# Ear Mites



## ReflectionOfImperfection (Jul 14, 2011)

One of my standard Rex had crusts and red scratches in one ear. Her ear would dangle down and she would shake her head repeatedly. It was obvious it was Rabbit Ear Mites. I would have to say rating her ear from 0-10 , 10 being the worst, her ear was about a 7 or 8. It was really gross, i lost my appetite. But as much as i hated confronting her ear, i hated to see her in that situation. 

The economy is really messed up & i can't afford to take her to the Vet or get proper medication. I did my research, and i found that olive oil, mineral oil, and baby oil treats ear mites. All i had at home was extra saturated olive oil. I had my doubts about olive oilButI didn't want to see my rabbit suffer anymore, so i just had to give it a try. 

I cleaned up her ear on Sunday, and It is now Thursday and her ear cleared up & it's looking great! When i was cleaning her ear, she was so still, i could tell it probably hurt when i was trying to remove the crusts with the olive oil, but now that her ear has cleared up, she's doing much much better  

I wanted to make this post, because it seems like on the internet, it's hard to tell whether or not Olive oil is the best bet due to everyone's opinions that was being put out. Coming from my experience, if you don't have money to take your rabbit to the vet or get the shots, Olive oil is the best!

Materials:

-Cotton balls

-Qtips

-Olive oil extra virgin.

-Towel

Procedures:

1. Wrap your rabbit with the towel, so that way she/he is securely fasten when cleaning it's ear. 

2. This is just an option. What i did with my rabbit is to give her food so that way her focus is on the food & not what i'm doing to her ear.

3. put olive oil in a small container, dip 1 cotton ball into the oil(do not soak it), and gently wipe/massage to inside of the ears. I didn't have a surenge or eyedropper to put in two drops into her ear. so what i did was soak the q-tip and allow it to drip into her ear. 

4. Let the oil soak in it's ear for about 5-10 minutes. But dont let her shake it out of her ear. 

5. Then get the q-tip and gently wipe off the crusts. Don't try to force it, this will hurt your rabbit. If the crust will not be removed, put more oil & allow the oil to absorb into the crust. 

All i did was clean it up, about 50% of the crusts. When cleaning your rabbit's ear, some of the crusts may not come off at first. So just put olive oil, and let nature do the work. It will clear up.

What the olive oil does is that it gets into the crusts and kills the mites and eggs. 

Repeat the steps every other day. Research the cycle of the mites because they can still live/exsist even if your rabbit's ears may be cleared.

Also keep your rabbit's cage clean. Remove hay, mites tend to linger in the hay. 

Goodluck to all. Comments& questions are welcomed. Hope i have helped !


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## Bunnylova4eva (Jul 24, 2011)

Mineral Oil seems to work well too, same procedure.


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## TheJadeRabbit (Jul 27, 2011)

Around here the 4-H breeder say giving rabbits a drop of Zimectrin horse wormer clears ear mites, worms, and anything other pests on the rabbit.


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## rabbitgeek2011 (Jul 28, 2011)

Yeah I simply use mineral oil, it definitely beats taking a rabbit to the vet and paying a huge fee!


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