Persistent ear infection - U/D Smudge & Harley gone

Hi guys, I'm new to here! Need some advice!

I have 2 mini lop bunnies. Harley has a persistant ear infection. We noticed first in oct/nov when we saw here right cheek pulled back. When taken to the vets they found an ear infection!! She was treated with tribriasen and metacam for approx 3 weeks. All seemed to be clearing.

Then she fell down the ramp in the hutch and hurt her paw. Rushed to vets again!! No broken boneson xray and wham vet checked ear, all looked good. It was decided to monitor her. It was also noticed that she had a head wobble...lie a nodding dog in a car....but side to side. My vet put her back on metacam and referred her to specialist in Swindon.

They did xray which showed bulla as clear. Flushed both ears as very bad apparently!! She has been on oral Septrin since 12th January. Also had canaural ear drops and metacam. Has had ears flushed week later. And when rechecked fri just gone, vets said that they suspect ear drum gone in left ear, even though right ear is aggravating her more! Head wobble seemed to have decreased. However, been put on chloramphenicol eye drops for her ears...but she goes mental when applied and runs round in circles. Head wobble seems worse aswell now.

Have decided not to give her ear drops now until I speak to vet in the morning. Still on Septrin. Metacam stopped fri to see how she responded as was grinding teeth and vet concerned it was causing gut problems!! I've also read that ab eardrops dangerous if eardrum burst...should I be asking for oral chloramphenicol???

Any ideas as to what is best to give her?? I'm at my wits end!!! I can't bear seeing her like this!!!

She is eating and drinking fine, interacting with her sister, and running around garden happily otherwise.

Smudge also has caugt infection. Been on canaural for 2 wks. Vet wants to flush her ears fri coming and try to get culture as one from Harley did not take!!!!

I feel so mean and horrible. It's heart breaking - they run away from me rather than to me now!!!

Sorry to waffle on, but they are my babies!!!! Thank god for Petplan!!!

Hi:wave:

there are lots of people on here with buns with ear infections so you will get lots of good advice!

Our Parsley has a chronic ear inner infection, with accompanying facial paralysis and loss of the ear drum etc.

He does not have any tilt or any swaying etc

The infection is very severe and when first diagnosed (c18 months ago) and then investigated via an 'MRI' type scan, it was thought he would not live long as the infection was eating itno the area next to the brain - but he is still very much with us!!

Parsley has been on every antibiotic you can give buns (and several more besides) withthe exception of one called 'convenia' which some people here will tell you about - but my particular vet oes not want to use until we have absolutely nothing else left to do.

Obviously before trying any antibiotics he had the infection cultured to find out what antibiotics etc it might be sensitive to . . but I have to say that has not always proved to actually relate that well to what it has responded to:lol:

We have tried injectible penicillin, Rifampicin (oral), Metronidozal (oral), Septrin (oral) Baytril (oral), and also various flushing and packing of ear, and also Genticin ear drops.

Canaural ear drops in our case produced a very severe reaction with inflamation soreness swelling of the ear and pain - so we do not use them.

Of all these injectible penicillin was good, Rifampicin was useless, Zithromax (mmm - cant recall) , Septrin useless, Metronidozal pretty useless, antibiotic plugs and ear 'wick's he managed to get out.

We are now using high dosage Baytril (1.2ml twice a day for a 2.7k bun) plus genticin drops twice a day plus cleaning the ear (just gentle of excess puss) daily. We also use metacam if he seems to be having a slight flare up or soreness. (an anti-inflammatory). I understand that this long term use of Genticin would not be recommended by some vets but it is working well for Parsley.

At present this combination is 'holding' the infection although it is still present - it causes him no pain or problems.

Good luck with yours!

PS For us surgery (except for the occasional flush out under sedation) is not an option as the barrier between ear and brain is so thin now - but others on here have had bulla surgery)

Hi :wave:

Thanks for replying! :thumb:

I have since spoken to my vet. We are switching back to Canaural ear drops. have to update him in a couple of days. Definitely feel like we've taken a step back!!! Poor Harley is all unbalanced again, stumpling up & down the ramp! :?

As sugested by the vet, we tried one ear & then the other to see what response was. Far better than with the chlorampphenicol!! He did say she is making progress, but slowly....she seems to be a veeerrryyy slow healer!!!!

Your poor Buns!!! How do you stay sane??? it stresses me out watching her like this & causing her distress by doing her meds!!! Bunny Burritos happen very regularly in my house....I can't ask the other half as he's too afraid of squashing her!!:roll:

I wish you the best of luck with yours!!

bumping up for more replies . .

Friday can't come quick enough!! will have to fone vets again first thing! Although her reaction to Canaural in left ear is nowhere near as aggressive as the chloramphenicol, she is not a huppy bun!! the head wobble/swaying is still quite bad....

I think I may hold off with drops in the morning until I speak to him, as I can always go home at lunch and do them! I have a feeling she may be back on the Metacam aswell, as that was stopped Friday last week, so that may of had an effect aswell!

It feels like I am fighting a loosing battle!!! I don't want to make that awful decision, but it is constantly on my mind.....am I being unfair keeping her going,regardless of how normal she otherwise is??? It's so hard to tell if she is really suffering or not???? It just looks sooo awful when she sits there constantly swaying her head from side to side...it's horrible & I feel bad because I'm letting it happen!!..:?

