Deaf rabbit. Could be due to earwax buildup?

Question
Hello

I have a lop eared dwarf lop of 1 and a half years.  He is deaf and has to be approached from a distance where he can see you.  Sometimes his ears seem to irritate him and he itches them and his jawline alot more than my other up eared rabbits do.  I asked the vet about this and he said we could have his ears flushed out like humans do.  He also said that the wax can perforate the eardrum, and that lops are prone to this as the ear canal is kinked.  His ears looks perfectly healthy from the outside.
What i want to ask is can the vet tell just by looking in his ears if he needs this done?  Does a rabbit need to be put under for this procedure? I really don't want to put my rabbit through any unnecessary treatment, but i don't want him to be in pain either.  I do not know if he was deaf as a baby as we only took him in at christmas time (9 months ago).

thank you so much

Laura

Answer
Dear Laura,

Lops are, indeed, prone to ear problems.  I've not heard of ear wax puncturing the ear drums, but I suppose it's possible if the kinked ear canal doesn't allow bun to remove the wax and it gets hard and packed enough to cause physical damage.  But I'd be surprised if over the course of nine months this could already have happened.  Not impossible, but it would be pretty unusual.

A good look deep into the ear canal with an otoscope should reveal any undue wax buildup and allow the vet to tell if an ear flush would do any good.  If the ear canal is clear, then there's no point in a flush.

Some lops are hard of hearing because their ear canals are pinched off by their abnormal morphology, but some are just stone deaf.  They do fine, as long as you approach them carefully, as you are doing.

Hope this helps.

Dana