The rabbit has no ears. Why do rabbits have hot and cold ears. Early disease detection and prevention

Diseases in rabbits always occur, regardless of how well they are cared for. Animals do not have a sufficiently high immune system, so many ailments kill them in almost a few days from the moment of infection.

The causative agents of dangerous diseases are various viruses and bacteria. Their carriers are insects, contaminated food or the feces of the rabbits themselves.

Treatment of rabbits should be started immediately, because sometimes even a few hours decide everything. Therefore, early diagnosis is very important. To make it right, you need to consider common sores, their symptoms and methods of treatment.

Early disease detection and prevention

In order to identify the disease of rabbits, you first need to know what is the norm for him. Signs of a healthy animal are:

If the rabbit is sick, then his general condition begins to deteriorate. To identify any deviations, it is recommended to conduct a routine examination of animals every two weeks. Rabbits involved in breeding are supervised especially carefully. The fact is that some diseases are treated with medicines that have a bad effect on the development of rabbits during pregnancy. Therefore, if infected rabbits are allowed to mate, this will affect the offspring.

It is necessary to check the health status of rabbits before mating, during pregnancy, immediately after childbirth and during the period of feeding offspring.

Not always deviations from the usual state of the animal is a sign of illness. An example of this would be red urine in rabbits.

Of course, this sign may indicate an infection in the urinary system, which can be destroyed by antibiotics, but in most cases this is not related to the disease. The fact is that if you feed rabbits with certain foods, such as carrots, beets and others, their urine is stained with a pigment that gives it a reddish tint. When sick, it is bloody, and when consuming bright vegetables, it resembles more of a red-yellow color.

Beginning rabbit breeders ask the question why the rabbit's hair falls out, taking it as a symptom of some kind of disease. Most often, this is just a molt in rabbits, which happens periodically. If in young animals it passes quickly and imperceptibly, then the older ones have to shed more effectively, which is accompanied by a high intensity of hair loss, which the rabbit breeder draws attention to.

If the question arises why a rabbit has hot ears, then this is also not caused by a disease, but by a temporary state of the body of a rabbit that is overtired. Prevention of many diseases is timely disinfection and cleanliness. In the presence of a plank or mesh floor, all waste products fall down, so the rabbits live in a clean environment.

In their feces, various pathogens can often develop that cause rabbit illness, and if the animals do not have contact with their excrement, then this can be avoided.

Cleaning and disinfection of feeders and drinkers is carried out periodically, most often in the summer, when rabbit illnesses occur most often. To destroy pathogens, cells are treated with a blowtorch, boiling water or special preparations. In addition, various alkalis and acids can be used, but they must not come into contact with the metal parts of the cage.

Non-communicable diseases of rabbits

Non-communicable diseases of rabbits are the most preferred for treatment, since there is no need to hide the animal in a remote quarantine to protect the rest of the population.

If the symptoms in rabbits are not too serious, then they can not even be removed from the common cage, but only if this does not interfere with treatment.

For the convenience of observation, if there is a spare cage, it will be more correct to deposit the patient than to keep him with his relatives.

Infectious diseases of rabbits

The most dangerous are viral and infectious diseases of rabbits, since they are contagious. To avoid an epidemic, a sick animal must be sent to quarantine.

There are also a number of diseases that cannot be treated at all, so it is better to euthanize the animal immediately. This applies most of all to myxomatosis and VHD, when unvaccinated rabbits inevitably begin to die. We need to study in more detail the common contagious diseases of rabbits and their treatment in order to protect our livestock from extinction.

This disease has two forms. At the first, the eyelids and ears may swell. The swelling is large enough. The animal is practically unable to see and eat. Convulsions are often manifested, which is accompanied by severe torment. Purulent discharge from the mucous membrane appears on the nose. The disease only takes 10 days to kill an animal. Infected carcasses cannot be eaten, they must be burned. The mortality rate for this form of myxomatosis is almost 100%, and treatment is of little help.

In the second form, at first one sore appears, but soon there are more and more of them. Rabbits begin to snore and runny nose. With this form, almost half of the animals survive, but only with timely diagnosis of the disease and proper treatment. In order not to have to consider the question of how to treat myxomatosis, you need to use vaccinations that are given twice a year. The disease is treated with antibiotics, biostimulants and treatment of sores with iodine. But often the disease progresses faster than the drug works.

