Weird bump in rabbit’s ear

[Emily Christensen]

Hi everyone, a few days ago I was feeling my rabbits ear and notice that there was a strange bump in his ear. It kind of looks like a pimple but to my knowledge rabbits do not get acne. I will attach a photo that I took of it to this thread. If anyone has any idea of what it could be please let me know. Im trying to decide if i should take him to the vet but don’t want to do that unless i need to because he hates going in the car and i don’t want to stress him out for nothing. Thanks!

 

[Catlyn]

Oh, that is interesting. I have no idea what it might be either, but maybe you can email the vet this pic and ask for advice instead of driving there, because the picture is clear. Giving a call would also be an option of some sort, i think.

 

[Mariam+Theo]

I agree with sending the picture to the vet so that you can save money and reduce stress. I don't know exactly what that is, but my dog has those all over her ears and the vet said it could be that she got into something. Could it be that he got into something?

 

[Emily Christensen]

I agree with sending the picture to the vet so that you can save money and reduce stress. I don't know exactly what that is, but my dog has those all over her ears and the vet said it could be that she got into something. Could it be that he got into something?

I don’t think so, he never goes outside and I’m always watching him when he’s out. But I will email the vet and see. Thank you!

 

[Liung]

Lahi got something like that in 2014, but pigmented black. I showed it to every single rabbit-savvy vet I found for years and they all sort of shrugged and said “it’s not doing anything or bothering him, so it’s probably nothing.”



Then, a little more than a year and a half ago, it tripled in size and became extremely red, cracked, and angry looking.



Turns out it was a melanoma (a mole) that chilled out for years before suddenly turning malignant. I brought him to the vet, had them do a fine needle aspirate expecting to hear “oh yeah it’s nothing but we’ll remove it so it doesn’t become infected” and instead got “it’s malignant cancer”.

It was removed with all haste and all screening came back clean, but then this November (almost precisely a year later) a tumour appeared on his toe, turned out to be highly aggressive malignant cancer. He was put down last week, as the tumours ran rampant through his body and one in his mouth was interfering with eating and becoming infected :’(


(This is when I first noticed it. The black on top is necrosis, a result of a tumour growing so fast that it’s not developing blood supply and the skin is dying. That’s an extremely fast growing tumour. Less than a week later it was bigger and totally black on top.)

All tests SAY that this time was a different type of cancer entirely but I’m still waiting on autopsy results to confirm; the vet is quite sure that all their tests so far must have been wrong and it was the same melanoma come back unpigmented because Lahi’s luck would be truly horrendous to develop two different types of malignant cancer within a year.

So yes, the lump could be something truly horrible and I definitely suggest vet ASAP. If you have ~$100 to spare I also suggest you request a fine needle aspirate, just to be sure it’s nothing. Fine needle aspirate isn’t a conclusive test but it will give you a good starting point.

But at the same time, if it’s not growing or looking angry, Lahi’s melanoma was just a harmless little rice-sized nub on his ear for almost 5 years before it suddenly tried to kill him. Same as the moles and lumps on our bodies, really. Keep an eye on them and watch for warning signs like changes in size, shape, or colour.

My policy at this point is to remove any and all lumps, but Delilah for instance has had 4 lumps removed now and they all turned out to be benign trichoblastomas. The first one was a grape-sized horrible veiny nugget hanging from her dewlap and I FLIPPED OUT but it was just ugly, not dangerous. A tiny one on her rump was removed at the same time.




The next two were small lumps that appeared on her haunch and I didn’t give them the chance to get bigger. But tests showed they were also trichoblastomas.

If the lump isn’t doing much, it may not be worth removing, especially on his ear. Lahi nearly had to have his entire ear removed because of the awkward positioning of the melanoma at the base of his ear—there simply isn’t enough skin to close an incision like that, especially once tumour margins are factored in.

For Delilah's various lumps, they’ve always been in places where she has plenty of skin to spare, and since she takes anesthesia and surgery recovery like an absolute champ there wasn’t much of a concern for just going ahead and removing them without testing first to see if they were malignant.

