Rabbit ear health encompasses both external mite infestations and internal ear canal disease requiring regular monitoring and prompt treatment.
Ear disease in rabbits causes welfare harm through pain, itching, and in the case of middle ear infection, the disorienting and distressing experience of vestibular disturbance. Ear mites cause intense pruritis that drives affected rabbits to shake their heads continuously and scratch vigorously, causing self-inflicted wounds around the ear base. Bacterial otitis media causes rolling and disorientation that prevents normal feeding and movement. The differential diagnosis between bacterial otitis and E. cuniculi neurological disease is important because they require different treatments - both are treatable when identified. Regular ear inspection as part of routine rabbit health monitoring prevents mite infestations from progressing to severe disease and enables early identification of otitis.