Viral hemorrhagic disease of rabbits is the second very dangerous disease for these animals, which die from liver damage incompatible with life. Symptoms of the disease are:

nosebleeds;
inflammation of the eyelids;
diarrhea;
temperature 41.2;
animals groan and squeak.

With this disease of rabbits, the symptoms are very painful for the animal and the mortality rate is almost one hundred percent. There is no drug that can effectively kill this virus. All sera produced now can help only at an early stage, while the sick rabbit has not yet weakened. Vaccination is the only effective protection against HBV.

Rhinitis. This is a contagious runny nose, which is accompanied by profuse nasal discharge and sneezing. The front paws become wet with mucus from the nose. At the first sign, the animals are removed to quarantine and a solution of furatsilin and penicillin is dripped into the nose daily. After 20 days without nasal discharge, the rabbit can be returned to its normal cage.
Infectious stomatitis. A sign of this disease is redness in the mouth, lips and nose. Soon these places are covered with a white coating, saliva constantly flows from the oral cavity. The hair at the mouth falls out and also becomes red. To cure this disease, it is enough to take one tablet of white streptocide and crush it. Half of the resulting powder is poured into the rabbit's mouth, and after 10 hours the procedure is repeated with the remnants of streptocide. Most often, two tricks are more than enough to kill the pathogen and relieve unpleasant symptoms. Be sure to disinfect the cage and inventory.

This disease is contracted by rabbits that come into contact with their own feces. Signs of coccidiosis are:

bloating;
diarrhea;
loss of appetite;
pallor of mucous membranes;
jaundice may appear.

If you examine the liver of an animal with coccidiosis, you can see on it a lot of white sores the size of a grain. Usually the victim of the disease is young animals up to two months old. Rabbits often die from this disease. Effective recommendations on what to do with its outbreak have not yet come up with. Existing drugs are ineffective. The only protection against coccidiosis is timely cleaning of cages and slatted or mesh floors.

Rabbits begin to scratch unnaturally often, dried scabs appear on the skin, protruding in large areas. If the ears are affected by mites, they can even swell and become completely covered with brown scabs. Initially, mites are visible inside the auricle, but gradually affect the entire space.

For the effective treatment of rabbits from all ticks, the drug Ivermectin-10 is used. It is given at the rate of 0.2 ml per 4 kg of live weight.

Question asked by Alina: Hello! Please tell me why the rabbit has hot ears?

Answer: Alina, good afternoon! Rabbits are very good pets that are very trainable. Rabbits can be an excellent substitute for cats or dogs, because they bring no less joy. You need to take care of such pets no less than cats or dogs, because rabbits are also prone to various diseases.

So, let's figure out why the decorative rabbit has hot ears. If you keep a decorative rabbit at home, you must remember that the temperature of the room to which the rabbit is located should not exceed 28 degrees. Otherwise, the rabbit gets a huge load on the body, and the rabbit can become seriously ill.

The rabbit's body temperature should not exceed 39.4 degrees. If this still happened, then it is necessary to wipe the rabbit with a cool wet towel to reduce its body temperature, and be sure to call a veterinarian who will tell you what to do next.

Now, directly, about hot ears. There are periods when the rabbit's ears become hot. If at the same time the rabbit feels good and eats with pleasure, then there is nothing to worry about in raising the temperature of the ears. If, nevertheless, you notice changes in the behavior of your rabbit, then you already need to sound the alarm and call the veterinarian. Usually, the ears of a rabbit become hot if the rabbit is overtired. And do not be surprised, overwork occurs not only in humans, but in rabbits. If the ears become hot, give your pet a little rest. And if possible, lower the temperature in the room so that the baby is more comfortable.

And try not to scare your pet, because the rumor about the fearfulness of rabbits is very real.

If you comply with all the necessary conditions for keeping a rabbit, your pet will be healthy and cheerful.

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The time is late, tomorrow you have to get up early for work, and you, having taken a hot shower, plunged into the arms of Morpheus in your warm bed ... When you suddenly jump sharply from an incomprehensible sound. Not that gnashing, not that rats have wound up in you. And then, waking up, you remember: a rabbit lives in the house!

