Bunnies mysterious illness has baffled my vets

Hi there,

Am new to this forum, and rabbits in general. I've had my baby rabbit for just over 3 weeks now and she's gorgeous, she's a lion lop and very cute. Anyway my vets are completely baffled as to what is wrong with her so I was wondering if anyone here would be able to offer any advice.

A week after i got her, her ears start to get very 'scabby' with lumps on the edges, i kept an eye on her and she seemed fine so i put it down to she had scratched herself (I checked her claws and they're not particularly sharp or long.) 5 days later I had her out and was shocked, inside the ear was a massive oozy bloody gunky hard mess. Obviously i took her straight to the vets, they cleaned it out and gave her antibiotics. They said she has something that began with a 'p' and would clear within a week.

Well the big gunky cut cleared but the hard scabby bits she had on her ears have spread all over her poor ears. They big blisters with gunk inside them. The vets have said its some sort of outer ear infection but has never seen anything like this in her life and is having to do some research and speak to people. Aside from this she exhibits odd behaviour, she's quite floppy and quite frequently trips over and just stays lying down. The vet is also concern how skinny she is - despite the fact she eats lots. What weight should a 13 week old bunny be?

I'm at a bit of a loss, she's my first rabbit and I'm quite concerned, as is my vet.
Any advice from rabbit experts would be greatly appreciated.

Jx

Oh gosh your poor bunny , glad your vet is seeking advice, but I wonder if it's worth looking for a rabbit specialist in your area?

To be honest whenever anyone starts talking about blisters I always think of Myxi, - though i'm sure your vet would have picked up on that pretty quick! has your bunny had her vaccinations yet?

Hope somebody who knows a bit more than me comes along soon.

Could you post a photo showing the lesions ?

Jack's-Jane said:

Could you post a photo showing the lesions ?

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies.

I think i've figured out how to upload. Hopefully this will work. I've just taken some images - her ears me feel quite nauseous, I think I've got a weak stomach!

She not had any vaccinations as she was on antibiotics and said to wait till the problem was sorted before overloading her with anything else.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Its really had to get images of them but both ears are covered :-(

ooh gosh, certainly looks saw, If it does just need healing up I would really recommend sudocrem (baby nappy cream/antisceptic cream) - it's safe for buns. Should help to soothe the ears too which will hopefully stop any scratching.

MotherPanda said:

ooh gosh, certainly looks saw, If it does just need healing up I would really recommend sudocrem (baby nappy cream/antisceptic cream) - it's safe for buns. Should help to soothe the ears too which will hopefully stop any scratching.

Click to expand...

She's been using a skin healing cream prescribed by the vets for the last week all over her ears called dermisol, which cleared the big gunky cut in her ear but these blisters and hard scabs on her ears have got worse. Am so worried about her.

Oh ok, just read up on that and it says don't use at the same time as anything else as it will neutralise the effect, so ignore the sudocrem advice! Are you cleaning the ears before you apply the cream or have you been advised to leave them alone?

I dunno what it can be...but I can say two things. My bunny suddenly got 3 enormous wounds for her size that suddenly, and the best suggestion we had was mosquitoes (or insect bites), which lead to an allergic reaction. Her wounds look a bit like the ones of your bunny, but they shrunk pretty fast without using anything. Can you isolate her from anything that can cause it?
And for wounds and soreness I can recommend you a cream my granny makes. It heals both us and the pets, since it's natural and there's no problem if it gets licked or something. My granny mixes olive oil, bee wax, a bit of honey, propolis(it's an antibiotic that bees produce, a bit like wax but darker)and medical chewing gum . She was putting some plant tea as well but I forgot what it was, I think smoke tree. And she melts everything and mixes it. I hope I helped with something at least

I suspect she has a severe otitis externa as a result of secondary bacterial infection from psoroptes cuniculi (ear mites)

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Psoroptes_Inf.htm

The loss of balance may be due to the infection also effecting her middle ear (otitis media) The failure to thrive (being skinny) may be due to her fighting a severe infection.

