PROACTIVE HOMESTEADING - PREVENTATIVE CARE FOR RABBITS
The worst type of problems to deal with are the ones that could have been prevented.
Periodically, I plan on posting about certain proactive preventative care that we provide for our animals. The way that I see it, if we can be aware of potential problems ahead of time and understand how to prevent them, then it's worth our time and effort to stop the problems before they even get started. While some of this may be "old news" to many of you, if it can at least help someone out there, it'll be worth it to me.
ISSUE TO PREVENT: EAR MITES IN RABBITS
Today's issues is an ear mire infection in rabbits. This can be a common problem with rabbits, but with preventative care, hopefully it won't need to be.
Ear mite infections are caused by a tiny arachnid known as Psoroptes cuniculiis. This tiny parasite that can lead to a number of issues, some of which can even lead to the death of your rabbit. While the photo above may not be pleasant to look at, ear mite infections can actually get much worse.
Rabbits that come in contact with the ground are most likely to become infected. When they have an open run or are housed in a rabbit tractor, they have a higher probability of encountering this parasite. Since the infection starts off deep in the ear, it is not always easy to detect early on, which is why I like to be proactive.
As the mites feed and reproduce, they cause the skin in the ear to bleed. Eventually, a mixture of blood, scabs, and feces begins to crust up the inside of the ear. If you notice this, please do not try to remove the scabs. Doing so can lead to even more health issues for your rabbit. Instead, begin treatment of the infection, which is similar to the method used to prevent infections.
PREVENTATIVE MEASURES
For prevention (or treatment) some sort of oil will be used. When the oil is applied to the inside of the ear, it coats the skin there and can suffocate any parasites that may have found their way into the ear. Personally, we like to use Coconut Oil for all sorts of stuff anyway. Additionally, we also like to add a few drops of Tea Tree Oil.
The base oil, Coconut Oil, is what we apply in an attempt to suffocate the parasite. The Tea Tree Oil that we add is to help with any healing process that may need to take place. Once we mix them, I use a cotton swab to apply some inside each ear of our rabbits.
The process is very simple, but your rabbits may not enjoy it. Once the oil is inside their ears, they may shake their head or scratch at their ears. This is normal, and why it may not be comfortable to the rabbit, it sure beats getting an ear mite infection.
It is also worth mentioning that these parasites can be passed from one rabbit to another. For this reason I highly suggest quarantining any infected rabbits while you treat them. Also, the mites can survive without a host, just like they do before they find a host. Since it can takes weeks for them all to die, I would keep the area that the infection started in uninhabited for a month, just to be safe.
EFFECTIVENESS AND TIME
In our time raising rabbits, we did have one get an ear mite infection once. Since then, we have been periodically using this method of preventative care. Since that time, we have not had another infection.
By using this method to attempt to prevent this problem before it happens, it saves us time. Treating the actual infection can require consistent attention for weeks. Instead, we just spend a few moments with each rabbit giving it a health check every once in a while and administering some preventative care. While saving us a bit of time and effort certainly helps, it helps the rabbits even more by keeping them healthy and uninfected!
As always, I'm @papa-pepper and here's the proof:
proof-of-preventative-care
Until next time…
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an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Or a pint of blood, depending on what you are preventing.
Yeah that is true. Or peace of mind.
Haha...I should have refreshed...
You beat me to it!
Agreed. But also comes with its own potential disadvantages.
PREVENTATIVE CARE FOR RABBITS is a great and useful post. Thanks.
Using the same Tea Tree oil we use. We have found a better one too, but for general use like this....this NOW one is best for the price!!
I was just talking to my wife tonight about us getting rabbits in the future.....
But wont be for a while yet!
Love the preventative Series......
"An ounce of prevention is worth a Pound of cure!"
I know someone who gave their rabbits people names, like jack.
Your kids are gonna have so much awesome knowledge growing up with you, lucky peps.
Essential Oils
We use tea tree, oregano, rosemary, frankincense, peppermint, and many other essential oils for prevention and cure of human ailments. Coconut oil is a great thinner and applicator for the oils with its own healing powers. Great to see your animals benefit from this essential knowledge.
I heard from Dr. Axe that essential oils are pretty useful overall. Do you make them yourself? I think I must get off my butt and start doing stuff like this.
Yes essential oils are very useful and work better for me than over-the-counter medications. My wife has become somewhat of an expert by collecting and reading reference books that give recipes and uses for single essential oils and also combining them for synergies that relieve hundreds of human ailments. We do not have a garden so we do not produce them ourselves. We buy essential oils in bulk online. By bulk I mean 1 ounce vials. These oils are very potent and effective so you must be careful because they can burn you externally or internally depending on your sensitivity. For example, oregano oil is amazing at combatting gum infections and I can rub a drop on my gums if necessary at full strength. However, if my wife tried this it would physically burn her and create redness and swelling. So for her the application would be to put two drops in a glass of water and swish the water around in her mouth. Make sure you study and test before applying or ingesting any essential oils. There is a big range of concentrations and not all essential oils are manufactured for internal consumption so you must check the details before you buy. Some essential oils can be very expensive depending on what you need but if you look at the budget of what you spend per year on over-the-counter medications, I think you will find that it is well worth the cost. I no longer take anything manufactured by pharmaceutical companies. Knock on wood, I am in good health and was never big on taking pills.
Yes we want to make our own too, but it hasn't floated to the top of the to-do list yet. Luckily we've been propagating some of the most aromatic plants around the finca for several years now, so when it does rise to the top, we'll be ready.
What is the finca?
Its how we say small-holdings around here. Granjas are more like farms and haciendas are the really big ones usually inherited for generations.
Cool I like that name haciendas. It sounds Spanish.
Yes indeed! These are 3 spanish words that we have learned together today!
Nice...I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!
Hmmmmm treating rabbit, we have rabbit here in africa but im not too aware with ear mites is it very dangerous to general health????
It must be. Where in Africa are you from? 😀 😃 😄 😁 😆 Thanks for this, I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!!
From Nigeria
Cool what do you do?
Exercise physiologist
Cool how does that work?
When caring for animals, take special care of the parasites. I did not know about coconut oil thanks for sharing.
Greetings.
Coconut oil can be used for eating, cooking, shoe polishing, hair, skin, and more.
That's a great tip and I'm going to use coconut oil on...
My citrus plants for scale mite.
It has to be better for the plants that any chemicals I could use (I don't like chemicals in the house, too many animals, plants and fish that could be affected).
I'll let you know how I get on! Thank you!
Chemicals are annoying sometimes. 😀 😃 😄 😁 😆 Thanks for this, I hope you have a WONDERFUL day!!!
Nice info bro keep it up
Ounces and pounds, I prefer to say:
'A fence at the top of the cliff is better than a hospital at the bottom'.
I heard that, not taking credit.
Good quote!