Lahi’s ear was only attempted because it looked like it was about to get infected, and then because we knew it was malignant. Same with his toe, amputation is an extreme measure to go to, and was only attempted because the tumour was growing so rapidly.

 

[Emily Christensen]

Lahi got something like that in 2014, but pigmented black. I showed it to every single rabbit-savvy vet I found for years and they all sort of shrugged and said “it’s not doing anything or bothering him, so it’s probably nothing.”

View attachment 44537

Then, a little more than a year and a half ago, it tripled in size and became extremely red, cracked, and angry looking.

View attachment 44538

Turns out it was a melanoma (a mole) that chilled out for years before suddenly turning malignant. I brought him to the vet, had them do a fine needle aspirate expecting to hear “oh yeah it’s nothing but we’ll remove it so it doesn’t become infected” and instead got “it’s malignant cancer”.

It was removed with all haste and all screening came back clean, but then this November (almost precisely a year later) a tumour appeared on his toe, turned out to be highly aggressive malignant cancer. He was put down last week, as the tumours ran rampant through his body and one in his mouth was interfering with eating and becoming infected :’(

View attachment 44535
(This is when I first noticed it. The black on top is necrosis, a result of a tumour growing so fast that it’s not developing blood supply and the skin is dying. That’s an extremely fast growing tumour. Less than a week later it was bigger and totally black on top.)

All tests SAY that this time was a different type of cancer entirely but I’m still waiting on autopsy results to confirm; the vet is quite sure that all their tests so far must have been wrong and it was the same melanoma come back unpigmented because Lahi’s luck would be truly horrendous to develop two different types of malignant cancer within a year.

So yes, the lump could be something truly horrible and I definitely suggest vet ASAP. If you have ~$100 to spare I also suggest you request a fine needle aspirate, just to be sure it’s nothing. Fine needle aspirate isn’t a conclusive test but it will give you a good starting point.

But at the same time, if it’s not growing or looking angry, Lahi’s melanoma was just a harmless little rice-sized nub on his ear for almost 5 years before it suddenly tried to kill him. Same as the moles and lumps on our bodies, really. Keep an eye on them and watch for warning signs like changes in size, shape, or colour.

My policy at this point is to remove any and all lumps, but Delilah for instance has had 4 lumps removed now and they all turned out to be benign trichoblastomas. The first one was a grape-sized horrible veiny nugget hanging from her dewlap and I FLIPPED OUT but it was just ugly, not dangerous. A tiny one on her rump was removed at the same time.

View attachment 44536
View attachment 44539

The next two were small lumps that appeared on her haunch and I didn’t give them the chance to get bigger. But tests showed they were also trichoblastomas.

If the lump isn’t doing much, it may not be worth removing, especially on his ear. Lahi nearly had to have his entire ear removed because of the awkward positioning of the melanoma at the base of his ear—there simply isn’t enough skin to close an incision like that, especially once tumour margins are factored in.

For Delilah's various lumps, they’ve always been in places where she has plenty of skin to spare, and since she takes anesthesia and surgery recovery like an absolute champ there wasn’t much of a concern for just going ahead and removing them without testing first to see if they were malignant.

Lahi’s ear was only attempted because it looked like it was about to get infected, and then because we knew it was malignant. Same with his toe, amputation is an extreme measure to go to, and was only attempted because the tumour was growing so rapidly.

Oh wow im so sorry for your loss . Now im super worried about my bun, here’s a better picture of it, does it look the same as the one your bun had?

 

[Hermelin]

You can do a check up on it, I know my doe have quite a few of those in her ears but the vet said it was nothing to worry about.

But they did a real check up and I was at a rabbit savy vet. Just to make sure it was nothing to worry about. I only need to keep an eye on them.

I do a regular check up on my bunnies every year at the vet.

 

[Liung]

Oh wow im so sorry for your loss . Now im super worried about my bun, here’s a better picture of it, does it look the same as the one your bun had?

It doesn’t look like either of Lahi’s malignant lumps—neither red and inflamed nor showing necrosis from rapid tumour growth. It might have some resemblance to Lahi’s melanoma from when it was benign? His was darkly pigmented which stood out against his pink skin, but it had a bit of a flaky warty surface, and in your picture the lump looks like it’s a little flaky on the top.