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Dmitry Vlasov answers, knows everything about rabbit diseases

Every person is familiar with this unpleasant sensation: stuffy nose, inability to breathe normally, sleep and live, headache. We look for the reason in an extra serving of ice cream, an air conditioner at work, or clothes that are not matched to the weather. There is only one answer: a cold. Let's see how things are with decorative rabbits.

Rabbits have a relatively weak immune system and require good care. Many symptoms can indicate a deterioration in health, among them: loss of appetite, laziness, apathy, lethargy, dry nose and hot ears. We are talking about common signs characteristic of most diseases. Today we will talk about hot ears in a rabbit. Why they heat up, what it says and how to treat.

How to measure temperature?

To measure the temperature in a rabbit, a mercury or electronic thermometer is used. In the second case, it will be much easier to measure, since it will take less time. It is necessary to lubricate the anus and the tip of the thermometer with petroleum jelly and gently insert the tip into the rectum. An electronic thermometer will show an accurate result after 1 minute, while a mercury thermometer will take at least 5 minutes. The usual body temperature is 38.8 degrees. After prolonged activity, it can grow to forty. If the indicator exceeds 39 at rest and 40 after activity, you need to contact your veterinarian for additional examination.

Why do rabbits have hot ears?

There are several reasons why a rabbit has hot ears. If there are no other signs of the disease, most likely, the heating occurred due to heat transfer. Rabbits don't sweat; instead, thermoregulation occurs through the pads of their feet and ears.

Heating of the ears is a sign of an increase in the body temperature of the animal. This may happen for the following reasons:

With prolonged activity;
The room is very hot;
The pet is sick.

The optimum ambient temperature is only 14 - 20 degrees. Anything above is uncomfortable and the pet gets hot. Excessive heat is removed through the least hairy parts of the body. When a rabbit becomes hot, it is accompanied by accelerated breathing and heart rate. At 30 degrees, the animal becomes very hot, if it is not possible to cool down, heat stroke and even may occur.

After prolonged activity, the rabbit's ears become warm, this is normal and nothing needs to be done about it. If at the same time the appetite and behavior remain unchanged, there is nothing to worry about. After a short time, the condition returns to normal.

Hot ears indicate a rise in body temperature. If after a few hours they do not return to normal, this indicates a possible illness. You can check for the following symptoms:

There is no appetite;
laziness and apathy;
or .

If you have any of the symptoms, you should contact your veterinarian.

Sometimes you can see the opposite effect when the ears are too cold. The situation may arise for the following reasons:

Rabbit just woke up. During sleep, blood circulation is slower and the body cools down a bit.
Cold ears from hypothermia. Perhaps the animal was kept at a temperature of less than 5 degrees.
Frostbite can occur when kept in frost in a limited area. The pet does not have the opportunity to move for warming. In this case, the auricles become cold, puffiness occurs.

What to do and how to treat?

In the absence of other symptoms of poor health, nothing needs to be done. This is a natural process of heat transfer. Make sure the rabbit has a place to hide from direct sunlight to avoid overheating. Give the opportunity to hide in the shade, you can also put bottles of cold water.

In a room at a high temperature, it is important to artificially increase the humidity. To do this, use a spray bottle, inside you can pour ordinary water. If the temperature exceeds 30 degrees, cover the cage with wet sheets. This will create a more favorable environment for the pet.

Do not wet the animal when overheated, it is better to wipe it with a damp cloth. At the same time, warm water is used and only the ears and paw pads are rubbed. Water should not get inside the ear, it can cause illness even in the heat. The back can be covered with a damp cloth for a few minutes.

You should not blow a decorative rabbit with cold air, this will lead to a cold or other illness.

Long ears. It so happened that these furry creatures are often attacked, so good hearing is an important condition for them. However, it is their ears that are exposed to various diseases. Why does a rabbit have hot ears and how to fix it?

There can be several reasons: high blood pressure, high basal temperature, in the presence of blisters, we can say about the ear mite. If the pet behaves as usual and he approaches food, then he is simply tired because of his activity.

After he rests, he will return to the previous temperature again - 38-40 degrees. The ears are responsible for the thermoregulation of the body, thanks to them the body temperature normalizes, eliminating excess heat. However, a high temperature may indicate a disease.

