Ear lopping over?

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Anntann

Anntann

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I've got 2 juniors who each have one ear that's not erect. One is an American, the other is a Beveren. They're does, approx 4 months old. When I purchased them, both ears were erect. this was during the very hot July we had...then of course August got worse. The American isn't as bad as the Beveren. With her it's an on-again-off-again thing. The Beveren just seems to have one ear that is at 90degrees out. :cry: Although when she's grooming herself, or ticked off, it's back on her head the right way.

They're on a 17% pellet, with timothy hay, and greens. (the occasional lump of alfalfa in place of the pellets.

Is there anything I can do for them or is this just something I have to live with? Is the ear thing a genetic problem? I've had the floppy ear thing with young kits in the NewZealands, but they always seem to be down one day..then up..then it's the other ear..then up...and they grow out of it by the time they're weaned.

Any help or ideas or thoughts would be apprecieated :D

Ann - the one who's considering TAPE as an answer...sigh
 
Usually lopping due to heat instantly corrects itself with a few cool days (My Satin litter did that, instantly rendering them cute and unable to go to freezer camp until the ears went back up) but if they're still fairly young they *may* be going through a growth spurt and their ear base hasn't developed quite enough to support the ears yet. (My first Brun doe lopped one of her ears until she was almost a Sr.)

If it doesn't correct itself by the time they're finished growing they'll probably have weak ear bases, unless someone tried to pick them up by the ears at one point and broke the ear base (it does happen).
 
You could try a bit of wheat germ (couple teaspoons on top of their feed) or wheat germ oil (5-6 drops) for some extra Vitamin E. Try it for about two weeks and see if it helps. It could be that they need a bit more than they are getting, and as long as you don't overdo it, it will not harm them.
 
I never wait for it to correct itself. If you wait too long the ears may never stay erect. I raise english angoras and when they are young the furnishings are so heavy on the ears and in combination with hot weather it occassionally makes the ears drop. A judge told me to tack them up for a few weeks. I just use a clip at the base of the ears to hold them together. If you had a rabbit that consistantly produced rabbits with dropping ears or the clipping or tapeing doesn't work - then I would then consider it genetic. Dog breeders tape ears all the time when their puppies are growing.
 
Hey Ann,

Not being strictly familiar with angoras, "grinlow farm" may have the best answer. The "lop eared gene set" seems to be one that either is very widely distributed, or is a common mutation or both. It pops up fairly often in many rabbit breeds. I wouldn't have thought holding the ears up would help, but it seems I might be wrong on that point.
 
I think I'll try both the wheatgerm and the taping. These aren't angoras, btw. One is an American White, the other is a blue Beveren. I'm leaning toward missing something in the diet because they're in the same colony setup. Both the same age. ALTHOUGH the sister of the Blue Beveren had a lopping ear.....oh crud. I hope it's not genetic with her. She's such a GORGEOUS rabbit.

hmm. how do they use their ears if they're taped up tho? or..just the base? well, I'll figure out something for her! Thanks!
 

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