My 7 month female rabbit was...

Question
My 7 month female rabbit was spayed 10 days ago.  One day after her op I noticed she had developed a sore on the side of her head next to her ear.  The following morning it was bigger.  I have monitored it for a week but took her to my vet when more red areas started to appear on the opposite ear.

The vet couldn't explain and check her ears for mites which were clear.  She gave my rabbit and anti inflamitory injection and baytril and also zn7 gel.  After two days this still hasn't cleared up.  My rabbit is alert and eating normally.  Any suggestions could this be an infection picked up from the vet's surgery?  I have another female rabbit spayed at the same time and sharing the hutch and she is fine.

Answer
Dear A Vickery

It sounds as if she's scratching her ears, but without seeing her do it, this is just a guess.  Ear mites are often very hard to locate, especially if it's a mild or early infection.  It might be worth asking the vet if s/he'd be willing to prescribe Revolutoin (selamectin) in case it's mites.  That excellent drug will kill them, and should stop any itching caused by mite parasites.

If it's not mites, then there's the chance that she has an ear infection--but the vet would likely see pus in the ear if that's the case.  A yeast infection might also cause itching, but the only way to find out if she has one would be via culture and sensitivity testing:

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

specifically for fungus.  

Because this happened shortly after she was spayed, it's possible that the stress of the surgery itself caused a bit of immunosuppression that allowed a sub-clinical mite or bacterial infection to blow up into something actually detectable.

In any case, I'd ask about the Revolution.  It's very safe, and might do the trick.  If it doesn't, then it's time to do more detective work for infection.

I hope this helps.  Please write back if you have any other questions.

Dana