So, you need to figure out why the ears can become hot. If the animal lives at home, then do not forget that the room temperature should not be higher than 29 degrees. There are times when the ears can become warm. If, with an increase in their temperature, the rabbit is active and there is an appetite, then everything is fine.

If the behavior of the animal has changed, then the help of a veterinarian is indispensable. As a rule, overwork contributes to this, in which case you need to sound the alarm. If the ears become warm, then the pet should rest a bit. If possible, you need to cool or ventilate the room so that the baby feels comfortable. It is necessary not to frighten the animal with extraneous movements, as these creatures are shy.

Thanks to them, rabbits lower their body temperature. Therefore, with active movement and heat, it will increase in any case. Excessive heat is given off through the ears. When pressure increases, the ears may turn red. Most pet owners are concerned about the health of their furries.

However, if his behavior is as if nothing had happened and eats the same way, then he should cool down and relax a little. And if it becomes more than 40 degrees, then it is necessary to turn to a specialist for help, especially if it has ceased to be playful, the nose is not wet, and breathing is much more difficult. Before visiting a doctor, you need to wipe the animal with a slightly damp cloth, heading towards the hind legs, and you need to start from the neck.

In the central Russian Federation, the heat never exceeds 40 degrees and this is great for the animal, so at elevated temperatures they have heat stroke, and in the worst case they die. They should not be left in the sun for a long time, usually during the day. If these animals tolerate coolness well, then they need to be protected from the sun. As a rule, the temperature can be 20 degrees, and already with this temperature they breathe more often.

In hot weather, animals need to cool down, but in no case should you artificially create a draft or put them under an air conditioner or fan. Great helpers will be containers of cool water wrapped in material. In hot weather, the water in the drinking bowl must change, you can throw pieces of ice, as pets like cold water. For cooling purposes, cold stone or tile tiles are also used.

The room where the animal lives should be humidified and cooled. To do this, hang a cloth soaked in water or, using a spray bottle, spray water.

Ailments and their characteristics

There is also an ailment that is transmitted - this is psoroptosis, individuals older than 4 months are exposed to it. The rabbit can infect her children with this disease, and the rabbit breeder himself can bring a tick on clothes into the room. If you start the pathology, then the tick will provoke a pet's brain tumor, which leads to death. Scabies in the ears can spread among animals and people.

The symptoms of the disease are as follows:

The presence of crusts and ulcers.
A lot of sulfur accumulates inside the ears.
Ears are hot, breathing quickens.
Rabbit has a high temperature.
The animal tries to scratch the affected area.

You can treat the disease with medicines and folk methods, but you should start by removing these crusts inside the ears.

Purulent otitis is a viral pathology leading to the death of the animal. Outwardly, the symptoms resemble scabies. If left untreated, the brain is affected, leading to death. Otitis is accompanied by purulent discharge.

Symptoms of this nature:

Your pet's coordination is impaired.
The animal has hot ears, rapid breathing.
Upset stomach, as well as the formation of pus.

Mechanical damage to the pet's ear, as well as an abundant accumulation of sulfur, is the result of the appearance of the disease.

Rabbit diseases: symptoms and treatment - on video:

Is it possible to train a decorative rabbit and how ...

No animal is as sensitive to conditions as a rabbit. These fur animals subtly react to the slightest mistakes of the owner, and any oversight can very quickly lead to a serious illness or even death of the entire livestock. However, there is a very simple way to quickly detect a change in a rabbit's state. To do this, you just need to feel his long ears.

Rabbits are susceptible to temperature fluctuations, and therefore, great efforts must be made to maintain a constant body temperature for these warm-blooded animals. Surprisingly, rabbits need long ears, up to half the total body length, not at all in order to recognize the danger in time and respond to it, but precisely for thermoregulation.

Did you know? Fleeing from danger, the hare can reach speeds of up to 72 km / h, which makes it almost elusive for most predators. However, the dull slowness of the rabbit, a close relative of the hare, is very deceptive. If needed, the animal is quite capable of moving at speeds up to 56 km/h, so there is no chance for a person whose speed record is 44 km/h and the average running speed in good shape is no more than 20 km/h. catch up with your pet if he wants to sneak away from the owner. The auricles of a rabbit are permeated with many blood vessels, but there is practically no wool cover on them. Such a system allows the animal to use the ears as a kind of air conditioner in the heat and a heater in the cold season.

