Scratches on bunnies ears...

[BunnyTree]

I noticed last night that my mini lop had some scratches/dried blood on his ears, looks like similar spots on both ears. My first guess as to what it was is fur mites, I thought maybe he was scratching his ears because of mites and that's why he had these bloody spots but I don't see any dandruff, skin discoloration or anything that looks like mites, could it just be cuts that need to heal, or possibly fur mites or something else? Thanks!

 

[AmberLops]

Looks like bites...maybe from biting flies?
I would treat for ear mites just to be safe though.
A few drops of vegetable/olive oil in each ear every 3 days for a week or 2 will take care of ear mites

 

[BunnyTree]

Ok thanks, I'll try that

 

[BunnyTree]

If it is flies is there something I could do to deter them?

 

[AmberLops]

I have those sticky fly traps hanging everywhere in the rabbitry and I recently bought those bags that smell awful but they work so well! I would recommend doing that. It really helps

 

[Ridgetop]

I would treat for ear mites just to be safe though.
A few drops of vegetable/olive oil in each ear every 3 days for a week or 2 will take care of ear mites

Oil treatment is great and cheap. If the oil doesn't work you can also use a cat ear mite OTC medicine. I used oil and it usually worked all the time, You can also rub some antibiotic cream into the scratches. Also, clip the rabbits rear claws. I found that if I did not clip rear nails especially on older rabbits sometimes they could cause deep scratches when there were no ear mites just from occasional scratches. Once the rabbit has the scratches they start to bother it and it will scratch more making it worse.

Do you have hanging wire cages over manure pits? If so, put a layer of shavings on top and rake it around every day. That helps keep the flies down since the rabbit berries are covered up. The shavings deter flies. Rabbit urine is almost pure nitrogen while the shavings are almost pure carbon. Once the urine saturates the shavings the nitrogen/carbon mixture makes a perfect garden additive and of course rabbit poop doesn't burn plants so can be applied directly to any plants as garden mulch.

 

[BunnyTree]

Ok, if it was ear mites would it affect the outer ear? Inside the ear there is nothing out of the ordinary...if it was fur mites would olive oil still work? I have use kitten flea powder for fur mites before and it worked but I have a nursing doe and I don't want to use the flea powder if I don't have to.

 

[AmberLops]

Usually not...the ear mites are inside the ears but the rabbit scratching its itchy ears will cause the scrapes/wounds on the outside of the ear. But if she doesn't have any scabbing inside of her ears, it's probably not ear mites.
The olive oil wouldn't work for fur mites...and I wouldn't use kitten flea powder on a nursing doe.
You can dust her ears with DE or put some Vaseline on the scabs and see if they disappear after a few days