Painful ear

Question
I have a 5yr old florida white bunny.  He started scratch his ears crazy and had bad odor back in February so I took him to vet.  The vet figured he has ear infection and I was given oral med and Baytril Otic ear drop.  After I completed both meds and he became back to normal.

This morning when I petted his right ear,  he jumped from the pain or something. He doesn't want me to touch his only his right ear. It seems like left ear is normal and not in pain.  Both ear has no odor this time.  He shakes his head and scratch his right ear time to time but not too often.  He eats as usual, playful and happy.

Could you possibly tell me what it is?  I still have the ear drop, does it help if I give him the drop?  I would love to hear from you.  Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi There

Have you tried cleaning his ears with vegetable oil. One of my rabbits would do this as when he had ear mites. Put some oil on a napkin and just clean any built up wax or crustiness in his ears.

I wouldn't give him the old ear drops. I would take him back to the vet because if they do a culture of the ear, then the old drops might alter the readings.

Get a comb or a flea comb preferably and go through the hair on his head and neck. See if you find any black gravel throughout his fur. This is flea dirt. Look for any abnormal lumps that might be bubbled up. This could be ticks. Whenever I have found fleas on my animals they prefer the neckline and the hind legs. Eliminating pests as a cause is step one.

He may still have the ear infection also. Baytril commonly doesn't work. There are over 25 medications they can also try. Is his ear red, or appear swollen... Is the odor still there... Often an odor is a sign of an infection. Rabbits will commonly get ear infections if they get any water in their ears at all.

If the odor is still there and there is no indication of parasites, then I would take him back to the vet to try a different antibiotic. They might culture the ear and see what antibiotic will respond best and if the drops might interfere with those readings...

Hope this helps!

Alice