Best Way To Clean A Rabbit’s Ears

Keeping the pet clean and fresh is a task for pet owners. Thus you need to make sure that the pet rabbit is well cleaned, does not have dirty paws, or the ears and eyes are all cleaned. Other than the ears and eyes, cleaning the coat and paws is all much simple task, though time taking. But when it comes to ensuring that the organs like ears and eyes are cleaned, you have to give it some more time and effort.

How do you clean the ears of your pet rabbit?

Take a soft cotton cloth piece and make it wet with lukewarm water. You can add some white vinegar to the water or just use plain clean water. Some owners prefer to use some kind of solution for cleaning their pet’s ears.

Now you can take the wet cloth piece and rub the inside of the rabbit’s ear, starting from the bottom side. Take the cloth to the upper part slowly so the accumulated ear wax gets loose and comes up.  The wax will come up to the ear canal from where you can clean it with cotton.

Why do you need to clean the ears of your pet rabbit?

The ears of any creature are a sensitive part and it needs to be cleaned once in a while. When there is dirt accumulated inside the ear canals of rabbits, it can be the breeding place for mites and other different kinds of other bacteria.

Cleaning the ears is the responsibility of the pet owners and it does not take much longer. But it should be done necessarily and quite cautiously. Make arrangements so the rabbit does not move or run at the time of cleaning the ears.

What precautions need to be taken while cleaning rabbits’ ears?

You have to make the rabbit sit calmly when its ears will be cleaned. Sometimes there is a buildup in the ears of the rabbits and that should be done in a peaceful place.

If you hurt the rabbit once in the process of cleaning the ears then it would be a frightening thing and it would not be willing to join the cleaning session again. So you need to be alert when doing the clean-up.

How can you make the rabbit ready for the ear cleaning session?

You have to take the rabbit out of the cage before sometimes cleaning the ears. Let it settle down in the room. Play with it for sometime so it can feel relaxed and tension free.

Get it used with your touches. While playing touch it softly. Make it comfortable and pet its head when spending time with it.

Do not surprise the rabbit with some sudden things like harsh light, sound, or some irritating noise. This will help the pet to calm down and it will be soothed and relaxed.

Hold her for some time so it does not feel anxious when you touch it. Do not put it on something higher as that can make it conscious. They do not like the feeling of sitting or perching high so you better keep it at the ground would be a better idea.

What can you do to make the rabbit calm while ear cleaning?

Sometimes it is much more difficult for the owners to hold the rabbit and make it calm and also clean the ear canals. So you may take help from another person in this job. Holding the rabbit with the folded arm is another technique to manage the pet and also clean the ear canals.

When you lean on the rabbit with your upper body you will be able to control its movement and thus you can do the cleaning peacefully. But make sure to not put pressure on its body as that may be suffocating for the small pet.

Using treats is another technique to keep the pet rabbit calm while ear cleaning. You do not have to wait long if you can provide the rabbit with some treats while you will be doing your job of ear cleaning. Treats will keep the pet busy and it would not move much so your cleaning job will be done without much hazard.

Make a trusted relationship with your pet rabbit. As long as the pet trusts you it will be for the owners to groom the pets. The pets do not get irritated or anxious when they are held by their owners or treated and groomed.

What to do when you find the rabbit feeling anxious when cleaning the ears?

Sometimes the rabbit may act crazy when you try to clean its ears. It may not sit calmly and fidget around. You can try to make it calm by giving it a treat or petting it. But you need to understand the physical and mental state of the creature. As the owner of the pet, you should be aware of the problems the small creature is facing.

When the rabbit is not feeling okay and maybe feeling restless you need to take a look at it. Maybe it is not physically well. In such a condition, you should not force yourself to clean your ear as that would be more distressing for this small pet.

Let it settle down and feel more comfortable before you try to clean its ears. So till the next time give it some rest.

How should you hold the rabbit when cleaning its ears?

Make the rabbit comfortable and then make it sit somewhere. Now you can hold its ear in one hand, with your thumb and index finger. The tip and the canal part of the ears of rabbits are very sensitive so you should better hold it by the middle part of the ear.

You need to massage the ears with a warm and damp cloth the way was mentioned earlier in this write-up. Through this process, the wax buildup will be loosened and it will come up to the upper part of the ear canal.

Now you need to turn the inner part gently so the flesh can be turned out. You will be able to see the debris coming out from the inside of the ears. Take tweezers and gently pull out the wax. But make sure that the rabbit does not jump or move at this point as this is a difficult task and it may hurt the rabbit if the tweezers touches the inside part of the ear.

Be careful not to push the debris inside the ear canal as that would be really harmful. Once the debris is pushed inside the ear canal, it would have ample chance to build fungi or bacteria inside the ear. This will cause an ear infection to the pet rabbit.

How to use the applicator and solution to clean the rabbit ears?

There are various ingredients that can be used as solutions for cleaning the rabbit ears. You can use honey, hydrogen peroxide, or olive oil if you want to clean the ears of the pet rabbit in a homely way. Other than these, there are commercially available solutions for this purpose.

All the homemade solutions should be put inside the ear of the rabbit drop by drop. Do not use any solution in hot condition. if these solutions are dropped inside the ears of the pet rabbit, the wax would not build up inside and the ears would remain clean.