Floppy ears?

[Nyctra]

Is...this normal? Both of their ears do it, but the droppy ear tips seems random. Dehydrated maybe? They drink out of a small dish right now, so it needs refilling a lot and sometimes runs dry.

 

[skysthelimit]

mine's did it, and they straightened out themselves.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i have some young dutch and dutch-lionhead crosses that ears do that. sometimes they look like they are wax model buns and their ears are melting and drooping lol.. seems to be in the heat only that they do it though. and they have water and it does it too.

 

[Nyctra]

Well, it can't be the heat here...it's been pretty cool. XD

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Your rabbit's ears only flop at the tips, but vitamin A deficiency can cause floppy ears. This site shows a variety of rabbit diseases with graphic necropsy photos, but if you scroll down almost to the bottom of the page, there is a pic of a rabbit in the beginning stages of Vit. A deficiency. My scroll bar shows it at about an inch from the bottom of the page:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/72228408/Rabbit-Diseases

MaggieJ made it a sticky in Rabbit care, so you can also find the site there if you don't want to use the link.

Someone else posted recently about another young rabbit with floppy ear tips, and someone said that it often happens during growth spurts.

You might try supplementing with foods high in Vit. A and beta carotene. (In humans, the body converts beta carotene to Vitamin A.) Foods high in Vitamin A and beta carotene are yellow-orange vegetables and fruits like carrots, pumpkins, mangoes, apricots, summer squash, butternut squash, cantaloupe, peaches, nectarines, sweet potatoes and yams. Turnips, beet greens, romaine lettuce, collard greens, turnip greens, leaf lettuce, spinach, red peppers, and hot chili peppers also have A and beta carotene.

 

[Nyctra]

Thanks, MamaSheepdog! I'll try to pick up some more veggies next time I'm in town.

 

[akane]

In some breeds a floppy ear while growing up is just common because they have such big ears and weak bases. Most of my checkered crosses go through a floppy ear phase.

 

[JessicaR]

My flemish giants went through a phase like that. Breeder said its because the ears were growing so fast and they didnt have the strength to hold them up. There ears are normal now

 

[SatinsRule]

My litter of blacks out of Londa would not sit up until I switched feed, so that lends to the argument of Vitamin A deficiency being the culprit.

As for the bunnies in the picture, they were like that with Maryse's litter last year, but it corrected itself over time as the rabbits got older and the weather cooled down. Maturity and development can/will go a long way.