Nearly a month ago, I made a post regarding my vet prescribing Surolan for my rabbit Bugsie for a suspected ear infection.
Well since then, he went back for culture & sensitivity swabs and it’s come back he’s got Enterobacter spp. in his left ear. I was able to get a copy of the lab results and there are only 2 antibiotics that this particular bacteria is sensitive to. These are Gentamicin and Ciprofloxacin. I’ll also add that an asterisk is next to both of these. For some reason I don’t have the part of the report that tells me what the asterisk stands for. If I can recall, from culture lab results I’ve looked at in the past it possibly means it’s a new form of treatment/research is limited on the use of the drug but I could be wrong.
He was prescribed Otomax ear drops, which contain Gentamicin, Betamethasone and Clotrimazole. All I’m able to find are a few forum threads from rabbit owners who have used this medication before/just been prescribed it. And I was able to find a safety leaflet of Otomax from MSD New Zealand that said Betamethasone showed serious side effects in over 50% of rabbits when applied topically for 10-30 days (so this has scared me a lot).
With Ciprofloxacin I can’t really find anything in regard to using it for topical ear drops in rabbits, but it seems it is a treatment option for bacterial conjunctivitis in the form of topical eye drops.
Research on Enterobacter in rabbits seems to be very limited (I think I found a study that said it’s a common respiratory disease but I could have read it wrong) so I’m really hitting a dead end here.
It’s looking like I have to take a risk with the Otoxmax as there isn’t really any other option. But I was hoping anyone on here may be able to help give me insight of this medication and if your rabbit has been prescribed it before, share your experience.
by urfavratboy
