rabbits ears are awful

Question
i have a lop eared rabitt.  i never noticed her ears until the other day.  they are getting bald and the inside flaps are like flaking off.  its awful.  she has several raw places around the bottoms of her ears.  i put an antibiotic drop in her ears but i've never seen this before.what is it?

Answer
Hi,

I don't know because 1) I'm not a vet and 2) I haven't seen it.

It could be a number of things.  It could be mites, fleas, an infection, fungus, mange...

You shouldn't just put an antibiotic on it without knowing what it is.  It may not be bacteria, or it may be a bacteria that isn't affected by that antibiotic.  Your vet needs to find out all the things that are in there (it can be more than one) and determine the best antibiotic to use - ask him to do Culture and Sensitivity tests to determine the most effective and safe antibiotic.

I recommend two things.  First, schedule an appointment with your good regular rabbit vet (try to get them to take you as early as they can, this is serious).  Rabbit's ears are their primary body heat exchangers, you don't want them infected and hotter than normal because if the infection.  In the meantime, instead of the antibiotic, get mineral oil and rub it on her ears.

If it is fleas or mites, you will also need to basically do intense cleaning of her cage and all the carpets and her bedding.  go to the House Rabbit Society web site (www.rabbit.org) and investigate what you need to do to clean properly.  If you don't she will just get re-infested and you haven't solved anything.

Lee