fleas or ear mitts

Question
my daughter"now really me" has a rabbit it is calico and about 1 and a half. he has patches of hair in his cage and has fur missing of his ears and they are bleeding on the backs of the ears no where else not even on the body. I don't know what is causing this or how to treat it. the bunny mocha is his name lives out back in the yard in a cage the bottom is out on it so we move the cage so he can have fresh grass every week. we feed him fresh fruit and veggies every day. no pellets or anything in his cage. i put a frozen water bottle in the cage for cooling of. there is a water bottle but he wont drink it never has. not sure why. we got him at a pet store he was about 3 months. he is very big and healthy we also have a dog and a cat they all get along great together. if you have any ideas of a treatment i would thank you  very much . thank you for your time Melissa mcqueary

Answer
Hi, it could easily be either one you mention.  Best bet is to take him in to your regular, good rabbit vet and have it diagnosed properly and get proper treatment.  You really don't want to wait, you don't want problems occurring in his ears because his ears are what cools him down in the summer.  So schedule a vet appointment with a good rabbit vet - go to www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html  to find one around you if you don't have one - and in the meantime to give the poor guy some relief, you can a few times a day, with your fingers, rub mineral oil on his ears.  It will help him until you can get to the vet.

Also some rabbits will not drink certain ways, some like bowls/crocks, some like bottles, some don't care.  Just give him water the way he drinks it.  He will actually drink more the way he likes it, and the more they drink the better.  It's been noted bunnies who drink from bowls drink more than those from bottles.