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Help please with ear wax , not happy with vets advice

S

Solarwind

Young Bun
Please could anyone give me advice concerning a build up of wax in my rabbit’s ears? He has been seen by a vet who has told me to use 1 mil of a solution of one pint of warm water and a teaspoon of salt and put this into his ears and massage his ears for five minutes than remove and wax with cotton wool. Now I am not confident to do this. Neither I am sure this is a good thing to do. The vet wants the wax removed to see if there is an ear infection because he has a problem with some congestion in the nose as a result of a throat infection. According to my understanding from my own experience with ear infections that water entering the ear is not a good thing and can itself cause ear infections such as otitis externa, swimmers ear.

My poor rabbit who is getting old has been through hell this last week. A sufferer of long term gastro stasis his system suddenly shut down and he had bloat and had to be hospitalised overnight and have his stomach drained while conscious and put on a drip. It was discovered at this time that there was some discharge from his nose. Since than he has been to the vet twice more and yesterday the vet examined his ears and says there is a build up of wax and I am to remove it in the way I have described. After the trauma he has been through - he is lucky to be alive - I don’t want any further problems or upsets for him. He is improving slowly from Gastro stasis and I think messing about with his ears in this way will cause more stress and send him back into stasis.


The greatest concern though is that putting water in his ear - 1 mil sounds a lot to me - is not a good idea.

Any advice please would be appreciated.


Thanks

Christine
 
I dont think a saline solution will shift the wax anyway, it just tends to float on the top of it. I would not do it and I would ask the Vet to clean the wax out using an appropriate ear cleaner as if there is infection under the plug of wax it could also mean that the tympanic membrane (ear drum) is damaged. If this were to be the case then it would not be a great idea to be putting lots of saline solution into the ear canals. The cleaning needs to be done VERY carefully, including checking the ear canals using an otoscope as the cleaning is done.

The gut stasis may be a secondary symptom of the ear/respiratory tract problems.
 
Jack's-Jane said:
I dont think a saline solution will shift the wax anyway, it just tends to float on the top of it. I would not do it and I would ask the Vet to clean the wax out using an appropriate ear cleaner as if there is infection under the plug of wax it could also mean that the tympanic membrane (ear drum) is damaged. If this were to be the case then it would not be a great idea to be putting lots of saline solution into the ear canals. The cleaning needs to be done VERY carefully, including checking the ear canals using an otoscope as the cleaning is done.

The gut stasis may be a secondary symptom of the ear/respiratory tract problems.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your advice, I agree it’s not a good idea but needed some confirmation as I am fairly new to looking after rabbits. I will take him back to see a different vet. His stasis has been long term now for a couple of years with improvements but never back to normal. His ear and respiratory problems are recent, and the vet is not yet sure if the two are connected or even if he has an ear infection. All very worrying. Once again my sincere thanks for responding.
 
I have had to recently treat Bentley for a build up of earwax in one ear, he was prescribed CeremAural ear flush which I have had to apply daily.
 
The Rabbit Welfare Association have a rabbit savvy vet list or if you post your location someone here might be able to recommend a vet if you'd like a second opinion.
 
Solarwind said:
Please could anyone give me advice concerning a build up of wax in my rabbit’s ears? He has been seen by a vet who has told me to use 1 mil of a solution of one pint of warm water and a teaspoon of salt and put this into his ears and massage his ears for five minutes than remove and wax with cotton wool. Now I am not confident to do this. Neither I am sure this is a good thing to do. The vet wants the wax removed to see if there is an ear infection because he has a problem with some congestion in the nose as a result of a throat infection. According to my understanding from my own experience with ear infections that water entering the ear is not a good thing and can itself cause ear infections such as otitis externa, swimmers ear.

My poor rabbit who is getting old has been through hell this last week. A sufferer of long term gastro stasis his system suddenly shut down and he had bloat and had to be hospitalised overnight and have his stomach drained while conscious and put on a drip. It was discovered at this time that there was some discharge from his nose. Since than he has been to the vet twice more and yesterday the vet examined his ears and says there is a build up of wax and I am to remove it in the way I have described. After the trauma he has been through - he is lucky to be alive - I don’t want any further problems or upsets for him. He is improving slowly from Gastro stasis and I think messing about with his ears in this way will cause more stress and send him back into stasis.


