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Ivermectin side effects?

J

Jeremy

Wise Old Thumper
Mishka seems to have picked up ear mites AGAIN (third time) :(

Flump and Sparkle never get them, so I'm wondering if the treatment isn't working totally. In the past she has been treated with ear drops twice a day (can't remember the name sorry).

I read that Ivermectin is very effective against ear mites, and it seems to me that a couple of injections would be far less stressfull than having stuff put in her ears twice a day for 10 odd days.

The only thing is, I have picked up on anecdotes that Ivermectin can sting when injected, and stories of rabbits going off their food. I'm sure I remember reading somewhere of a rabbit that had a fit when injected! :shock:
Now this may all be co-incidental, and after surfing for half an hour I have only found lots of things saying it is one of the safest drugs around. But I just wondered if anyone here had good/bad experiences with it. :?
 
I think I have had a lot of experience with rabbits getting mites as mine all gave it to each other during the building works!

Zeus has had six injections in a year (two seperate lots of three as he has had mites twice), Violet and Athena have had three each and Cosmos two (as a precaution although he never showed symptoms). Not one time has any of them had an adverse reacton.

Caz
 
My rabbits have never had any problems, but I do know of one case where a rabbit experienced a severe reaction to ivermectin and nearly died. That's balanced against many many more who are fine with it. From the research this man did after this happened to his rabbit apparently a bad reaction is more likely in rabbits with white feet (still very uncommon though even in white footed rabbits). I don't know how true this is, but it's a thought.
 
I'm not sure that the ivermectin actually needs to be injected. I haven't had it to treat rabbits, but my vet just drips it on the neck of guineas when they need it and it works. It needs to be done a couple of times at least about 10 days apart. This could well cut dopwn on side-effects.
 
Evo went off his food both times he had injections for mites. It might just be a coincidence though, as he was going through a bad patch with his tummy at the time anyway, I might have just been the stress of the vet visit in general that set it off.
 
Ive no experience of ivermectin so i cant offer any advice but just wondering Jeremy, how did u know he had ear mites? Im just curious to know what u can see.
 
Diddeen said:
Ive no experience of ivermectin so i cant offer any advice but just wondering Jeremy, how did u know he had ear mites? Im just curious to know what u can see.
Click to expand...

Yep me too - does the bunny just scratch a lot or can you actually see them?
 
Diddeen said:
Ive no experience of ivermectin so i cant offer any advice but just wondering Jeremy, how did u know he had ear mites? Im just curious to know what u can see.
Click to expand...

She starts flicking her head and attempting to scratch her ears a lot (but she can't because her back legs are too weak bless her :( )
On examining the inside of her ears, you can see a brown waxy buildup in the base, and often rough patches further up where it should be smooth and healthy. Sometimes the ear feels thicker too as it is inflamed (although it doesn't look bright pink or anything)
 
The vet thought Nala may have mites cos she had some crusty stuff in one of her ears but he put a light scope thingy into her ear and said there was no sign of any mites but that if she kept scratching to take her back for another look. She does seem less itchy lately so maybe it was just fluff!
I hope she gets over her mites soon.
 
Jeremy, just a thought, do you clean her ears for her? We have to do this with Snowball as she doesn't manage very well on her back legs either. She loves it when I stick my finger in her ear and give it a very gentle scratch :lol: We use Leo cat ear cleaner and we've had no problems with it.

But that won't solve the mite problem!
 
bunnyhuggger said:
Jeremy, just a thought, do you clean her ears for her?
Click to expand...

Yes, we have been doing for the last couple of days until we can get her into the vet tomorrow. As long as she thinks it's one of the other rabbits doing it (if they are next to her) she is fine, but as soon as she realises it's us she hobbles off in a huff :roll: :lol:
 
Jack has had the injection for ear mites, he had two, I think they were done about four days apart, but its a while ago now so I can't remember. He had no side effects whatsoever, and the mites cleared up almost instantly, and have never come back.

My vet never mentioned side effects for it, and he's always good about letting me know side effects (sometimes I wish they wouldn't tell you what can go wrong!), so I'd guess that its very rare for rabbits to have reactions.

Have a chat with your vet, but I'd definitely reccomend the injections as a quick and effective way of getting rid of the mites, especially if the drops don't seem to be working!

Good luck,
Kate and Jack


:D
 
Well Mishka and Sparkle have both just got back from the vet after having their injections. No bad effects so far, both seem fine and are now running around the garden chomping grass.

Did have one scary moment when Mishka had her injection and decided that was the moment she would try and escape after sitting quietly for ages. I immediately feared the worst that she was about to have some kind of fit, but of course she was fine. :lol:

Met another bunny mad mum & daughter at the vets too, who had heard of this site. Rabbit Rehome is getting famous! :D
 
I am worried about the buns having ivermectin injections - it does seem to hurt them when they actually get the injection. Have never had any side effects from it but am going to look into using Listerine mouthwash as it has had good results - a friend told me about it but I need to know how to apply it. Will certainly work out cheaper than the vets injections :?
 
Jeremy said:
bunnyhuggger said:
Jeremy, just a thought, do you clean her ears for her?
Click to expand...

Yes, we have been doing for the last couple of days until we can get her into the vet tomorrow. As long as she thinks it's one of the other rabbits doing it (if they are next to her) she is fine, but as soon as she realises it's us she hobbles off in a huff :roll: :lol:
Click to expand...

Mishka - the bunny with sixth sense :lol: :lol:

Jeremy - I hope she gets on o.k tomorrow - that Mishka is certainly a Monkey with a capital M.

Sending Snuggles.
 
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