External Organs

Ears:  A bunny is a hearing -oriented animal; that is, a bunny hearing is its most important sense. a healthy bunny must have highly mobile ears that turn in the direction of each new sound. The inside of a rabbit's ear must be inspected regularly and cleaned when necessary. Do not probe inside the ear canal!

Eyes: "Windows to the soul." There are many different things that can effect the eyes. Please read each of these symptoms to find out what is wrong with your rabbit. Weepy Eye/Pink Eye When the eye is watery and appears that the rabbit is crying. Fur is matted below the eyelid and down the cheek. The best thing to do is to keep the eye clean and apply Terramycin eye ointment 2-3 times a day for a week. Neomycin Polymyxin, or Neobacimyx also works well with this, and can be used on young kits who have "Nest Box Eyes, or Sore eyes." This medicine is almost always used with eye diseases. Wall Eye/Moon Eye Glazed or cloudiness to the eyes around the pupil or cornea. Slow to respond to light. This is a genetic defect, and the rabbit should be culled if it is a breeder/showing rabbit. There is no cure for it, it is genetic. Eye Injuries When you have any eye injury you need to take the rabbit to the vet to have it checked out. Any injury could result in blindness and the rabbit could be in extreme pain. Time and the right medicine may or may not correct this, but it will heal.

Nose:  A healthy bunny's nose should always be dry; one of the most certain signs of disease is a runny nose, which indicates a respiratory infection. if you hold the bunny's chest against  your ear, you may Grasp the bunny firmly by the scruff when checking teeth and nose. Respiratory infections can also be brought about by cold drafts and dampness.

Mouth  Here I will cover the teeth and skin around the mouth, and tongue.

Malocclusions Rabbits are often born with this. It is in their genetics. When the bottom set of teeth come up over the top, and split and eventually break off, this is a malocclusion. Breeders cull these rabbits since it is passed on to the next litter. This doesn't become life threatening unless the teeth make it where the rabbit can't eat. Some rabbits even have mild malocclusions where the teeth don't even grow long or split. Teeth should be clipped with nail clippers, or if you're a pet owner, take it to a professional. The teeth clip rather easier then you would think, but it is often hard to get the rabbit to sit still while you chop off it's teeth. There are rumors that this comes from inbreeding, but since I have bred mother to son, etc, I haven't seen it alot in my herd. I have never bred blood brother to blood sister before. Perhaps this is where it comes from, somewhere in the line?

Teeth normal rabbit teeth require the top front incisors to overlap in front of the bottom front incisors.

Broken Teeth This is often from an injury from fighting, or from chewing on the cage or something else. This could sometimes lead to a Malocclusion. Teeth will probably need to be clipped, and the rabbit should be taken to a vet to be checked out.

Slobbers/Dermatitis This is where the rabbit seems to be drooling and fur is matted and wet around the mouth and neck. This is often from an abcessed tooth. If the dewlap is what is wet, then this is probably Dermatitis. This is often with an older doe with a large dewlap (skin below the mouth on the neck) and it drags on the cage floor and gets into the water dish. The best thing to do, would be give her a water bottle instead. If you don't do this, she could end up getting infested with maggots and end up dying. The best thing is prevention. If however it is Slobbers, you must see a vet to get the tooth either clipped or surgically removed.

Abscesses This is from very poor sanitation. They are often found around the mouth and neck. It happens when the rabbit gets a cut or a score, bacteria invade the body and this sets in. These rabbits will die without treatment, but it is best to cull the animal and clean all your equiptment.

The Tongue The tongue rarely has anything to do with disease, other than mouth cancer, perhaps. When the tongue is blue, it is a sign of pneumonia. When doing an autopsy, soon after death, if the tongue is allready blue, then it was probably snuffles or pneumonia that killed the rabbit.

Nails:  Check your bunny's nails during your monthly brushing as well. if they are getting overgrown, clip them. if you are uncomfortable clipping the nails yourself, I can show you how to do it the first time.

Nail Trimming: The quick is the end of live pink tissue in the nail bed and includes blood and nerves. if you cut this area, it will bleed and your bunny will experience some pain. cut the nail afterthe end of the quick, where you see only off-white nail, and no pink is left.

If your rabbit has dark nails, you will have to look more closely for the quick but you should still be able to find it.

If you do cut the quick and see bleeding, rub the nail across a bar of soap to seal the end.

NOTE: The nails can be clipped with a nial clipper similar to the ones used for dogs and cats.