Scratching ears

[Bunnylova4eva]

Ripley been scratching at his ears alot. In fact, I'd noticed it before, but now it's to the point of having scabs in both ears where they've bled. Think it's just itchy or dry? Or could he have mites? What other signs should I be watching for? So far I haven't been too concerned but I don't like it that they were bleeding now (not a ton though)

 

[JBun]

Mites or ear infection. With mites you may be able to see evidence of them by looking inside his ears. It would be a good idea to get him checked out by the vet.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

I was wondering about mites, but there's no other discharge which you usually see some brown gook. Could his ears by dry?
I'd get him looked at but he has been at the vet so many times in the last few months, I'm trying to avoid that. But, if we need to, I don't want to mess with an infection either; we've already had one head tilt bunny.

 

[tonyshuman]

Unfortunately you can't really tell about ear infections without an otoscope and mites can be even harder to find. The gook from mites is usually a later stage, but to be honest this sounds more like a bacterial inner ear infection or fungal skin infection. We had a bun that did this and he had a yeast infection in the ears (yuck).

 

[missyscove]

The good news on ear mites is that they can usually be cured with one or two doses of Revolution, but I too would recommend a vet.
How do the ears smell? If he has an external ear infection, it could turn into a middle or inner ear infection which can cause head tilt and it's better to catch it while it's just the external ear!

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

hmmm, I"ll definitely give the ears a good sniff and see. I definitely know what yeast smells like in dogs, but I'm not sure if its similar in bunny ears.
He was at the vet maybe a month ago. When they looked with the otoscope then, they didn't see anything. I wanted to check for just that because he was scratching a bit then.
Sounds like I'll have to talk to the vet about it and see what he thinks.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Buster had a yeast infection in his ears and I smelled it but could not smell a thing. So I took him to the vet and it was yeast.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

That's true; I'm sure you don't always smell it. I know with Jelly I did and unfortunately, she never got better after months of treatment. That's why I'm a bit worried for Ripley.

 

[missyscove]

Smelling them isn't the most scientific of tests, and if they smell normal it can't really rule anything out, but it sure can rule somethings in.

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Yep, I know that's very true. Finally the scabs are going away (I think he scratched them off). But, he's scratching so much that I really want to be sure that nothing is going on.
They did a mite check the other day and didn't see any. Today he's scheduled for an appointment at the vet today and we'll see then if there's infection.

 

[Katielovesleo3]

Good luck at the vet Ripley! Don't be scared, everything will be O-K! :]

 

[Bunnylova4eva]

Took Ripley to the vet. He saw very little discharge in there (then again, as I told him, I'd just cleaned them out several days before deciding to bring him in). He said the eardrum looked normal and didn't note any inflamation in there or anything and didn't see mites either. He is sticking Ripley on Tresaderm drops in both ears and we'll see what happens. If that doesn't do it, we'll go to Ivermectin. And beyond that, we can do a xray if it's still seeming to be an issue. He said normally if there was a middle ear infection, then there would be inflamation when he saw the eardrum.

We'll see how to Tresaderm works. My only concern is that my previous lop got really bad ear infections in both ears and the Tresaderm just didn't cut it- it got so bad she ended up with terrile head tilt and ataxia. Has anyone used it with success? I do trust the vet as he's rabbity savvy and knows what he's talking about. On the flip side, I lost a bunny to ear infections that we caught very early on in the game. I'd hate to go there again.