It works like this:

If the animal becomes hot, the blood vessels on its ears expand and begin to pass through a large volume of blood, which, moving along the thin and hairless auricles, gradually cools due to contact with air and, returning to the body of the animal, increases the process of heat transfer.
When the animal freezes, the reverse picture occurs: the blood vessels narrow, and the blood circulates only through the organs protected by a thick coat, keeping the maximum amount of heat inside the body.

However, when the blood "drains" from the ears, their temperature becomes lower than the general body temperature of the animal, and when an increased flow of blood moves through the ears, they, on the contrary, heat up.

Did you know? Interestingly, in exactly the same way, the long tails of rats and the huge horns of the African wild bull Ankole Watusi help to regulate the temperature. Thus, the body temperature of a healthy rabbit remains relatively constant (relatively, because the normal temperature range for this animal varies slightly depending on the time of year: at normal rates of 38.8–39.5 ° C, in winter it can drop to 37 ° C , and rise to 40-41 ° C in summer), but the ears can be very cold or very hot if the animal freezes or overheats.

Signs of ear disease

Too big ears often cause serious problems for rabbits, becoming a hotbed of various kinds of infections. The fact that something is wrong with the ears of a pet can be judged by the following symptoms (one or more in combination):

a large amount of earwax begins to accumulate in the ears, which in certain cases completely clogs the ear canal;
pus appears in the ears;
on the inside of the auricle, and sometimes also on the eyelids, red spots, nodules, sores and sores appear, covered with scabs or gore, or small tubercles that turn into dropsies filled with liquid, which eventually burst, leaving a scab;
the ears become hot and the tip of the nose dry;
the rabbit shakes its head from time to time, often tries to scratch its ears with its paws, rub against any nearby solid object, in a word, according to the behavior of the animal, it is obvious that the disease is accompanied by severe itching;
ears are always in a lowered state;
the head constantly falls to the side or leans forward;
the general body temperature of the animal rises;
the rabbit breathes often and heavily;
the animal becomes lethargic and weak, or, on the contrary, behaves nervously and restlessly;
loss of appetite or complete refusal of food;
refusal of females from mating, deterioration of reproductive functions;
violation of the coordination of movements of the animal.

Why do rabbits have hot ears

Hot ears in a rabbit can be caused by two reasons:

overheating;
disease.

It is not difficult to distinguish these reasons from each other - you just need to assess the general well-being of the animal. If the rabbit does not show any signs of unhealthy behavior, he does not have all the symptoms listed above, then you should not panic. Perhaps you should slightly reduce the temperature of the air in the room where the animal is kept.

Important! A temporary increase in the temperature of the ears in a rabbit may not be caused by hot air, but by overexcitation (overwork) of the animal. The ears begin to cool the body of the animal in the same way that sweat cools the human body during active training. You can help lower your pet's body temperature by gently wiping his ears with gauze or a napkin previously moistened with water at room temperature (in no case cold, otherwise the blood vessels will narrow, further reducing heat transfer in the body).
In addition, you need to be very careful to ensure that water does not flow into the ear canal. These measures are not a treatment, but only the first aid to the animal. If his condition is not limited to hot ears, first of all, it is necessary to establish an accurate diagnosis.

Psoroptosis or scabies

The incubation period of psoroptosis lasts from one to five days. The disease can affect rabbits of any age, but most often it affects animals older than four months. Infection occurs from sick individuals, and the infection spreads very quickly: when the animal itches or shakes its head, along with the flakes of dying skin, ticks fall out of its ears and immediately move to other rabbits.

Find out what sores in rabbit ears are.

Traditional medicine offers the following treatment options for ear scabies in rabbits:

Apply to each ear glycerin mixed with an alcohol solution of iodine 5% (ratio 1:4). Repeat the procedure daily until complete recovery.
Every day, lubricate the affected areas of the ear with camphor oil.
Mix turpentine or birch tar (terpenes) with any vegetable oil in a ratio of 2:1 and lubricate the ears with the resulting ointment. This mixture is too toxic for daily use, the procedure can be repeated no sooner than after 2 weeks.
As in the previous recipe, you should take turpentine and vegetable oil, however, in equal proportions, add phenol-free coal creolin to the resulting mixture in the same volume as the other two components. Creolin has a pronounced acaricidal effect, including against Psoroptos cuniculi. The tool is used daily.

