Ear is flopping?

[RavenousDragon]

Hey guys! I've had rabbits for a while, but I've never seen this:

I have a female dwarf mix who is about 3 years old. About a year ago, one of her ears began to VERY slowly droop. Not she can no longer lift it up (she's basically a windmill now- except the ear stands straight out, not like a full lop). She was erect before and was fully grown when we got her. I've checked many times for ear infections. The other ear is still erect and completely normal.

She doesn't scratch it, she runs, eats, binkies, gets angry, cuddles, etc. all normally. In fact, she's a very active and happy little bunny, and doesn't even seem to notice that her ear doesn't go up. She CAN move it side to side, but not up. There is no cranial nerve damage either.

Has anyone seen this develop so late in a rabbit?

 

[belleshadow]

Well, I have a rabbit who is a lop, but her ears don't lop. Both of her parents and all of her siblings are loped, but she is still not lopped. She is a very tense rabbit and so I've always just blamed it on that. Maybe if your rabbit has some lop blood and maybe if she/he used to be tense and is now more relaxed, that might be it.

 

[Akzholedent]

Butterscotch is a half lop. I don't know when his ear decided to flop over, as I got him when he was several months old. But he likes to hop around with that ear flopping, and it's always fun to watch. As long as your bun is acting fine, I wouldn't worry about it. ^_^

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[RavenousDragon]

Thanks guys! Her ears do the same thing as Butterscotch- she just developed it at 2 years old. Which I've never seen before. But I suppose it just makes her unique.

 

[Akzholedent]

Yeah. And he does put it up when he wants/needs to. I think it gives him a quizzical look, like he's always wondering what's up. ^_^

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[belleshadow]

Yeah, I like the ones whose ears are half lopped, I breed lops, and I see all different kinds of lopped ears, but I've never seen them develop the lop at two either. Maybe your rabbit just has very few lop genes, and the genes are just now kicking in, or maybe it just took a long time for her ear to get heavy enough to start to lop.