Is she still on systemic antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory such as Metacam ?

Jack's-Jane said:

I suspect she has a severe otitis externa as a result of secondary bacterial infection from psoroptes cuniculi (ear mites)

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Psoroptes_Inf.htm

The loss of balance may be due to the infection also effecting her middle ear (otitis media) The failure to thrive (being skinny) may be due to her fighting a severe infection.

Is she still on systemic antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory such as Metacam ?

Click to expand...

I have never seen it this bad but would absolutely back Jacks jane with this diagnosis -

Can you try to get a referral to a rabbit savvy vet?

Some vets are very inexperienced with rabbits (even if they see quite a few of them)

I also have the same view as Jack's-Jane and parsnipbun that this appears to be a relatively severe case of Psoroptes cuniculi (ear mites). Not all vets will have experience in treating these mites so it might be appropriate to seek a referral to a rabbit specialist or at least have the vet read the link Jack's-Jane posted as well as this one.

http://medirabbit.com/EN/Skin_diseases/Parasitic/earmite/Psoroptes.htm

I am concerned the vet may have already removed some of the crust from the ear as this is contraindicated for treatment. Removing the crust is not only very painful for the rabbit but also causes bleeding, providing food for the mites and allowing them to increase their numbers.

If it is indeed ear mites correct treatment should not be delayed, particularly as she is so young and inner ear infection may well already be causing her distress.

Thank you all for your comments.
I took her straight back to the vets this morning, and they've started her on treatment for mites. She's had zentox? (sp?) to get rid of any mites and has topical antibio for her ears. She already had antibio injection last week which didn't seem to have any effect.

They're obviously very concerns as she's very young, and apparently its unusual for a bunny so little to get mites. The lack of weight gain is also concerning especially when she eats. She weights 300g and is 14 weeks old tomorrow.

It just seems like i will have to wait and hope to see some effect in the next few days. Its so hard watching them so miserable.

Thanks again for all your replies

Jx

to be honest with you I would ask for a referral to a more rabbit specialist vet - or failing that just swap vets - asking on here for a good rabbit vet in your area. This is actually much the simplest option in this case.

You should not have to rely on a forum for advice in what is a relatively simple rabbit problem (OK if it was something incredibly unusual).

I cannot stress how very very important it is to have access at all times to an excellent and experienced rabbit vet. On this forum we very sadly see so many posts by owners who have struggled for weeks or even months with problems which their own non rabbity vets could not solve - and sometimes they have sadly come on here too late to save the bun.

Also many illnesses which buns get can cause death within 24 hours if not identified and treated - and so locating an excellent rabbit vet now may save you and your bun heartbreak in the future.

If you post a new thread asking for recommendations for a good rabbit vet in/around X (whereever you live) you should get responses.

If your young bun is failing t thrive (and low weight and mites suggest this) then there is most likely an underlying cause - of which the mites are most likely only be a symptom.

You need to have this identified and hopefully treated . .

good luck

PS is the bun getting any support pro-biotic gut flora foods such as fibreplex etc to help her guts cope with the antibiotics - this is essential with such a young bun on antibiotcs - and should have been given you by your vets.

I cannot add anything further to the excellent advice you have already been given, however may I ask where you little bun came from?
Wherever it was If it were me, I would be letting them know so they can;

1.) treat any other rabbits they have
2.) contact the new owners of any rabbit they have rehomed/sold/given away so those buns can also be treated
3.) have a serious think about whether they are able to properly care for the rabbits they do have if ear mite infestation is going undetected.

I may be bang out of line, but that it what I would do

We had a Rex who at 14 weeks weighed just under 1Kg and was considerably underweight. If 300gms is the correct weight for this little one I would think there is something very wrong. Has the vet done a simple test on her for intestinal worms?

I would seriously consider parsnipbun's advice and try to find a more rabbit savvy vet. Many years ago we lost a bunny who was very special to us, all because a vet would not admit his lack of rabbit knowledge.