Need ear info and weight loss

[memakwed]

Here's going on.

About 2 weeks ago our bun( mini rex female age 8 ) died. Itseemed like she had a lump under her dewlap the last few weeks coupled with her age maybe cancer. she showed no signs of sickness appetite, demeanor the same.My son went out to feed at dinner and she was dead. All rabbits are kept in our garage attached to the house. No cars go in the garage. We have switched over to a new wire cage setup for the remaining 13.
I rearranged the garage bought a few new cages and we have 7 in wire cages against the wall think tic tac toe board with the missing tolp two squares.
I have MS and wasn't feeling well. My son( age 10) who feeds and waters them has been fully taking care of them. I usually oversee what he does and I clean their cages myself during the school year.
This morning is cleaning cage day and I went out for the first time since I'm feeling better. My one rabbit who is on the middle row far right and his brother middle row middle cage seem to have something going on. They are male full size rex rabbits almost two years intact. One seems to have a lop ear this morning. At first I thought he was cleaning it but after being out for an hour he still has one ear flopped down. His head is not tilted and his appetite is good. Eating fine and drinking this morning. I tried to touch it and he backed away but wasn't aggressive. Any ideas? Other than his metal feeder which he somehow takes off the cage and sits on we do not have anything in his cage. His water bottle and holder are outside the cage as well as his hay holder and hay. Now his brother. They were rescues and he has always been sickly-ish, He had extremely sore hocks upon his rescue about 1 year ago. He has barely any fur on his pads although it has started to grow back. We have always kept him in a plastic bottom cage until two weeks ago when I changed things up. I put him in a wire cage and honestly am going to take him out because I prefer he be in a plastic bottom for his tootsies. Anyway this morning he looks extrememly thin to me. We worked so hard at feeding him and plumping him up and fixing his feet. He did eat and drink this morning but not as he would usually. Do you think it's the change in the age. maybe his feet hurt and it's changing his appetite? Do you think it could be something since he's next to the other one that's got an issue this morning? Anyone with experiences similar I'd like to hear from. I am going to try to look online and call my vet later if I think it is of a medical nature.

 

[memakwed]

At the end it should read cage not age but I couldn't edit because it had been over 5 minutes. Sorry for any confusion.

 

[majorv]

For the first one, you need to look in his ears to look for anything unusual or any indication of ear mites. How is his balance? For the second one, are his hocks continuing to get better or do you notice any change in them? Rex are very prone to sore hocks. If they're sitting on wire you need to either put a ceramic tile in there so they can sit on it or you can get plastic foot/resting pads that fit on a wire floor.

 

[memakwed]

I am waiting to hear back form the vet and whether or not we will be taking him in this evening. His ear does not seem sore to touching and there seems to be no signs of ear mites inside or out. Just a lop ear. I've been checking on him once an hour and he is just sitting in front of his feeder munching away when I check. He does not appear to have a balance problem. We've had a lop before that kept rolling due to ear infection so I can say this is not the case. Other than the lop ear he appears to be acting as always. I have seen him hop around the cage this morning and was fine as well.

The other little guy I think I'm going to change his hay up to give him some bulk. In the wire cage they have solid areas to rest on. His pads are not worse just bear with fuzz. He's come along way. He was in an awful state when we rescued the whole litter. I also think he will have to return to his original plastic bottom cage if this keeps up. He's such a sweet bun very loving. We only want to give him the best.

 

[memakwed]

Off to the vet at 645. I really don't think it's ear mites. Doesn't seem to be an infection. No redness or crusty. I know it could be deep down where I can't see. I snap my fingers and the normal ear moves to the sound of the snap the bad ear does nothing. Any one have ideas on this? Still eating and drinking and hopping in cage for the vet.

 

[memakwed]

Just for reference in case someone in the future experiences something similar our poor Freckles has an ear infection but we caught it early we think. His face is paralyzed and that is why his ear is drooping. He needs shots twice a day for a month and fingers crossed he will survive. Hopefully in a few days his ear will perk up as the effects reverse. This is what the vet suggested could happen. The vet also said it is not contagious so we do not need to worry about contaminating the whole herd. However, Freckles will be in the house for at least the month while he has medicine.

As for the weight loss issue. She thinks perhaps the feed we have been using has lost it's nutritional value prior to purchase so she suggested we switch brands to see if that helps.

We just want some healthy buns.

 

[majorv]

Do you know how old your feed is? It's best to use feed within 3 months of the mill date. Some people split up their feed in Ziploc bags and store them in the frig. We have enough rabbits to feed that we go through a 50# bag in abt 3 weeks.

I didn't know an ear infection could cause partial face paralysis though. Hope the meds do the trick.

 

[memakwed]

We go through about 75 lbs a month plus hay etc. for our brood. We keep it in a plastic air tight contained that holds 25lbs at a time. Not sure off hand of the last mill date without looking.

Today I'm going to head to the feed store and see what they have. The vet also gave us some oxbow critical care. She said to give a spoonful a day and that will help start to put a little weight on them.

My son (10) took the rabbit with his dad and she did some neuro tests on him as well because for lack of a better word he appeared to have bells palsy symptoms. But after testing concluded ear infection. the kiddo financially takes care of his rabbits so $146 later he has the meds for a month and hopefully a healthy rabbit.

Yeah, Freckles JUST moved his ear a bit!!! He's had his 2nd shot this morning. Still lop but he was able to move it with noise a bit. Very hopeful now!!!!!