Ear mites ivermectin?

Mannbuns · Jul 26, 2022

Would olive oil work? If I just drop it in his ears?

jaxmarblebuns · Jul 26, 2022

Mannbuns said:
Would olive oil work? If I just drop it in his ears?

I use a concoction of canola oil infused with garlic. The oil will suffocate the ear mites and the garlic will keep the rabbits from licking/cleaning it out (in most cases.) Make sure to massage the base of the ear before and after applied to break up and scabs.

olive oil should work as well, though i have never tried it.

HTAcres · Jul 29, 2022

jaxmarblebuns said:
I use a concoction of canola oil infused with garlic. The oil will suffocate the ear mites and the garlic will keep the rabbits from licking/cleaning it out (in most cases.) Make sure to massage the base of the ear before and after applied to break up and scabs.

olive oil should work as well, though i have never tried it.

Yes, I have used olive oil which also happened to be garlic infused but as you said, it is the smothering that works.

KortnieKay · Jan 29, 2023

hotzcatz said:
We use the horse wormer gel type of Ivermectin. It's 1.87% Ivermectin and not any other active ingredient. The feeds stores around here will sell it without a prescription, but I've heard that's gonna change in about a year. If the stuff will keep in the freezer, I'll buy a case of it before they make it inaccessible. If you can get the gel paste Ivermectin, then just a dab in each ear or behind the neck will fix the mites

hotzcatz said:
what is the correct dosage? Do you give it to them orally or just put it on the affected ear?

Alaska Satin · Jan 29, 2023

JG3 said:
How does this affect breeding and eating of meat? Do you have to wait to breed, will it render meat inedible?

I've used ivermectin occasionally for my rabbits and have not found it to have any effect on breeding, other than making does that were uninterested in breeding due to lack of condition, more willing to breed when they felt better.

Since it is not labelled for use in rabbits, there is no recognized withdrawal time for butchering rabbits after ivermectin use. But ivermectin is a drug with a long history of safe use in humans; it was developed originally for use in humans and was so effective at treating river blindness, among other things, that its discoverers got the Nobel Prize. The only real safety issue seems to be related to massive overdose. The amount you give a rabbit would not generally be a concern for a human to ingest, even if you ate a lot of those rabbits! However, I don't want to take any drug in any amount unless I need it, so if it was me I'd give it about a month, which admittedly would probably err on the side of major overkill.

Researchers in Sweden studied ivermectin withdrawal times in swine and cattle, and suggested withdrawal time for Ivomec in edible tissues of swine and cattle is 21 and 28 days, respectively.

Ivermectin residues in the edible tissues of swine and cattle: effect of cooking and toxicological evaluation

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2792466/
There is more information about ivermectin in rabbits on this thread:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/oral-ivermectin-before-kindling.35967/#post-350294
But I've never found it necessary to give my meat grow-outs ivermectin. I've only used it in adult show/brood stock (not intended eating), once for some that came home from a fair with fur mites that did not respond to natural treatments.

I agree completely with @Preitler. I use the chem treatments only when other attempts don't work. I've never had a case of ear mites that did not respond to simple oil treatment. Just put a few drops of olive oil or mineral oil deep in each ear, massage gently, then do it again about a week later.