Rabbit ear cartilage hardening and drop off

Question
Dear Dr. Krempels, My neighbor has a pet rabbit that recently went through 2
rounds of surgery due to an infesation from flies. (yuck) Surgery was
successful and the rabbit lived. NOw suddenly both her ears are suffering
from hardening of the cartilage and one ear has nearly fallen off completely!
She is otherwise healthy seeming, eating well, no bloody stools etc. ANy
ideas? Many thanks, Hillary


Answer
Dear Hillary,

Without seeing the problem, it's hard for me to guess.  But it sounds as if the blood supply to the ears was somehow cut off, causing necrosis of the ear tissue.  Yuck!

This is *really* uncommon, except in really extreme cases of mange:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/furloss.html

I would get the bunny back to the vet (or to a different one for a second opinion, if you suspect something that happened at the vet's might have caused this):

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope the bun will be fine.

Dana