Missing hair on ear

[Myia09]

So, I for christmas I got a little holland lop. She is 2 1/2 and a former breeder. We did get her off craigslist, but they lady seemed really nice and used to show rabbits.

Well, call it excitement, but when I got her home I noticed a little crusty patch the size of a nickel on her ear. It looked just like dry skin. I figured that is what it was since I saw no lice or mites, and her ears were clean.

Well she called back to my boyfriend and told me she was missing the money we gave her. I know I am a honest person, and I know I handed her the money. She thought she misplaced it in the box Miss Kitty was in, but its not there and we called her to tell her that.

Well, the dry patch the night before last got really bad..it looked like she wet it down from grooming it too much. There is 1 little red mark and the rest is either bald or a little crusty. It was really bad looking, but I didn't have internet access to post here and my vet was on holiday, so I decided to wait one more day to see how it is.

It has definatly gotten better, but I am still worried. If I take her to another vet, it will cost four times as much, so should I wait and see?

What I think it is, is from being and "outdoor" bunny and that little red mark looks like she was bit by something and she overgroomed it.

Which leads to another story of how I polietly called her former owner asking if she was an outdoor bunny (I forgot to ask) and at that time I was worried it was mange and asked her if anotehr of her animals had it or not (The vet over the phone said it was not mange)

She gave me a nasty voicemail and was implying I took the money from her so I didn't pay anything for the rabbit. So I am not so happy. She was incredibly mean for me just asking a simple, polite.


Well here are photos. This is from the day before last:

And this morning:

 

[tonyshuman]

It could be an old bite wound from another rabbit or animal. It could also be ear mites, although those usually are located on the inside of the ears. It sounds like she wan't kept in very good conditions, so I'd do a course of dewormer and/or external parasite treatment (Revolution). I'd clean it with a sterilizing solution, betadine would be best, but alcohol would be ok if you're gentle. Then put some neosporin on it (not the kind that has pain relief in it). That may help in a few days, unless it's parasite-related.

It would be good, like I said before to do a deworming, with something like ivermectin paste or panacur (fenbendazole). Get the smallest tube you can find at the farm supply store and mix it up well (the medicine isn't very well distributed in the tube). Some bunnies have a bad reaction to ivermectin, but it would probably be good for a drug you don't need a prescription for.

Of course, the best thing would be to take her in to the vet and have a full physical exam, plus some antiparasitics. It's good to do this with any new bunny, especially one that may have come from a bad situation, and it's good to have an annual exam in any case.