Persistant ear infection

Question
Hi Dana,

I have a 6 yr old lop eared rabbit and a bit more than a month ago I discovered an abscess in his ear (it had swollen up seemingly overnight, and was visible from the outside with a rather large lump and had pus inside his ear as well). I took him immediately to my vet who put him under anaesthetic and drained it. She said that it was one of the worst she's ever seen, and that the pus had the consistency of toothpaste. We put him on a 2 week antibiotic treatment (1mL of Chloramphenicol 2x daily), and I cleaned where his ear was lanced/drained twice daily with a diluted hibitane solution.

Now just this week I discovered that his other ear is now infected. I took him to my vet again, and I saw the pus as she cleaned his ear out with a swab, and it was greyish colored and very thick and sticky. She flushed his ear with some hibitane solution, and has said she's not sure what has caused this. He's back on antibiotics now (same type and dose as before), and I've also got some ear drops to put in twice daily. I've also been instructed to flush his ear out daily with the dilute hibitane.

I was just wondering if you know what can be done about this? We haven't taken a sample of the pus to send to the lab yet (as we didn't think of doing it until after my vet had cleaned his ear out and washed it so at that point we didn't have anything to send off, we decided to try to research what this might be first, and if it continues to be a problem I will bring him in for a sample to be taken) but would that be worthwhile? or do you think with the current course of action that it will clear up?

What causes an abscess/ear infection like this? I've read that Pasteurella is common, and also contagious (I have 4 pet rabbits living in close proximity to each other and I'm afraid that they might also get sick), but I've read that it usually comes from a respiratory problem which I don't believe he has. He has had a bit of a damp nose (no discharge) but I'm not sure that it's anything unusual. He hasn't been sneezing, and seems otherwise to be in good health. He is alert, and his usual busy self. Any advice on where to go from here?

Answer
Dear Sarah,

Yes, a culture and sensitivity test is *absolutely* necessary in a case like this, to be sure you are using the antibiotic that is most effective against the problem.  If your vet is not primarily a rabbit vet, please be sure she has not prescribed amoxycillin or any oral penicillin, as these are *deadly* to rabbits.  Please read:

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

Ear infections are common in lops, but are not contagious.  If the condition persists, even with aggressive flushing and antibiotic therapy, you might eventually wish to consider asking the vet about marsupializing the ear canal, allowing better drainage.  This is a somewhat drastic procedure, opening the ear canal to its vertical base, but it can have excellent results in permanently solving a persistent ear infection problem.  

The procedure should be done by an experienced rabbit vet.  If you don't have one, you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

I hope this helps get you started.

Dana