Is she still seeing the Swindon vets?

If not it may be worth taking her back there again..

Parsley did have a nasty reaction to Canaural and I dont know if others have.

There are several people with extremely good knowledge of ear infections on this forum , however they do not seem to be looking at this thread

i have an idea why this might be! - you probably dont realise this but the word 'troll' in your user name suggests that your= are what is called a 'troll' - which is someone that comes onto websites to post provocative or misleading posts to cause havoc and annoyance general . .

I know - I had never heard of them either until I started using forums!!!

Could you change your user name and make a new account?

In the meantime I shall post another thread asking for help for you and saying you are not a 'troll'!

Head tilt/loss of balance is very common with ear infections. If there is pus visible in the ear it may be possible to culture it to find a suitable antibiotic. I've personally had very good results using oral zithromax for ear infections...perhaps suggest this to your vet?

would referral be an option for you? i only ask because Finley has had a double bulla osteotomy and partial ear canal resesction and the X-RAYS showed his bulla was clear but the CT scan showed both bulla the middle ear part was full of debris & pus which was causing pain and head tilting.
Finley had a 8 week course of depocillin by injection but this was prescribed by a referring vet, previously we had treated him quite well with zithromax never ear drops as they made him shake and scratch his ears more further leading to his discomfort.

Hi! Thanks for replying!

Have already been referred once at beginning if January. They were happy for my vet to carry on treatment!! At the moment ear flushing is slowly doing something, but I don't think it's enough....

Back to vets in morning and then have appointment to collect them at 3.50pm. I think he may try something else because she is not happy with ear drops since last wk when told ear drum burst! But vet said been like that for several weeks. Tonight she is shaking ears alot and was going in circles!!!!! I think she needs to go back onto metacam???...

I'm hoping a culture will take from smudge's ears so we can fight thus a bit better...Smudge has only been infected for couple of weeks an seems fine. Harley is running around eating normally, just keeps swaying alot more and didn't like the circular movement!!

I assume that oral or injectable ab are only options if ear drops no good??? Not keen on major surgery idea...I think I would rather PTS...I really don't want to make her suffer!!!

Need a miracle cure!!! Has anyone had experience with Bicillin??? Seen lots of reports about have great it is and that it works wonders???

I think a CT scan, and a culture - followed by oral or injectble abx are the way to go at first . . .

We also found Canaural ear drops VERY problematic for parsley.


See my list of abx above . .

What you start on depends on the result of the culture.

Thanks. Will update tomorrow when been to vets!! I'm hoping that the swaying and that is a response to having ear drops!!! Hopefully we will be able to try something else!!

Right...back from vets!

Smudge's ears more inflamed, but disharge was easily removed, all but a small bit right in bottom corner of one of her ears. Keeping up with Canaural until culture back.

Harley - both ear drums appear to be red and inflamed, with crescent section missing in both. Although still lots of discharge, this time it was far easier to remove! She now has to tolerate ear plugs impregnated with abs & anti inflamatories. Have to put drop of chloramphenicol in each ear once a day to keep moist. Vet is trying to do another culture fro Harley as ab's stopped couple days ago in ear.!!!

She HATES it!!!!!! Head wobble was virtually constant on drive home. Now some sabre periods but not for long! Keeps shaking head and ears and scratching. When swaying she keeps moving in circles!!!

I'm hoping she will adjust in a day or two! Will keep monitoring her tonight and she how she is in the morning...

Fingers crossed!!!!!!!

Just done harley's meds....how awful!!!! She had just relaxed and was lying down really peeved, when bam...I torment her again!!!

Would I be over reacting foning emergency number ifhead swaying and circles haven't eased by 10pm??? It took several hrs to ease when I got her home.....

I feel useless and dont know what to do!!!???

The poor soul - this really isnt something I have come across with ear infections . .

I know you say you have had xrays but we did not see the extent of the infection in Parsley until we had a Ct (or MRI - unsure which) scan - it showed all the hidden puss.

It does sound although the ear drops really arent helping. .

I know Parsley could not tolerate those ones at all - he hated them - and it just gooed up the ear and inflamed it worse.

Have you been back to the specialist at all??

PS there is a person on here called 'Jacks Jane' who is very very very good with meds etc and has a long erm ear infection rabbit - can you try and PM (Private Message) her. She really is excellent.

Unfortunately, the specialist is a 2nd car drive from where I am!!

I will see if I can pm jacks Jane for some info.

Thanks

Is your bun on metacam? Metacam helps reduce inflamation so would be a big help.

Plus you can get anti-vertigo medication called Stemetil which will help if she's rolling (falling over because the balance organ in her ear isn't working properly). It's prescription only though, so you will need a 'script from your vet if you want to go down this route. It's a human medication so is available from any chemist

If your vet wanted to email or phone another specialist vet, my vet Aiden Raftery at http://ashleighvets.co.uk/ is probably worth a try - he has published several papers on ear infections in rabbits. Sorry I can't help with anything that is more immediate.

Thanks guys. She was in metacam, but was stopped last eel. My vet was worried about gut problems as she was grinding teeth. I beginning to think that was her 'sod off and leave me alone sign'!!!! Will monitor overnite and speak to vets ASAP in morning.

have replied to your PM