Question about Eye Problems in Rabbit

[CarrieC]

Hi there,

I have a female lionhead dwarf rabbit who it 3 or 4 years old. After I got here, she developed (very quickly) a white “coating” in here eye – it kinda looked like a cataract that people get. At the time I lived in Abbotford and took her to a vet there – he said it was a cataract, and not to worry as it wouldn’t hurt her and surgery would be ridiculously expensive and complicated. It was fine and stayed the same for a couple years until now. A few months ago, I noticed it looked bigger and took her to a rabbit specialist vet in Surrey, who said that it wasn’t a cataract, it had the characteristics of more of a “growth” kinda thing, but she could still see ok and was in no pain. Both times I bought eye drops for her to rule out infections, etc. Both vets also put various drops in her eyes and did full inspections, so these vague diagnosis’ are not because I’m cheap

Anyway,today when I fed her I notices her whole eye was covered in pus and all her eyelids and surrounding area. I wiped it away as best I could, but was worried about hurting her. From what I can see right now, 90% of her eye is pure white, and the eye is smaller and more sunken in than her other eye which is normal. Also, by the corner of her eye, it looks very red, raw and irritated. I have been giving her drops for infection for awhile (it was an ongoing bi-weekly thing both vets had recommended) so I think it is more a problem to do with the actual eye.

Has anyone else had this problem? I will take her to the vet tomorrow, but would love it if anyone had advice or maybe something I could mention to the vet to help them figure out the problem. I forgot to mention, my rabbit (Aurora) has never been in any pain that we’ve been able to see through out this. She has never shyed away from us touching her eye, head, etc., and the white of her eye has never been too pink/red or irritated. Even tonight, as gross as she looks, she didn’t react at all when I was wiping her eye and trying to see it, etc. So that is at least one good thing, and the reason why I’m not rushing her to the emergency vet tonight.

Thanks,

Carrie

[BinkyBunny]

Welcome Carrie!

I just deleted the “warning for graphic description” since your post is fine and doesn’t need it. (Though thank you very much for reading the rules and being sensitive to others)

I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I have not had a bunny with this kind of problem, but I am going to email the other leaders to see if they can help with this.

Since it came on quickly, could it be an ulcer? Sometimes this can happen if a bunny accidentally scratches it against something or accidentally scratches their own eye. Something to talk to your vet about. Does she seem to be sensitive to light?

Also, be sure to have them check her teeth. Sometimes teeth problems can cause eye problems.  My understanding is an infected root can spread infection to the eyes as well

Keep us updated with what the vet says.

[KatnipCrzy]

You might need to see a veterinary ophthalmologist.  Most vets even if they specialize in rabbits- are not specialized in complicated eye procedures, diagnosis, surgery, etc.  It might not be a bad idea to call your vet to see if they think you should take your bun to an vet eye specialist.

Julie

[bunnytowne]

sounds like a good idea take bun to eye specialist.   Also have teeth checked  cause that too can affect the eyes.  Keep us updated  please.  Would like to know the outcome of this situation.   Poor bun bun.

[CarrieC]

Hi everyone, and thanks for replying so quickly.

I have been on the phone with many vets in my area this morning. The vet I go to is called King George Animal Hospital, and the vet is Dr. Sharon Prus. She is a Rabbit Specialist. However, she is out of the office until Monday. They recommended I call Kennedy Heights Animal Hospital, who also has a rabbit specialist. After calling I found out that he is out of office until Monday, and they said my usual vet has more training in rabbits and so I should wait to see her.

I also called Eagle Ridge Animal Hospital to see if I can see Dr. Upjohn, who is recommended by many people and animal rescue/advocacy groups in the area, and he is away until the 28th, which leaves them with no rabbit specialist either.

All 3 vets (well, receptionists) said it is probably some sort of infection that is looking a lot worse because of her “cataract” or whatever it is that was in her eye previously. Although it looks very gross and horrible to me (which the vets said are common of eye infections), she doesn’t seem to be in pain as she is eating, drinking, and pooping normally, carrying out normal activities, not shying away when I go to touch her, or not moving away when I “clean” her eye. Also, she is not swaying her head or any other abnormal behaviour. The vets said unless it actually started bleeding or she started acting differently, my best bet would be to probably wait until Monday, when I can get in to see her regular vet.

The eyedrops previously prescribed for her were Tobradex Opthamalic Suspension, with the instructions to put one drop in the right eye twice a week on a continual basis. When calling the vets today I asked if I should continued this they said yes, to give her drops for today and tomorrow, and then she will be in Monday at 3:45pm. Unless, of course, there are any changes in her eye or behaviour, and then we will have to make some more calls.