The greatest concern though is that putting water in his ear - 1 mil sounds a lot to me - is not a good idea.

Any advice please would be appreciated.


Thanks

Christine
Click to expand...

I personally wouldn't put water in a bunny's ear. The vet could dispense a proprietary ear cleaner that would soften and loosen the wax. Then it was be able to fall out when bun cleaned/scratched his ears.

I should ring another vet and get a second opinion on what he's suggested, maybe?
 
Tracy said:
I have had to recently treat Bentley for a build up of earwax in one ear, he was prescribed CeremAural ear flush which I have had to apply daily.
Click to expand...

Thank you for this information. I will be taking him back on Friday to see a different vet and will suggest this. There is no way I am flushing his ear with salt water.
 
MightyMax said:
I personally wouldn't put water in a bunny's ear. The vet could dispense a proprietary ear cleaner that would soften and loosen the wax. Then it was be able to fall out when bun cleaned/scratched his ears.

I should ring another vet and get a second opinion on what he's suggested, maybe?
Click to expand...


Thank you for this suggestion which seems a lot better than flushing his ears with salt water and poking about with cotton wool to remove the wax. I have an appointment this week with a different vet.
 
Tamsin said:
The Rabbit Welfare Association have a rabbit savvy vet list or if you post your location someone here might be able to recommend a vet if you'd like a second opinion.
Click to expand...


Thank you for this information. I have an appointment with a different vet on Friday. If this doesn't work out will check out the list. There is no way I am flushing out his ears with water and salt, particularly as everyone I ask seems to think this is not a good idea.
 
Ooh, no, I wouldn't want do an ear-wash either! I have Canaural solution for Lopsy (it's for cats and dogs but, like a number of medications, is supposed to be OK for rabbits) and was told to ear-bud them out once a week. I'm applying the drops and massaging (briefly) as advised, but I won't be poking things in his ears! I've not seen any debris yet but it does seem to be working as he's scratching at his ears a lot less.

Best of luck!

Point of interest: what about olive oil? It works for human ear wax and is advised over and above syringing/flushing: would anyone recommend it for rabbits? Just wondering as if Lopsy gets ongoing wax buildup as a lop, it might be worth doing when it starts bothering him again and we've always got it in as the OH uses it.
 
keletkezes said:
Ooh, no, I wouldn't want do an ear-wash either! I have Canaural solution for Lopsy (it's for cats and dogs but, like a number of medications, is supposed to be OK for rabbits) and was told to ear-bud them out once a week. I'm applying the drops and massaging (briefly) as advised, but I won't be poking things in his ears! I've not seen any debris yet but it does seem to be working as he's scratching at his ears a lot less.

Best of luck!

Point of interest: what about olive oil? It works for human ear wax and is advised over and above syringing/flushing: would anyone recommend it for rabbits? Just wondering as if Lopsy gets ongoing wax buildup as a lop, it might be worth doing when it starts bothering him again and we've always got it in as the OH uses it.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your helpful response. No one it seems would be happy to put salt water into their rabbit’s ears. I have not done this and will not and have another appoinment to see a different vet. I am so glad now that I asked, it just did not feel right. Will ask the vet about canaural.
 
My splay leg bunny cannot clean his left ear and gets a build up of wax. I use a product called Quistel Soothing Ear Cleaner, which comes highly recommended and is purchased easily online.

You just put a couple of drops in the ear and massage the base for 30 secs. They recommend warming the drops slightly first. Then when I have stopped massaging his ear which seems to help soften and loosen the wax, Scooter shakes his head and the wax literally falls out. It was a bit disgusting the first time, but kindof satisfying thinking about how much better his ear must feel with all that wax removed from it, but at least it proves it works.

I wouldn't want to be actually messing about inside the ears myself, but it was easy just putting a couple of drops in.
 
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