The ears of rabbits are open to any infections and parasites, and with poor care they can become inflamed. We learn what diseases threaten rabbit ears, how to recognize them, how to prevent and cure them?
Earwax
Accumulation of sulfur is not a disease. Sulfur release is a common, non-pathological process. A lot of sulfur accumulates in the ear canal and it becomes clogged. A clogged ear canal can trigger other ear diseases. The solution is purification. This must be done as carefully and gently as possible so that the animal does not panic. If the rabbit gets scared and starts to break out, he can hurt himself.
How to clean the ears of a rabbit:
- Gently bend the edge of the ear.
- A cotton swab cleans the inner surface of the ear, removing accumulations of sulfur and other dirt.
- It is forbidden to push the tampon deep into the ear - you can damage the eardrum.
A healthy ear has smooth, pale pink skin. When cleaning the ears of a rabbit, they examine them along the way - if there is redness, peeling, abscesses, you must show the animal to the vet.
If the sulfur accumulated in the ear emits a strong, unpleasant odor, the parasites must have settled in it.
To prevent the accumulation of earwax is simple - you need to periodically clean the ears of animals, without waiting for the formation of sulfur plugs.
A piece of fleece soaked in a special lotion for cleaning the ears of animals is wound on a medical clamp
Purulent otitis media
This disease at the initial stage is difficult to differentiate from psoroptosis. Moreover, the disease is generally difficult to detect - the focus of infection is located behind the eardrum, so it is not possible to visually see the problem.
Causes of purulent otitis media:
- hypothermia;
- head injuries;
- poor nutrition;
- fungal disease;
- accumulation of sulfur;
- insects and parasites;
- trauma to the inner surface of the ears;
- somatic weakness.
Symptoms
- lack of appetite;
- inadequate reaction to touching the ears;
- when the disease is aggravated, purulent discharge appears in the auricle;
- with progressive otitis media, the work of the vestibular apparatus is disrupted - the animal makes strange movements, moving, as if it does not see surrounding objects;
- eyes constantly move - rotate or move horizontally.
If you suspect or detect otitis media, contact your veterinarian to clarify what to do and what drugs to use.
Self-medication is not allowed - if you choose the wrong drugs, the condition of the rabbit may worsen. For treatment, drugs are usually used in the form of drops - they are buried in the ears to relieve pain and eliminate inflammation.
Myxomatosis
A dangerous disease in which, along with inflammatory processes, purulent conjunctivitis develops. The body of the animal is covered with cones and blisters.
Symptoms by which myxomatosis can be diagnosed appear 20 days after infection. But if you carefully examine the animals daily, you can recognize the disease at the initial stage - by red spots on the skin and by the seals that appear on the ears and eyelids.
Symptoms of progressive myxomatosis:
- The temperature jump is up to 41 degrees. But after a while it falls to the norm.
- Watery eyes. The condition resembles conjunctivitis - the lower eyelids are filled with purulent clots.
- The body is covered with tumors comparable in size to a pigeon egg.
- The head and genitals swell.
- The ears are down, the scalp is covered with folds.
- Oral inflammation. Wheezing and purulent discharge appear.
Myxomatosis in a rabbit
Tumors on a rabbit's ear
Severe myxomatosis in a rabbit
Timely and proper treatment gives a positive result. The veterinarian prescribes strong antibiotics and immunomodulators. Gamavit, Baytril or Ringer injected subcutaneously. In the nasal passages, the drops prescribed for myxomatosis are instilled, and the wounds are treated with iodine.
If you do not recognize the symptoms in time and take action, one sick rabbit can provoke the death of the entire livestock.
Recovering and sick rabbits are kept in a warm room, always isolated from the herd. Rehabilitation after treatment is three months.
Myxomatosis is treated by many rabbit breeders, and quite successfully by folk remedies. True, the effect is only in the early stages of the disease. Methods of treating myxomatosis with alternative methods:
- treatment of affected areas with refried sunflower oil;
- treatment of wounds on the ears with urine previously exposed to the sun for 3 hours;
- feeding with fresh leaves of horseradish;
- adding pumpkin pulp and freshly squeezed pineapple juice to the feed;
- aromatherapy with eucalyptus oil;
- an injection in the shin of a solution from a camel spine.
The breeder tells how he cured myxomatosis in his rabbits:
Abalone drop
Inexperienced rabbit breeders often do not pay attention to the alarming symptom - falling ears. Often this phenomenon is in no way associated with pathologies. But the task of the rabbit breeder is to carefully examine the auricles.
Finding the cause of the ear fall
- During the examination, they check whether there are any sores or wounds in the ears, and in the ear canal - a foreign body.
- It is convenient to raise the rabbits by the ears, this is what can cause the ears to fall - during the raising, trauma to the circulatory system, cartilage and nerve endings can occur.
- If the ears are healthy and no problems are found, it is possible that the ears fall due to the high ambient temperature. This phenomenon is characteristic of young animals - their ears often drop in the heat.
- The fall of the ears may be due to the playfulness of the rabbit - perhaps he just pressed them. A mechanical hall can also occur.
- Ears may fall due to parasites.
If the ear is broken, then they make a supporting structure for it - a kind of tire. Or glue the ear with a band-aid to the second ear, which has retained its shape. If the cause of the fall of the ears is parasitic insects, appropriate treatment is used.