I will try to take some pictures of it, but my digital camera is broken, so I will have to use my cellphone. I won’t post them on here because they might gross people out. However, if you would like them either to see what I am talking about, or for future reference for your own rabbits, I can email them to you.

So thank you all for all your help, and I will update on Monday after the vet to let you know how it’s going.

[xParadise]

I know there are tons of vets in the Vancouver-area that deal with exotics. You may have to travel dowtown, but I’m sure there is somewhere. I don’t have any names at the moment for vets that specialize in exotics. But there is one place on Kingsway called Vancouver Veterinary Hospital, they are super friendly and helpful in there. I don’t know how much experience they have with rabbits, but I know they will try to do everything they can to help you out. Maybe the best option is to even go in and get some pain meds to give her over the weekend until you can get into the vet that specializes in rabbits.

[BinkyBunny]

Wow, what a treasure hunt. You sure were thorough and what bad luck it seems that every vet you tried to see had something going on. The good thing is that you said she doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable or in any pain, and is eating and pooping fine. Looks like you know the behaviors to watch out for and at this point it sounds safe enough to wait for rabbit savvy vet.

Looking forward to hearing what the vet says on Monday. This will help me too as I would like to understand what those symptoms may mean too.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Hi and Welcome!

I have a rabbit who has a cataract, and issues with that eye. At this time, we’ve done drops and daily eye cleaning. He has sort of a white film that develops and goes in the corners of his eyes-so we clean that out daily. Sooo he has a cataract (which is sort of in the eye) and film on the outside. I’m not sure if what your describing is similar or not. If you would, I’d like to see pictures, my email is
kokaneeandkahlua at binkybunny.com (just formatted it that way so bots don’t see it and send me loads of junkmail!)
The good thing about eye infections in rabbits, is unlike cats and dogs, they see it as a good thing to have their eyes groomed, and they don’t fuss when your cleaning or putting drops in -that makes it much easier.

The only other thing I was thinking, it’s common for animals to have sort of a turned in eyelid, so they eyelashes make contact with the eye and irritate it. It’s a relatively simple surgery, but without it makes the eyes very yucky-I wonder if your has this?

Anyways sounds like you have access to some pretty good vets and I agree with Katnip-see if you can get to an veterinary ophthalmologist-that should be very helpful!

[MooBunnay]

Hello there Carrie

I also have one rabbit with an injury to her eye that looks a lot like what you described on your rabbit – she has not gotten an eye infection before however, so I’m not sure of anything else you can do above and beyond what you are already doing to help her. I do think that it is very positive that this is still eating/drinking/pooping and acting fairly normal, because usually one of the first things to stop when a bunny is in serious pain is their eating/pooping habits. It sounds like you are doing as much as you can in regards to getting your bunny to a vet, which is really the very best thing for her. Other than that, I would recommend just keeping her calm and probably not very active so that she doesn’t risk injuring her eye at all until you can get her to a vet.

[CarrieC]

Hi everyone. This is an update to my previous posts about the eye problems my rabbit has. I’ve recieved many emails and concern from people, so thank you all. I’m really sorry I’ve taken to long to get an update to you, but on top of aurora I have my other rabbit, a puppy, and a foster dog I care for as well as work and school, so time get really busy fast!

Now, here is what is new:

Vet Visit #1:

I took Aurora (my rabbit) to the vet on Monday Jan. 19th. Upon examintation, the doctor wasn’t sure what was wrong with her, but said to leave her for a week and they would slowly work on here. They cleaned out here eye, and realized she had an abscess so they did a surgery to clean it out. They decided to leave her eye in, as they thought she would have a better chance of healing, less infection, etc than if they took the eye out and had a larger cavity to deal with. I picked her up on Friday Jan 23rd, and the vet processes and bill were as follows: $48 for the examination, $85 for eye abscess surgery, $15 for fluid therapy, $85 for anesthesia, $36 for medication given there, and $60 for medication I took home (she is on 2 oral meds and one eye drop) and $18 for hospitalization. So vet visit #1 cost $347 and was diagnosed as an eye abscess. It was hopefully supposed to get better, and I needed to bring her in in a week for a check up.

Vet Visit #2:

I took her back to the Vet on Fri. Jan. 30th, and the doctor said she looked a little better and to keep giving meds, etc. The recheck cost was $24 and the anesthesia cost was $35 (they gave her a local to clean out her eye a little). I needed to bring her back in in another week for another check up. Vet visit number 2 cost $59. Oh, they also packed her eye with antibiotic balls and medicated gauze for no extra cost Meds continue as before.

