greasy bunns

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katiebear

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Well my newest bunns got ear mites,both of the bucks, only the chinchilla was pretty bad.That's my opinion, it really wasn't that bad just the first inch of ear.We treated with olive oil. but their ears are so long that they can't shake out the crud,so we cleaned them with cotton balls and olive oil.Looking good now. They are only three months old and were so loving and trusting.Now they look at me so suspiciously, it just breaks my heart. I am actively trying to earn back their trust. I miss the bunny kisses :cry: Any way, thanks for the advice on how to treat and cure them ...I Love this site! Now how do I clean them up? they have olive oil pretty much everywhere. Poor greasy bunnys :x. I won't bathe them as I said they already think I'm mean, so what about dry shampoo? anyone use it? will it make them sick when grooming? DH said just let it wear off, they look so sad. opinions anyone?
 
Just let them shed it out.
Even an inch of ear mites is really bad. Don't use cotton balls to clean them out, if at all possible, just oil and re-oil every couple days and let them get it out. The crust builds up and goes deep into the ear canal. It's very easy for you to shove the crust and pierce the eardrum or even cause a seizure. Under all that crust is an infection full of pus.
If you have to mess with them, oil the ear first to soak and loosen the crust. Then use a qtip and ~pull~ the crust up and out. If you have a helper to hold the rabbit still and can move away quickly, you can attempt to use tweezers and grab and again pull, never push or poke at the crust. They may not squeal in pain, but if you've ever had a bad ear infection, you know it hurts like all heck. Just multiply that pain a couple times and that's where they're at. They're prey animals, so making noise is last on their reaction list.

Next time you can use a couple drops of Ivomec on the neck or ear skin instead. But that tends to take longer to start working. Either way, a re-treatment 2wks later is needed to make sure you've killed off all the mites.
 
thank you for your advice. in the care section there were posts that would lead one to believe that the drops would be bad even deadly. so I avoided that.
 
I would just let them groom it out themselves, since you are trying to win their trust back. Offer small treats like raisins or apple slices.

Some will use ivermectin as a first treatment; many, especially for ear mites, will use it only as a last result... since they almost always respond to three or four treatments of oil, once weekly. Or some similar regimen.

The crust will usually shed itself with the oil treatments.

Some rabbits cannot tolerate ivermectin.
 

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