Psoroptosis (ear scabies)
Causes of ear scabies:
- Infection occurs when sulfur falls out of the ears of a sick animal, or when it comes into contact with dandruff.
- Inventory and other items that were used to care for a sick animal, and were not disinfected.
- To transfer scabies - from sick to healthy rabbits, can people caring for them.
Symptoms
- Anxiety, animals rub ears with their paws, shake their heads.
- In mild forms, inflammation resembles wet eczema.
- On the inner surfaces of the ears are red swellings that eventually become bubbles. The latter burst, a yellow liquid flows out, it dries, turning into crusts. The auditory meatus is clogged with sulfur lumps.
- In severe forms, foci of lesions merge, abundant secretions of sulfur and pus are observed. The resulting crusts completely cover the ear canal.
If you do not treat ear scabies, inflammation penetrates deeper - to the brain. The meninges are affected, the animal has a CNS disorder.
The diagnosis of psoroptosis becomes after the study of scrapings. To identify the tick on their own, take a scraping from the ears, and place it in liquid paraffin. Under a magnifying glass, ticks can be considered - if any.
Psoroptosis treatment:
- Isolation of sick animals from the herd,
- Treatment of the auricles with acaricidal sprays, foams and ointments - Psoroptol, Tsiodrin, Acrodex, Dicresil. Processing is done once a week until the ticks are completely eliminated.
- Injections are injected subcutaneously for general therapy - Baymek, Ivomek.
Preventive measures:
- Antiparasitic treatment of aviaries. Cleaning is carried out once every half a month - at least. Disinfect tools and equipment.
- Quarantine of new animals - within a month. During this time, newborn rabbits are examined several times for the presence of ear scabies.
- Each animal is periodically examined for parasites. The minimum frequency of examinations is once a month.
- In order to avoid infection of young animals, pregnant females are thoroughly examined a couple of weeks before the round. Perform preventive treatment of the ears.
How to treat an ear tick in rabbits is described in the video below:
Frostbite
The ears of the rabbits are quite tender, when they are in cold rooms, they are the ones who suffer first. The causes of frostbite are low temperatures.
Symptoms of frostbite are easily determined:
- The ears become cold and swollen. Touching the ears hurts the animal - this is the first degree of frostbite.
- With a second degree of frostbite, blisters appear on the ears, which, bursting, form purulent ulcers. The skin, drying up and exfoliating, becomes covered with open wounds;
- The third degree of frostbite is accompanied by severe pain and the death of affected tissues.
The affected animal is transferred to heat. With the 1st degree of frostbite, the affected areas are lubricated with fat - pork or goose. At the 2nd degree, camphor or iodide ointment is used for processing. With the 3rd degree, you can not do without the help of a veterinarian. Dead areas will have to be removed, and wounds that are formed in this way are treated in the usual way.
The breeder shows a rabbit with frostbite ears:
To prevent frostbite of the ears, the cells are insulated with straw mats - they cover the enclosures on the side of the barred walls on especially frosty days. Straw is thrown into the cells so that the rabbits hide in it in the cold.
Cold ears
Ears for a rabbit are a kind of indicator of well-being. Atmospheric temperature fluctuations greatly affect body temperature. To maintain its own body temperature, the rabbit often lacks the heat received from the skin and subcutaneous fat. Through the ears, the animal loses a lot of heat. They cool if a weak venous blood flow is observed in the capillaries of the vessels.
The cause of cold ears can be:
- Reflexive contraction (spasm) of capillaries due to exposure to frost.
- Low blood pressure
- Stress, Fright.
If the animal feels well, cold ears can be ignored. But if the air temperature drops below minus 15 ° C, it is necessary to take measures - to warm the cells, eliminate drafts. Cold ears are not an important diagnostic sign. Usually they indicate frostbite.
Symptom of hot ears
Rabbits, like many animals, do not sweat. Heat transfer in them occurs along the capillary network of the ears. If the rabbit’s ears became hot, and he feels normal, most likely, he’s just hot.
What hot ears are talking about:
- Signs indicating a normal condition:
- Animals have a normal appetite. They drink as usual.
- The inner surface of the auricles is pink or red.
- An adequate reaction to any stimuli is observed - to touch, sound, etc.
- When light enters the eyes, the pupils narrow, in the dark they expand.
- Urination and feces are normal.
- Signs of health problems:
- The animal is sluggish, mainly lies, does not eat, vilifies, coughs, has snot, etc.
- The inner surface of the ears is pale or bluish.
- There is no reaction to loud and sharp noise. If there is no reaction to pain, a pain shock may have occurred.
- The shock, collapse and coma are also indicated by the lack of reaction of the pupil to the light.
Ear bleeding
The rabbit ears have a complex vascular system. It is worth scratching your ear as heavy bleeding begins. If blood has flowed, the ear is wiped with a cotton swab dipped in hydrogen peroxide. In this way, blood is removed from the skin, and the exact location of the damage is determined - wounds or scratches.
The cause of damage to the ear and, as a result, its bleeding is often the usual combing - rabbits tend to scratch their ears, which leads to damage. They scratch their ears due to an allergic reaction or the presence of parasites.
The ears of rabbits are one of the most vulnerable places. Thanks to simple prophylaxis, vigilant examination and timely diagnosis, serious diseases can be avoided. If, nevertheless, the animals become ill, competent treatment is necessary - it will prevent complications caused by ear diseases and premature death of the livestock.
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Russia. City Novosibirsk
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