# crusty ears



## loreans poco (Aug 12, 2008)

hi,first off im not a rabbit person just have a few.i lost one and noticed her ears were packed full of crusty hard stuff.what is this and how do you treat it?thanks


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Sounds like ear mites. You should treat all your other rabbits. Just put some vegetable (olive, corn, sunflower etc.) or mineral oil in a little squirt bottle, warm it slightly for the rabbits' comfort and put a few squirts in each ear. This will smother the mites. Follow up with a couple more treatments to make sure you get the ones that hatch after the first treatment. 

Ear mites are not usually considered a fatal ailment. Your rabbit may have died of something else, but please do make sure your remaining rabbits are treated for the mites.


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## twohunnyz (Apr 27, 2006)

A heavily affected ear can become infected and in turn cause other problems. Like Maggie said, check your other rabbits ears, and regularly, to stop any new critters at the start!


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## Jeanette (Jul 29, 2008)

I recently treated one of my rabbits for ear mites using the suggestions from this forum. By using the oil you also soften the crusty gunk and it will come loose by itself; the poor bun will shake it loose so _you_ do not have to remove it. One person suggested using a small spray bottle and that worked great for me. My rabbits ears looked better after one treatment and now after three treatments a couple days apart he is holding his ear normally again. Eggs can hatch again after about ten days so you need to keep your treatment going for 10-14 days.
Your rabbit will Not thank you for this treatment! I give mine a special treat after putting the oil in his ear so that he does think I am a total monster. I know we will eventually be friends again.

Jeanette
Hondo, TX

Always Learning!


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## Joe123 (Feb 24, 2008)

Use to use a dog med to treat ear mites in rabbits. It worked great but can't remember the name of it. Never had earmites again. Did use other things but found out that the other worked best. Even when the ears was so bad I took warm water to soak the crust inside the ears and slowly cleaned them. Guess me doing that kept from getting earmites back. You can also use VetRx Rabbit Remedy for eatmites it works too. There is lots of stuff you can use but somethings is bad for rabbits. 

GL on ye rabbit


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Joe123 said:


> Use to use a dog med to treat ear mites in rabbits. It worked great but can't remember the name of it. Never had earmites again. Did use other things but found out that the other worked best. Even when the ears was so bad I took warm water to soak the crust inside the ears and slowly cleaned them. Guess me doing that kept from getting earmites back. You can also use VetRx Rabbit Remedy for eatmites it works too. There is lots of stuff you can use but somethings is bad for rabbits.
> 
> GL on ye rabbit


Many dog remedies are not safe for rabbits. Cat remedies _tend_ to be safer, since cats and rabbits share many of the same sensitivities, but I would not use _anything_ that I was not sure of, especially for something easily treated by safe means. This goes double for meat rabbits.


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## 5050 (Oct 29, 2008)

Treated my 4 rabbits yesterday afternnon, I had been waiting on a warm spell. I used the spray bottle technique, sprayer only shot a solid stream so the rabbits probably received more oil than needed. Oh my, I went from pretty good guy to how could you do this to me in 5 minutes. Not one of them believed me when I told them this was for their own good...Even the lover of the group was still sulking when I left them after chow time.
I was afraid they were going to look like wet rabbits this am, but they have cleaned themselves up nicely. A level of trust has been lost. Temporarily. A sweet potato treat goes a long way with these rabbits.
Thanks to everyone for all the information that is brought forth every day.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

5050, did you warm the oil first? A couple of minutes in a container of hot water for your spray bottle may have helped. I have a vivid memory from my childhood of having a drop of olive oil put in my ear by my mother to soften ear wax. It was likely winter and the oil at cool room temperature... It felt icy cold to me! I expect I sulked too.


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## Joe123 (Feb 24, 2008)

MaggieJ said:


> Many dog remedies are not safe for rabbits. Cat remedies _tend_ to be safer, since cats and rabbits share many of the same sensitivities, but I would not use _anything_ that I was not sure of, especially for something easily treated by safe means. This goes double for meat rabbits.


Maggie I finally found the earmite medince and it for both dogs and cats. My rabbit was a pet so it was ok to use. Sorry don't raise meat rabbits.


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## 5050 (Oct 29, 2008)

MaggieJ, Yes I did warm the oil, I had seen your suggestion here sometime past. The rabbits were sulking ( I Think) Because I had made thier pretty white coats oily, I was guilty of a liberal application. They are fine today. I bet they try to run and hide the next time they see the spray bottle though.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

LOL, 5050, so you have vain rabbits, eh? And you dared to mess up their prtty fur! How shocking! :rotfl:

Joe123, I mentioned the possibility of problems with dog medications for rabbits mainly to warn others about a *possible* hazard. I'm glad your rabbits had no ill effects from the treatment you used, but I stand by my advice.


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## Joe123 (Feb 24, 2008)

MaggieJ the earmite med that was used was called Happy Jack for one time and then used Jeffers Ear Cleaner & Therapeutic Treatmentit for both dogs an cats alone with for rabbits. I tired others things and it didn't seem to work until used Happy Jacks and Jeffers Ear Cleaner & Therapeutic Treatmentan it worked great but after got shade of them mites would clean the rabbit ears out about 2 weeks if needed with sometime of stuff in a long white bottle. still can't get were the mites came from since was a pet rabbit inside all times.

sorry couldn't remember the name of it until pulled hundreds of different stuff off shelf to see what it was called. I knew it was for dogs and cats but couldn't remember what else. I would never use anything to endanger any pets. I learned from the best that taught me.


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## meddac (Nov 21, 2008)

I have used a little dab and I mean a little dab (half a pea) of ivermectin in the ear with terrific results. If you google it you can find alot of good information regarding it's use in rabbits. If you use more than that you can kill them with seizure activity but that will treat them for 6 months and it will clear up in a couple days. I just buy the 6 dollar syringe of oral paste they have available for horses etc everywhere and that would tx about a million rabbits!


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