ear mites in one of my does

[Autumnarcher]

I discovered a couple days ago my young doe ( 6mos) has a bad case of ear mites in one ear. Im upset with my self that I didnt catch it sooner, shes in a bottom row cage and always goes to the back of the cage when I feed or open the cage, so I never spotted it. Her ear was crusted real bad. I removed her from the rabbit shed and have her in a cage in the garage.

My only other experience was with another doe, and I used olive oil to get rid of them, which worked great, but she wasnt as crusted up as this one. I squirted olive oil in her ear to soften the gunk, and cleaned a lot out with a q-tip, but the skin is raw, and the hair on the inside of her ear was peeling off with the crust and junk. The base of her ear is very hard, and painful.

Tomorrow I will clean again, and I think I might pick up some mite medicine to put in her ear. Should I use some neosporin or anti-biotic ointment on her ear as well?

Also, she was going to be bred the end of this month for the first time. but Im going to wait a few more weeks now until her ear is healed up. Will mite drops in her ears cause any problems with the kits as far as meat contamination?

Any other suggestions as far as nursing her ear back to health would be greatly appreciated. I'll keep a much closer watch on them from here on out for mites. I feel terrible for her.

 

[jollysrabbits]

I am sure your kicking yourself, but dont kick to hard it happens to the best of us and does not make you a bad rabbit breeder. yes it is probably uncomfortable for her but not the end of the world easy to fix the problem. if you can have someone help you it will make it 10x easier, take tweezers and pull out any loose stuff and especially at the bottom of the ear, the oil works great another great thing I use especially in bad cases (rescued rabbits) ear mite meds for cats(3 tubes for $4 at wal-mart) , works great and is a little stronger. put her back in for 4 days and clean out in gunk all over again, medicate every 4-6 days for 2 weeks and you will be surprised how quickly she will heal. you should still be able to keep your breeding plans on track if you start tomorrow. I would also recommend that you put some drops in your other bunnies just to be on the safe side, i personally set aside an hour during the first week of each month and check the rabbits with my wife (nails and ears on all the buns we give the buns a little shot of oil in the ears just as precautionary measure) good luck and hope you and your bun feel better

 

[Autumnarcher]

I'll pick some up tomorrow when i go into town. Should I treat my others with the meds, or just with oil?

 

[jollysrabbits]

if you have a lot of rabbits it would be cheaper with the oil, if you find any others that have it for sure just go ahead and use the meds. On a 9lb rabbit I use 2-3 drops per ear. For precautions on the others oil is fine.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Here is another recent thread on ear mite treatments:

just-my-luck-t10786.html

Good luck with your doe, and don't beat yourself up too much. When rabbits are eating and drinking normally, it is easy to assume all is well. With a little treatment your doe will soon be mite free and healthy once again.

We all miss things every once in a while and feel guilty about it- but it proves two things; that we are human and fallible, and also that we strive to be good caretakers and are upset when we fail to live up to our own high standards.

 

[ZRabbits]

Hoping all is well and those nasty ear mites are eradicated.

Karen

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I never had ear mites until after this summer. The heat was so bad and we had to mist the rabbits ears constantly. I think the heat/moist made a perfect setting for mites. I am still finding it cropping up here and there. I use corn oil on ones we intend to eat and Ivermectin on those we do not intend to eat.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

:yeahthat:

I use corn oil on ones we intend to eat and Ivermectin on those we do not intend to eat.