Ear Mites

[Horsey_Gal]

My bunny, Custard, is a male black and white Dutch rabbit, and I believe he is around 5 pounds, but I haven't weighed him for a while. He will be 2 in the end of June, and he is neutered. Also, he stays outside, he's not allowed inside the house.

I am pretty sure he has ear mites. He has some brown flaky stuff on the insides of his ears (Not very much) and he has lost a little bit of hair on the outside of his ears. He also shakes his head (He never did that before). What I'm wondering is are there any home remedies I could try on his ears? I'm tight on cash right now, but if there isn't any way for me to help him on my own, I will scrape up money for the vet. Also, how much does it generally cost if I have to bring him to the vet for his ears? I live in Minnesota, close to the Twin Cities. His ears aren't that bad yet, but I want to get it fixed before it gets any worse. Thank you for any help! ~Kayla

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

I've never dealt with ear mites before, but have heard to just pour baby oil in the affected ear. This is messy so do it in an area that it doesn't matter (maybe the bathroom). Just hold the ear, pour it in, and the oil will drown the mites. This is done every other day until the mites are gone.

 

[Horsey_Gal]

Thank you for the answer! I think I might try it.

 

[slavetoabunny]

You can purchase ivermectin inexpensively at your local feed store. Here is a good article about ear mites and ivermectin treatment:

http://www.mybunny.org/info/mites.pdf

 

[Horsey_Gal]

Thank you for the information! It turns out, my mom called the vet, and my bun has an appointment on Wednesday. Hopefully it won't be too expensive. Thank you for taking your time to respond