It doesn’t particularly look like Delilah’s trichoblastomas, all of which were very smooth and blood vessels could be seen even in the tiny ones.

I’m no expert at lumps, and it’s so hard to tell from a picture—I’m betting your vet will tell you the same thing all the vets told me, that they can’t really tell from just a picture and they’d need to see it in person.

But there’s a ton of things it could be that are totally benign. Rabbits are pretty prone to cysts, they can also get lipid-cell tumours (benign lumps in the fat cells).

Get it looked at, possibly tested, and just factor in; how quickly it appeared, how quickly it’s growing, how much it’s bothering them, how easy it would be to remove.

Lahi’s toe tumour appeared nearly overnight, was swelling by the day, looked about to crack open any moment, and that all trumped the difficulty of amputation. Removal ASAP.

For a little lump like that, I would probably get it tested to make sure it wasn’t anything horrible (because I’m paranoid and mildly traumatized, all lumps are now viewed with extreme suspicion) and then leave it as long as it didn’t grow. Not only do ears not have spare skin, there’s a lot of veins that make surgically removing portions tough. However if it is in a part of the ear that misses major veins, it may actually be a relatively easy removal, akin to getting your ears pierced.

Also keep in mind that my experience is not typical, I don’t think rabbits normally develop lumps at the rate mine are. Lahi for sure had really awful luck, whether it was one cancer that came back or two cancers back to back. And to my understanding Delilah popping out a new trichoblastoma every few years isn’t normal either.

Basically... it’s probably nothing, but it definitely is best to make ABSOLUTELY SURE it’s nothing and then make sure to check on it regularly to ensure it’s staying as nothing.

 

[Emily Christensen]

It doesn’t look like either of Lahi’s malignant lumps—neither red and inflamed nor showing necrosis from rapid tumour growth. It might have some resemblance to Lahi’s melanoma from when it was benign? His was darkly pigmented which stood out against his pink skin, but it had a bit of a flaky warty surface, and in your picture the lump looks like it’s a little flaky on the top.

It doesn’t particularly look like Delilah’s trichoblastomas, all of which were very smooth and blood vessels could be seen even in the tiny ones.

I’m no expert at lumps, and it’s so hard to tell from a picture—I’m betting your vet will tell you the same thing all the vets told me, that they can’t really tell from just a picture and they’d need to see it in person.

But there’s a ton of things it could be that are totally benign. Rabbits are pretty prone to cysts, they can also get lipid-cell tumours (benign lumps in the fat cells).

Get it looked at, possibly tested, and just factor in; how quickly it appeared, how quickly it’s growing, how much it’s bothering them, how easy it would be to remove.

Lahi’s toe tumour appeared nearly overnight, was swelling by the day, looked about to crack open any moment, and that all trumped the difficulty of amputation. Removal ASAP.

For a little lump like that, I would probably get it tested to make sure it wasn’t anything horrible (because I’m paranoid and mildly traumatized, all lumps are now viewed with extreme suspicion) and then leave it as long as it didn’t grow. Not only do ears not have spare skin, there’s a lot of veins that make surgically removing portions tough. However if it is in a part of the ear that misses major veins, it may actually be a relatively easy removal, akin to getting your ears pierced.

Also keep in mind that my experience is not typical, I don’t think rabbits normally develop lumps at the rate mine are. Lahi for sure had really awful luck, whether it was one cancer that came back or two cancers back to back. And to my understanding Delilah popping out a new trichoblastoma every few years isn’t normal either.

Basically... it’s probably nothing, but it definitely is best to make ABSOLUTELY SURE it’s nothing and then make sure to check on it regularly to ensure it’s staying as nothing.

Thank you so much for your input. I will have to think about it but likely will take him in because he is the love of my life and could not bear to lose him.

 

[MiniLopMax]

Thank you so much for your input. I will have to think about it but likely will take him in because he is the love of my life and could not bear to lose him.

Hey I know this was a few years ago but my 9 week old bunny mini lop has the same bumps did you manage to find out what was wrong with your bunny? X