Rabbit ears

Question
My rabbits ears have always stood straight up. I am a rabbit breeder and she is about 3 months old. I went out to her cage today and noticed that the tops of her ears are flopped over. I cant find out what is wrong. Please help i am supposed to show this rabbit soon.

Answer
Hi Addie
I am assuming if you are showing your rabbit then it should have come with papers. Do you know for certain the breed? Sometimes if a rex and a mini lop are bred, for example, The rabbit usually carries the lop traits. One lionhead and a rex will produce a lionhead bunny, but he won't have true lionhead genetics.
The lop and the rex example come to mind as once I came across some rescue rabbits. There were two mini rex and one lop. All babies carried the long ears trait but most of their ears stood straight until they were about 3 months old which is common for the lops ears to then fall, or one will and the other will stand straight. There might be nothing wrong with her ears. Especially if she exhibits control still over the ear then she is likely fine. With a sprain, often the bunny will exhibit poor to little control over her ear.
A rabbit can sprain his ears if something falls on his head, or even from jumping and hitting his head on the cage. Look for bumps on her head and check her mouth because when this happens rabbits will commonly bite their lips and chip teeth. A lip will heal and the teeth can be trimmed if necessary.
If a sprain is the cause then they will require time to heal. Is the rabbit behaving normally eating, drinking, peeing and pooping normally? Is he active or lethargic? Sometimes if a rabbit is in pain it will lie down with it's head upright, eyes may be bulged, breathing may be rapid, any vocalization is an indication of pain. She would appear lethargic if ill and may eat and drink very little if at all.
as far as showing rabbits, I have never participated in this myself, but Dave Lawrence also listed on the expert menu routinely shows rabbits. He may be able to advise better in regard to showing and standards etc.
Thank you for using the service!
Good luck.
A.