Modern medicine offers a large selection of more effective and easy-to-use drugs for this disease. In particular, there are many medicines available in aerosol cans, which make it easy and quick to apply the medicine instead of mixing components that are not too fragrant and then treating the infected areas on the body of a frightened animal with cotton swabs or other improvised means.

Video: treatment of psoroptosis in rabbits

Such drugs include, for example:

Akrodex;
Dermatosol;
Dicrezyl;
Psoroptol;
Cyodrin.

Did you know? In no case should rabbits be lifted up by holding their ears. In the wild, animals are often attacked from the air, so the force pulling the rabbit up causes him real panic and can even cause illness. You can take the animal in your hands only from below, descending to it, so that the fluffy sees what is happening to him. There are no less effective preparations produced in the form of drops and emulsions, which treat the surface of the ear using the technology described above for traditional medicine recipes. This list should include the following:

Neocidol;
Phoxim;
Sulfidophos;
Chlorophos;
Decta;
Butox 50;
Valekson;
Deces;
Mustang;
Stomazan;
Neostomazan;
Cypermethrin.

At the initial stage of the disease, a single application of any of the above-mentioned drugs is sufficient for treatment; in advanced cases, treatment is carried out twice with an interval of 1-2 weeks (in accordance with the instructions). In addition, the treatment of psoroptosis in rabbits can be carried out by injection (an injection is given subcutaneously in the withers, intramuscularly in the thigh or directly in the ear). Drugs used for this purpose:

Baymek;
Ivomek;
Ivermectin;
Selamectin.

Important! For pregnant rabbits, these injections are contraindicated; in this case, treatment is carried out only with topical drugs.

Purulent otitis media

Unlike psoroptosis, the causative agent of purulent otitis in rabbits is a virus. The symptoms of the disease are very similar to ear scabies, however, digestive upset (diarrhea) can be observed in parallel. There are no outgrowths on the auricle. Another characteristic sign of purulent otitis media is that the animal rolls its eyes unnaturally. If a tick or its larvae are not detected during a scraping study from the ears, this also suggests the viral nature of the disease.
Viral infections are almost impossible to cure with medications, but antibiotics are still prescribed in such cases, since a weakened animal often becomes a victim of the activation of various pathogenic microflora. Treatment is carried out by instilling anti-inflammatory drugs into the ears, lubricating the ears with Zooderm or Otodepin, as well as injections of Cefabol, Oxytetracycline and other antibacterial agents (as prescribed by a veterinarian).

Important! The scheme and course of treatment of purulent otitis media can only be prescribed by a veterinarian, antibiotics should not be used on their own, this can lead to the death of the animal, as well as the formation of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

Why do rabbits have cold ears

If hot ears in a rabbit are evidence of its overheating or the development of an infectious disease, then a decrease in the temperature of this organ is a clear sign of hypothermia. In especially severe cases, even frostbite of the ears can occur: blood almost does not circulate through the narrowed blood vessels, most of it remains in the body of the animal, saving it from hypothermia, as a result, the tissues of the auricle begin to be damaged and die.
Ear frostbite in a rabbit goes through three stages in sequence:

The ears become cold, red and swollen. At this stage, the animal experiences severe pain.
Blisters appear on the ears, which eventually burst, releasing a cloudy liquid with bloody clots. The hair on the outside of the ears falls out, the rabbit can no longer hold them upright.
Blackened areas appear on the ears - foci of necrosis.

In order to prevent complete frostbite of the ears and to provide the animal with first aid, it is necessary to very carefully rub the cold ears with your hands, and then grease them with slightly melted (by no means hot) fat. You can use pork or goose. At the second stage of the disease, the blisters must be opened, and the affected areas should be smeared with camphor, penicillin or iodine ointment. In the third stage, it is usually necessary to resort to amputation of the ear or part of it.

Important! In any case, a rabbit with signs of frostbite of the ears should be placed in a warm room until complete recovery.

Preventive measures

To avoid problems with the ears of fluffy pets, the following preventive rules must be strictly observed:

The condition and temperature of the rabbit's ears are a kind of indicator of the animal's well-being. If the animal's ears change their temperature dramatically, this is a sign that something is wrong with its condition. In no case should such a symptom be ignored.