Vet Visit #3:

I dropped her off at the Vet this Friday Feb. 6th, and picked her up this Monday morning. They had to do a another eye surgery on her. There was no charge for the examination or recheck, so that was really nice. The eye surgery cost $100, and they packed her eye with antibiotic balls again and this time stitched it shut. Fluid therapy was $15. Anethesia was $85. $25 for injected meds there. I had to buy more meds too because hers were out. She is not on the eye drops anymore as it is stitched, but she is on the same 2 oral drops which were another $40. Hospitalization was $24. This surgery there was no pus, etc when the vet was cleaning here – just lots of tissue mass. So she took a sample to send to the lab – $60 – to see if it is a tumor – in which case she said nothing can really be done and she should be put down. Those result will be in later this week as she is sending the sample today. Vet visit #3 cost $362.

So all in all vet costs have been $768 so far. I’ve mentioned the costs for a couple reasons. For one, when I was trying to research her problem. I couldn’t find any sites that said how much money I could expect to spend to treat her, so this might be a good reference for any of you who might encounter this kind of problem. Another reason is because these prices seem very fair and reasonable. The vet is King George Animal Hospital, and the vet is Sharon Prus. She is a rabbit specialist, and has been very kind and caring. I can definately tell this vet is not in it for the money, but for the love of pets, and I would love to recommend her to anyone looking for good animal care.

The other reason I posted the vet bills is in case anyone has any money they can contribute to them. If you don’t want to, please don’t send hate mail as it will be ignored, just ignore my request. If you can and want to, please email me and we can talk via email or phone about it. Any amount is appreciated, as she is still needing to go back in for more check ups in one week, and probably a couple more times. (Unless it is a tumor.) But right now all the money owed is sitting on my visa card, and I would appreciate any help anyone can afford. Also, I would love suggestions if anyone knows where you can apply to recieve financial aid for your animals. I would also be willing to barter sevices for money (babysit, create a website, create and edit videos for your personal or buisness use, etc…)

If I have forgotten anything let me know and I can make an edit to this main post, or if you have any questions about the vet or your own rabbit or anything feel free to email me. Thanks!

Carrie

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Well sounds like things are going great! I agree the bills seem very good -we spent almost that much for one day of tests and surgery on Baby on friday!! Keep us posted and thanks for the update!!

[Beka27]

What a predicament! That’s fortunate that the vet was able to do the surgery. Was this a vet that had seen her before, or was this the first visit with him? And let me get this straight, did they keep her for an entire week and ONLY charge you 18 bucks for hospitalization? If so, you got a great deal! Other vets I’ve heard about would charge quite a bit more than that (into the hundreds) just for the boarding.

Feel better Bunny!

[KatnipCrzy]

Your vet would have to apply  http://www.farleyfoundation.org/pet_owners/how_ff_works.html

http://www.uan.org/index.cfm?navid=161

There are quite a few foundations out there most my searches are bringing up US options- but try googling

financial assistance vet

help with vet bills

 

[CarrieC]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your tips. I did spend about a day googling for assistance, but most are US. The ones in Canada have very strict criteria which I don’t meet so far. For instance, I make $19,500 before tax a year, and a lot of the “low income” qualifications are $18,000 / year before taxes. Also, for the Farley, you need to be either a senior, disabled, or an abused woman – so there are lots of little things like that that exclude me. I did have one woman from the Rabbit Advocacy group out here in Vancouver volunteer to pay her own money for Aurora next check up, which will probably be just under $100 so that was really amazing. A lot of the groups I contacted really want to help, but they have to do bottle drive, etc. for their own money (I was hoping there was some government funding out there!) and they don’t have a lot left over.

And yes, the hospitization was $18 for the whole week! It was great. On the last visit I had to pay $24 for hospitalization, because when I dropped her off on Friday they didn’t know when she would be ready, and I had to take my car into a garage on Saturday to get the battery charged (which for some reason is a 12 hour job!). So, she ended up being ready on Saturday, but I couldn’t get here and they are closed Sundays, so I had to get here Monday. So they charged $12/day for Sat and Sun, but did friday for free

I think that replied to everything – I can’t see your posts when I reply, so sorry if I forgot anything!!!

Thanks!

Carrie

[CarrieC]

Emergency Rabbit Question! HELP! Thank you!!!

Hi everyone!

