Callie Faul

1419 Animal Science

Mrs. Law
4-23-15
Ear Mites in Rabbits
What are ear mites? one might ask. Ear mites are a serious disease that affect rabbits,
as well as other animals, however, the primary focus at the moment is rabbits. How can you tell
if a rabbit has a disease? In simple terms, disease is anything but healthy, or normal. How can
you tell if a rabbit has ear mites? You can tell by the symptoms and clinical signs.
Psoroptes cuniculi is the parasitic vector that causes the disease in the ear canal. Ear mites
are zoonotic, meaning they will travel from rabbit to human, rabbit to rabbit, as well as from
rabbit to another species such as a cat or dog. Symptoms of a rabbit having ear mites may be
mild to moderate itching around the ear, head, and neck, shaking and scratching, a thick, brown
crust that begins to come out of the ear canal, sometimes itching and crusting can be on the
abdomen, genital area, and on the feet as well. Hair loss and peeling of skin around the ears
could also occur. Because the Psoroptes cuniculi is microscopic, an individual might not be able
physically see the mite with the naked eye. However, if you take the infected rabbit to a vet
clinic, the veterinarian will be able to diagnose the disease.

This picture shows the actual mite.

This picture shows the crusty formation in

the ear.
A rabbit can get ear mites by coming in contact with another rabbit that may have the
disease, or by infected grass, straw, or wood chip bedding material. If the disease is not caught in
time or treated properly, ear mites can lead to an ear infection, meningitis, even hearing-loss. In
severe cases, a rabbit may die.
Psoroptes cuniculi can be treated by antiparasitics such as eprinomectin and ivermectin.
If the rabbit is in pain, the veterinarian can administer pain-relief medicine. After being treated
with an antiparistics drug the rabbit should improve, with irritation lessening, and the crusts and
flakes eventually falling away. All cages, feed troughs, brushes, anything that the rabbit has come
in contact must be disinfected to prevent another rabbit or animal from getting the ear mites, as
well as preventing the rabbit from being infected again.
I chose this disease in rabbit because I had retired show rabbits when I was in middle
school, and later in high school I showed meat pen rabbits through FFA and 4-H. I currently still
have one rabbit that I chose to keep because he was the sweetest, and my favorite. During the
three years I showed rabbits in high school I checked my rabbits ears several times a week to
make sure that they were clear of any sign of ear mites. Not only did I care about the health of
my rabbits, but it would also be a disqualification if my rabbits had any trace of ear mites.

One year, I had a couple of rabbits that showed early signs of ear mites so immediately
after I noticed it I applied ivermectin to clear out their ears and to get rid of any early stages of
disease that they might have had. Within a couple of days the flakes disappeared, and they were
disease free.

Works Cited
Efficacy of an injectable formulation of eprinomectin against Psoroptes cuniculi, the ear
mange mite in rabbits. By Pan B1, Wang M, Xu F, Wang Y, Dong Y, Pan Z.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16473465
Efficacy of topical administration of eprinomectin for treatment of ear mite infestation
in six rabbits. By Ulutas B1, Voyvoda H, Bayramli G, Karagenc T.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16238814
The oxidative status and inflammatory level of the peripheral blood of rabbits infested
with Psoroptes cuniculi. By Shang X1, Wang D, Miao X, Wang X, Li J, Yang Z, Pan H.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24667000