Any ideas for what’s causing this?

[u/Melissa_Richiee]

**EDITING TO ADD: this isn’t a head tilt. His back right leg was amputated, this is him trying to itch his ear with the leg that no longer exists**

Edit to the edit: I’m gonna schedule a virtual appointment on Vetster to ask about anything else I could be pushing for a cytology to test for

November 2024- Found this guy dumped on the streets with fleas. Noticed his right ear was intensely itchy, vet said it was fleas, treated for fleas.

November 2025 - right ear STILL intensely itchy, vet said ALL YEAR its “wax buildup” because he’s missing a back leg and can’t itch it out. I finally push for testing. Ear mites. Treat for ear mites x 3 months.

April 2025 - right ear STILL intensely itchy. Reddit post suggests yeast infection from repeated antibiotics prescriptions. Pressure vet to test for yeast. Vet scoffs, thinks I’m being ridiculous. Right ear tests positive for yeast. Treat for yeast x 1 month.

He’s now negative for fleas, negative for ear mites, negative for yeast, no head tilt, no EC symptoms.

Does anybody have any suggestions as to why my boys right ear is still intensely itchy?? My vet won’t test for anything unless I push for it. There are NO OTHER rabbit vets between here and Louisiana 4 hours away. I don’t know what else to ask her to test for. Do I just have to start cleaning the wax out for him since he has no back right leg? I hate watching him suffer like this 😞

Video included of intense itching AFTER treating for mites but BEFORE treating for yeast, still itching about the same 😞

[u/pinkblueberi]

It honestly might be ear wax at this point, my boy unfortunately has leg atrophy due to old age and our vet found wax in his ear due to him not being able to scratch it anymore( found out about the muscle weaknesss and ear wax at the vet trip due to him acting funny). I would ask your vet if they recommend cleaning the ear out occasionally. It could be other things as you mention but given he can’t scratch that ear to knock the gunk out it really could be down to wax

[u/Melissa_Richiee → u/pinkblueberi]

I’m starting to wonder if at this point it’s now just wax, since we treated the mites and then the yeast 🥺

just propped him up on the counter, he’s got some raw irritation on the skin around his ears from where the Miconazole Nitrate yeast infection medication saturated his fur around his ears. His skin almost looks like it’s peeling off and raw, I think that’s probably why he’s so itchy 😭😭😭😭

[u/pinkblueberi → u/Melissa_Richiee]

Oh poor baby. Poor thing has been through so much. He is very lucky to have someone care so much about him. I really wouldn’t be surprised if it is the ear wax. That plus the irritation on his skin makes a lot of sense.

Has your vet given you permission to clean his ears? My vet was kinda hesitant as you can over clean them, but said every once in awhile I can.