Ear mites [solved, thank you!]

[Dakota]

I'm trying to post this quickly and refine it later just to get it up.

First off I love my rabbits so I don't know how I could be so stupid and not notice this earlier. I feel absoutly terrible about this so please please know I am not purpousally being a "bad" owner.

Okay, so Oracle is a flemish giant and new Zealand cross. She has a litter of three babies right now, all eating on their own but still housed with her. She was her regular self up until about three days ago when I noticed that she was showing less personality and less interested in her daily bannana and apple treat. I thought she might just be sick of being bothered by her kits though. Also she was huddled up more than usual, but she has an issue with knowing when to stop pulling fur, so I thought it was attributed to that. She also had not cleaned the eyes of her kits so today I took the kids out to try and help them clean up their eyes (with water). In doing so I got close to momma's ear and saw that it had something wrong with it(just one ear). I brought her inside to try and see what it was. Inside was full of dead skin and underneath it was irritated. I was very surprised to see such build up of dead skin. It didn't look like there were any bugs inside but I have never seen anything like this before so I'll let you judge.

The skin inside was very built-up in her inner ear canal I pulled a few chunks out with tweezers but didn't want to bother her too much. She's a very good girl and let me mess with her a lot before telling me she had enough. When I put her down she flipped her ears about a lot but is now sitting in our kitchen in closed off area and exploring about, seaming to be much, much happier, but I'm not sure as I could just be projecting from guilt I'll try for a vid soon, just don't want to bother her right now. Also I can't tell if her ear smells because in my rush to get inside I brought dog poop in so the kitchen stinks pretty bad right now.

So far I've pulled out a good portion of dead skin but I want to try and get more out later. There's a little bit still sitting in her ear canal right now so I don't know if it's worth it but I feel like I could get it out without hurting her too much. I also put a little bit of alcohol on the upper part of her ear to try to treat that.

So is she in enough pain that I should cull her? Above all else I worry about how she feels, but as a meat rabbit my plan was always to cull vs go to the vet (plus any time I /have/ gone to the vet they are no help whatsoever). I feel like crap that this is my fault but it still doesn't change the fact that something needs to be done.

Pics in my next post.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

That sounds like earmites to me. The crusty stuff that they cause kind of looks like dead skin.

Confirmation (or not!) with coming pics... opcorn:

 

[Zass]

It sounds like you have a case of ear mites. The "bugs" are too small to see. Easiest treatment is with cooking or mineral oil, but there are also over the counter meds that can be be given.
As for not cleaning kits eyes...Their eyes really shouldn't need cleaning, so you may have a whole other problem there.

 

[Dakota]

https://m.imgur.com/a/FuGQ5

Photobucket is undergoing maintenance so I had to use this site. It's new to me so please let me know if you can't find the images.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Yep- it's ear mites.

Any type of oil will work to smother the mites, but I believe that mineral oil is the best option because it is not as readily absorbed by the tissues.

 

[Dakota]

Okay, I'll seperate her from her kits, clean everything, and put everyone in quarintine, thank you!

So, should I try and remove the dead skin/crusty stuff? Its gets pretty deep in her ear and I don't want to bother her with it if I don't have to. I'll put a dab of olive oil on her ear for now. Should I also try and treat the other ear to prevent it hopping over too?

Edit: btw two kits had opened their own eyes, but this little one got my help. https://m.imgur.com/a/V1PHu Here are some images.

 

[MaggieJ]

The oil will loosen the gunk and she will likely be able to shake it out. Treating both ears will not harm her and may prevent the spread.

If you warm the oil slightly it spreads more easily in the ear and is less irritating to the rabbit. You may need to treat the kits as well. Fortunately, ear mites are a common and easily treated problem.

About the kits' eyes ... it sounds as though they may have what people call nest-box eye. It definitely needs to be checked out. Please post pictures and more information if you want information about how and if they need treatment.

 

[FourRingCircus]

Maggie J beat me to it Good point about both ears, also.

Once you get oil in there, it will soften things up and the crusty stuff will come out on it's own. You should see a pretty big difference within a short time, a day or two maybe? Just drop a few drops in there and stand back b/c sometimes it will come flying when they shake their heads (warming it up a little will probably help that some - kind of like us getting cold vs. warm ear or eye drops).

 

[Zass]

Make sure ear is well covered by the oil, dead skin will usually come off easily after oil has been on it for a bit.
When I brought in a rabbit from a place that had mites, I treated my whole herd, kits and all. No mite habitat = no mites.
The oil can cause no harm, and may help squelch small infestations that have just started.
I usually dust with DE too. I hate mites...
It might have been overkill, but so far, none of my buns have ever had an active ear mite infestation despite bringing in several from a rabbitry that had some.

One case of ear mites is not a sign of bad ownership to me, as they can come into a rabbitry with hay, or other small animals. It seems breeders are almost always surprised and shocked the first time they see them.

 

[Dakota]

Thank you everyone, I really appreciate it.

Here was the link to the kit's eyes: https://m.imgur.com/a/V1PHu (there is a bit more information in my last post). I'll get more images of stuff in an hour or so, after dealing with the strong smells of dog poo, viniger, and alchol I'm a bit too nauseous to be messing with stuff in the rabbitry. Oracle has been put in quarantine though and treated with olive oil. I'll try to give her another coating when I go out again just to make sure things have softened up.

Again, thank you everyone, I was quite distraught for a while there but feeling a bit better about things now.

-- Fri Jan 29, 2016 9:13 pm --

Okay, I checked everyone's ears, including my dog's, and all things seem good. I'll do a more thorough inspection tomorrow when I have some hand sanitizer to make sure nothing spreads. I thew out my hay in case it was in that, aired out the shed, and cleaned out Oracle's cage as much as I could for now. Tomorrow I'll spray it down with bleach or vinigar and let it air-dry overnight. Also I need to move her quarintine cage further away from my growout pen, but that's easyly done.

As for the kits, they look healthier already so I'm sure they are going to be a-okay in a few days. Pics just for refrence, but they look worse than they are because they were looking straight into an led light. Kit 1 is the worst having opened his eyes last, its crusty and I think I might have accidently pulled a bit fur off his lower eyelid in my attempt to de-clump the crusty eye mess. Kit 2 is a bit gooky-eyed but fine. Good 'ol #3 is fine. I'll try the honey and tea meathod I read about in another post.

Kit #1
http://imgur.com/9OxHEsN
http://imgur.com/YYGSsXQ

Kit #2
http://imgur.com/oiF4yU3