin yet for a female flemmie) and I'm tempted to keep her on the alfalfa hay and pellets longer... but I'll see what kind of advice people have and go from there! Thank-you for your help!!! I don't feel like such a cruddy owner now

 

[whiskylollipop]

Alfalfa+timothy pellets and alfalfa hay are fine for now, there's no need for an urgent transition and any sudden changes will likely be rejected. You can try mixing in other types of hay with the alfalfa to get her used to it. The key is to make all changes slowly.

The waddle, called a dewlap, is for breeding females who need the extra fur to build nests. If spayed before she comes of age at 1 year, a female Flemmie (like all other small-breed females spayed at 6 months) will probably never develop much of a dewlap and that's normal and fine. She will still keep growing in other aspects.

 

[JBun]

Mites can really live anywhere, but often they are brought in with new hay that has had other critters carrying the mites, crawling around on it. So it is possible your bun got it from the straw. You should see improvement in the week, and it could clear up as well depending on how bad they got. If your vet treated with Revolution, you probably won't need to retreat, but keep an eye on it to make sure it continues to clear and doesn't start to worsen again. You shouldn't need to put anything on there. The medication should take care of it all.

Her diet really isn't off much, and certainly far from the worst diet. For a flemmie, they do need to be on a 'young' bun diet for longer than smaller breeds as they continue to grow for much longer. Your bun is getting plenty of nutrients from the pellets, so you can feed veggies if you want, or not.

As for feeding alfalfa hay... this is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, and don't like how so many pet rabbit sites seem to frequently recommend it. I find alfalfa hay is completely unnecessary for young rabbits that are already being fed an alfalfa based pellet. Adding in alfalfa hay to this, is really too rich of a diet and can lead to too much protein causing digestive problems for some rabbits. It also has a high calcium content which can cause urinary problems for some rabbits. Then there is the added problem of creating very picky buns where hay is concerned and it can often be difficult to transition a rabbit onto a grass hay when it reaches adulthood. But feeding alfalfa hay isn't the worst diet or the end of the world, as long as it doesn't cause any health problems for the bun. In fact I have an older rabbit that I feed alfalfa hay to as it is difficult to keep her weight up. So it can be good in some circumstances, but generally I don't usually recommend it as a normal diet for a rabbit.

I would suggest when transitioning her to a grass hay, to try different types to see if you can find one she likes, then gradually reduce the alfalfa while increasing the grass hay each day, over several weeks so she can get used to the new hay.

 

[jenniferdavidson]

I'm sad. I wanted a "waddle" Just kidding! I mixed some timothy hay with her alfalfa hay tonight and I'll see how that goes over! Thanks again!!!

 

[jenniferdavidson]

Thank-you JBUN! That does make sense that if she's getting the alfalfa pellets and the hay it may be too much! I am transitioning her to a new hay (fingers crossed it works) and I think I will keep her on the alfalfa pellets for another couple of months and then move her over to timothy pellets. Or perhaps I may even start mixing half and half with timothy pellets. I've heard that flemmies need at least %16 protein in pellets- I'm not sure if that's accurate or not but next time I go to the store I'll check out what's on the back of the bag. I buy a huge 20 pound bag of the food and it comes from the UFA so it doesn't have any label on it that I can find but I will look it up on the internet tonight! Thanks!!!

 

[majorv]

I agree that if you want to keep her on alfalfa pellets for a couple more months that you should try to start switching her off the alfalfa hay. Flemish giants won't stop growing until they're 10-12 months old. Oh, and don't worry about her not having a dewlap. That will probably come as she gets older.

 

[Maureen Las]

Sounds like your vet has studied rabbit medicine and care but I bet she doesn't own one and never has. There are so many nuances in rabbit care that only folks who have owned them know about. I don't know why she is coming down on you so hard?
It is not easy to switch a rabbit over to a timothy pellet from alfalfa. It takes a lot of patience. In your case it is not a huge deal at this point because she is young and still growing. Mixing the 2 is a good idea.
I used to feed my adult rabbits alfalfa pellets ( but I have had rabbits for 20 yrs. and learned along the way)
I only succeeded with this by cutting the amount of pellets down (slowly) to a much smaller amount and at some point they appreciated a pellet whether it was timothy or alfalfa. I would not do this with a growing bunny
If your vet is concerned about spayng your bunny at 9 months that is a red flag There should be absolutely no issues about spaying a 9 month old. That would concern me enough to possibly check out other vets