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Middle Ear Infection in Old Bun

hartleyhare

hartleyhare

Warren Scout
Hi :)

My old boy bun has just been diagnosed with a middle ear infection - vet said he could see pus in one ear. We have been given Baytril for a week's course to see if there is any improvement and I can have more if there is. Vet said there was no point in giving ear drops. Got some Fibreplex, Metacam and Zantac too. The vets we go to are not rabbit savvy, although they do take the time to look stuff up and they are willing to listen to what I have to say. I did ask about an x-ray but vet thought that the risk to a 8 1/2 - 9 1/2 year old rabbit outweighed the benefits and as he pointed out the treatment options will not change from confirming the diagnoses. He has other health issues too.

My question is .... What else can I do to help Theo?
 
My 8 and half year old bun was diagnosed with same thing about 4 weeks ago. She could see pus also. Cody developed slight head tilt because of it. He is on depocillin injections plus he had a course of panacur too just in case. He is improving so well and head tilt is gone after2 weweeks on the injections. Pus is reducing. I am no expert on ear infections but i don't think baytril will be strong enough. I would ask about depocillin. Sending vibes for Theo.
 
I have a 9 year old with infection in both ears. We are treating with depocillin injections and pain relief.

We have opted not to x ray as it won't change the treatment as we would not put her through an operation. We are just hoping to make her comfortable and buy her a little time.

If I was you I would be asking for a different antibiotic like depocillin injections as baytril is not effective where pus is involved.
 
My vet thinks my 6.5 yr old bun has most likely had an ear infection (no x Rays) she had a bad head tilt. So far she has had 5 weeks worth of baytril and finally the head tilt is going. I've got another 3 weeks worth of baytril to give her.

I think you are going to have to treat your bunny for a long time with baytril but it should clear up after a long time my course. (My bun doesn't have pus so this might be why baytril is effective for us)
 
Hugo's There said:
I have a 9 year old with infection in both ears. We are treating with depocillin injections and pain relief.

We have opted not to x ray as it won't change the treatment as we would not put her through an operation. We are just hoping to make her comfortable and buy her a little time.

If I was you I would be asking for a different antibiotic like depocillin injections as baytril is not effective where pus is involved.
Click to expand...

Agree 100% :thumb:

Is there a specialist your vet could consult with? There are several good ones around for phone consults.
 
Thanks for the replies:) I spoke to vet - slightly annoyed with his defeatist attitude, believes we are fighting a losing battle and cannot effect a cure - but he has agreed to me giving the Depocillin injections. He also suggested continuing the baytril. I'm a little worried that this might blow out his gut flora ?? Any thoughts on that?? We have Fibreplex. Theo is well in himself, eating drinking, tottering about and smiling. He is the most incredible smiler, never lets anything get him down, always positive, never grumpy. He doesn't appear to be in any pain. He was shaking his head ( which is what alerted me in the first place ) but this has stopped since I started using the olive oil and removing lots of wax.

We had a specialist vet when we lived down south, its been a rude awaking coming up here :shock: I know the specialist vet has moved practise's, so going to try and find out where and then give him a ring.
 
Tbh it is unlikely to cure it, but that doesn't mean that it can't be managed and bunny can't hacv some considerable quality time :)

Ear infections in older rabbits in my experience are a chronic condition so they may need medication for the rest of their lives or they may be ok just being on meds during a flare up. But we have always found the infection comes straight back if meds are stopped. Keeping the ears clean as you are doing is also important.

Products that boost the immune system can help. Galens garden do some immune products. Also putting something like avipro plus in the water will help the immune system and guts.

Good luck
 
hartleyhare said:
Thanks for the replies:) I spoke to vet - slightly annoyed with his defeatist attitude, believes we are fighting a losing battle and cannot effect a cure - but he has agreed to me giving the Depocillin injections. He also suggested continuing the baytril. I'm a little worried that this might blow out his gut flora ?? Any thoughts on that?? We have Fibreplex. Theo is well in himself, eating drinking, tottering about and smiling. He is the most incredible smiler, never lets anything get him down, always positive, never grumpy. He doesn't appear to be in any pain. He was shaking his head ( which is what alerted me in the first place ) but this has stopped since I started using the olive oil and removing lots of wax.

We had a specialist vet when we lived down south, its been a rude awaking coming up here :shock: I know the specialist vet has moved practise's, so going to try and find out where and then give him a ring.
Click to expand...

Hey, great news you got the Pen injections! I probably wouldn't bother with the Baytril, and I've never had digestive trouble with giving Pen injections, but that's not to say you should follow my advice :shock:

What a lovely bun Theo is :love:
 
We had an eight year old bunny who had head tilt, and a month of Crystapen had him upright after a week. He's been off it for two months now, with no hint of it returning (yet?) despite the loss of his bonded friend (which will obviously be a hit to his immune system). I believe he will always have a vulnerability there, but, equally, it's not something that came back the second we stopped his injections- so there is some potential for recovery, maybe?
 
We left Millicent off her antibiotics for a couple of months because we all believed it was better but all the while it was tracking to her brain. But by the time we realised it was too late :(
Obviously that's not going to happen to every bun but its made us a lot more cautious with stopping antibiotics
 
My bun had a bad ear infection and was given Pen injections and Marbocyl injections every day for five weeks as well as Metacam with great success.

Its worth trying to control the infection and "top up" with antibiotics as and when the infection reappears.
 
Hugo's There said:
We left Millicent off her antibiotics for a couple of months because we all believed it was better but all the while it was tracking to her brain. But by the time we realised it was too late :(
Obviously that's not going to happen to every bun but its made us a lot more cautious with stopping antibiotics
Click to expand...

That's a cheerful thought of what might be happening to my Dawn as I'm typing. :-/
 
I had another bun several years ago with MEI, cannot remember exactly what we treated with now, but do remember it was a 3 pronged attack. I remember ear drops as well as daily injections but not sure what 3rd thing was. It did eventually clear up after about 3 months but his back legs gave out before the infection reappeared :cry:

I cannot help but wonder if the vet did actually see pus, maybe he saw a mix of oil and wax. They are large animal vets doing a small percentage of small animal work. Maybe I'm just clutching at straws because Theo is my BEST BOY. For the moment he seems well enough ( outside sunning himself at present ). Virtually nothing out of his ears this morning and attacked a carrot and fenugreek crunchie stick with gusto when presented with it.
 
has been bookmark, this seems like a very interesting thread
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