Do Bunnys Scratch Alot

[Mindy10]

Ok so I have never had rabbits before. Only cats and dogs. When my cats and dogs itch usually they have fleas. I notice my bunny does itch and itches and shakes her head sometimes. Is that normal? Of course Im wondering if she has fleas or ear mites. How would I know. Mindy

 

[Korr_and_Sophie]

Rabbits will scratch. They can get an inch like everyone else. Shaking the head is normal and usually done after they have cleaned their ears. However, excessive scratching or head shaking can be a problem.
You can look in the ears for signs like mites such as crustyness or flakes in the ear. Fur mites can look like dandruff.
If you do have concerns, you may want to visit a rabbit savvy vet. There are some simple medications you can get for mites and they are usually not expensive.

 

[Sweetie]

Korr_and_Sophie wrote:

Rabbits will scratch. They can get an inch like everyone else. Shaking the head is normal and usually done after they have cleaned their ears. However, excessive scratching or head shaking can be a problem.
You can look in the ears for signs like mites such as crustyness or flakes in the ear. Fur mites can look like dandruff.
If you do have concerns, you may want to visit a rabbit savvy vet. There are some simple medications you can get for mites and they are usually not expensive.

Agreed! If it is ear mites, mineral oil every day for three weeks will get rid of them.

Sweetie went through having ear mites and I didn't have any money to take her in to the vet, so I was advised to use mineral oil in her ears, and it works on the ear mites by drowning them.

The way to do it is: using a q-tip dab in mineral oil and put q-tip in ear, not too far down because then you will hit the ear drum and that would not be good at all, swab the mineral oil in the ear. You will need to do this for three weeks, because the ear mite life cycle is three weeks. If you don't then the ear mites will get worse.

But before doing this, please see a rabbit savvy vet and if they say that it is ear mites then you can see what the best approach is. Ivermectin is given by injection every two weeks until the ear mites are gone. But if your rabbit is dutch- do not let the vet give ivermectin. Also I believe that vienna marked rabbits are another breed that cannot tolerate ivermectin.

I hope your rabbit feels better soon.

 

[Mindy10]

I got a good look at her ears and I don't see scabs or anything. i think im just being parinoid!! Im glad you told me that because she is vienna mark. She has the white stripe down her face. See it pays to come on here!!

 

[hillrise]

For the ear thing, one of the tell-tale signs (at least in a non-lop) is airplane ear(s). Sometimes it's just genetics, but I still check. And look deep in the ear canal. I had one rabbit I could swear was fine when I looked in his ear that was lopping, but after a week or so it seemed the ear was getting lower and he developed a slight head tilt, so I looked again, this time looking really close, and deep (opened the base of his ear up a little more [gently], which is difficult where the cartilage is thickest, and he wasn't too happy, but sure enough, he was developing a crust.

 

[MiniLopHop]

A small flashlight can also help.

I thought there was something wrong with my minilop at first. Was I embaressed when the vet explained she was just doing her "happy dance". Live and learn. She just binkies weird.

It's best to rule out any issues though until you learn your particular rabbit's behavior.