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Checking buns ears & how to clean them if needed?

C

chelle

Warren Veteran
Hi all!:wave:

After reading a post on here - it was mentioned how very important it was to check & if needed clean buns ears.

I check mine buns ears often..have seen some wax once...but didnt do anything..just kept an eye on it.

Now how do we know if its needs cleaning?

Should there normally be no ear wax visible?

What is a safe method of checking & cleaning rabbits ears?

I would hate to cause an injury in their ear for example.


Thanks!
 
Generally you shouldn't need to clean a bunnies ears, so it's just a case of checking regularly that they don't look any different to usual - just look down them by eye. Looking dirty or crusty is often a sign that they have a problem eg mites that needs treatment.

Sometimes older bunnies, rabbits with mobility problems or ones missing a back leg will need help with cleaning as they can't get their foot up to give them a clean out, but the average bun should be fine.
 
thanks for the reply...:wave:

I was aware that usually rabbits would not need their ears cleaned...and when you say if its crust - do you mean right down in the ear or along the inside of the whole ear?
I'm presuming the whole of the inside for mites etc? but I dont know - I've never seen mites :?

What I was interested in knowing was how do you clean a rabbits ear that IS dirty?
eg 3 legged buns etc.

Obviously I would not dream of cleaning a rabbits ears unless it was advised by a vet.

Is some visual signs of a small amount of wax normal?
 
It depends on how advanced it is, mites tends to start by just looking like a bit of extra wax, but then the ear hole tends to look a bit red/swollen, and then the crustiness increases and spreads outwards and they can also get scabs developing on the inside of the ear flap too. If it's left it can get really bad and the whole ear base becomes affected with swelling/scabs.

I haven't had a bun with three legs so I can't answer that one, I would say a bit of damp cotton wool would probably do the job - you wouldn't want to be poking cotton buds down or anything. I think there are drops you can get to loosen the wax too if it builds up.
 
Aww I used to love watching my bridge bun "Rio" cleaning out his big lop lugs.He was ever so gentle,bit of a scratch and slow motion probing with his back paws and then licking his feet clean.He must have did a good job,he never had any ear problems.:)
 
thanks for the replies....some useful advice about mites and what it looks like and how it can spread...and also about the damp cotton wool.
Hopefully I will never have to ...cant think that the buns would enjoy it very much.

They do clean their ears so very gently...its really sweet how they like to keep themselves clean.:love:
 
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