It’s now 10pm. At 9:30pm, my rabbit Aurora did something very strange. Usually she is in a very large custom made cage with my other bunny, but because of her eye problems and constant need of medications, I currently have her in one of those small starter cages you buy at pet stores so I can get her easily and give her her meds. So, at around 9:30pm, I was sitting in the living room next to her cage and she started having a “seizure”… or something like that… she was running all around her little cage and falling and just making crazy movements – at first I thought it was a seizure, but then when she stopped I went in to slowly inspect her… she was actually off balance, and tripped once I touched her, and then ran around her cage all crazy like trying to get her balance back. Anyway, the whole first “seizure” episode only lasted about 30 seconds I would guess. Right now she is fine – except she keeps looking straight up, and her left ear won’t go up anymore, it points straight down and doesn’t move. She is eating and drinking and moving around her cage (I bribed her with treats) and she will put her head down to eat her treats, but will put it right back up when done them. I can touch her and move her individual limbs, and she doesn’t react with pain.

So… My vet is closed and doesn’t open until 9am tomorrow. I also called the emergency vet, but they had no idea what was wrong, and said that they don’t deal with a lot of rabbits so they suggest I wait until tomorrow… so I guess I would love any advice anyone has, if you know anymore “tests” I can do to tell what is wrong, or if you’ve had it happen to you and know what it is… she is not holding her head to the side or anything, just straight up, and she now has her balance back. Was it a stroke? Unless some other weird stuff happens, so anyone emails back something that helps, she will be back into the vet tomorrow morning, so no worries about her care

Thank you all very much for putting my mind at rest!

Carrie

[bunnytowne]

OH my sounds like E.C.  but then I am not a vet  so I can’t say for sure.  Maybe a stroke 

Just one thing after another for you and that poor little bunny.  Awe.  Vibes for bunny.

[CarrieC]

Hi everyone,

So, I was going to take her to the vet this morning as they open at 9am. She started having seizure after seizure around 8am. I wrapped her in blankets and held her which seemed to help her not move as much. 5 minutes away from seeing the vet this morning she died in my arms. I did let her see the vet, and she was pronounced dead. My vet also said she got the test results from last Friday back this week (when they biopsied her eye) and they said it was Fibro Sarcoma, and it was mostly likely in her optic nerve, and she would have been putting her down probably anyway… she also kind of hinted that maybe we could put her on anti-seizure meds, etc, and maybe try some more, but I knew my little girl couldn’t handle anymore anyway. So, that is where is all stands.

Thank you all for your help and understanding, you have really helped me a lot.

Any questions or coments or anything feel free to email me or post on here. Thanks again everyone.

Carrie

[kralspace]

Oh Carrie, I am so very, very sorry about Aurora, I know it must be heartbreaking it is to lose your baby like that. My prayers are with you, I know she felt loved as she passed.

[jerseygirl]

My condolences to you Carrie. Take some comfort in knowing that your little girl is now free of her afflictions. **Binky Free Aurora!**

[BinkyBunny]

I am so sorry! It’s good to know that she was with you, in your arms. Though I know that can be heartbreaking too if it’s not an easy-passing. At least she as peace now. Peace and Hugs to you and Binky Free Aurora!

FYI: People can email you also by clicking on your profile and clicking email. I caution you to actually put your email address in a the body of any page on the internet as netbots scan web pages just for the sole purpose to spam ’em.

[Beka27]

I’m very sorry to hear this Carrie! Hugs! You did everything you could to help her and she loves you so much for that!

Binky Free Aurora!

[bunnytowne]

OH n ooo  how shocking.   You both went thru a lot.  I am sorry for her passing.  You did everythign you knew to do.

Wrapping her in a blanket was a good idea.  She was with you when she passed that is a good thing.  Hard on you I know.  This is never easy.

[KatnipCrzy]

I am so sorry for your loss.  Fibrosarcoma is an aggressive cancer and in rarely  successful to treat since the tumor sends out little “tendrils” to all the surrounding tissue.  I have lost 2 cats to this cancer and it was not long after diagnosis that there symptoms became severe and they did not have an adequate quality of life and had to be euth.

Although you have an answer as to what caused the problems,  I know it does not make the loss any easier. 

[MooBunnay]

I am so sorry to hear about your loss. It sounds like it was the right time for her to go, and that she was very well loved and comforted right up until her passing. I know that it is very hard to lose a bunny, I hope you can take comfort in the fact that you did everything that you could for her, it sounds like she was up against a very difficult illness and there was not much more that could be done.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Oh no! I’m so sorry for your loss!!! How better could it have been for her-how lucky for her to die in your arms loved. It’s hard for you, but for her to pass out of this world knowing she was loved. *HUGS* I’m so sorry *hugs*

[Author]

Messages