Eye problem... will he loose his eye?

[Annie Parenteau]

I live in Saudi Arabia where the resources and knowledge about rabbits is scarce. I am desperate to find a vet or specialist that can tell me what my rabbit has at his left eye. I have done some research and posted on forums, but opinions are contradictory and not professional.

Here’s the story...

About ten days ago, we rescued on the compound where we live a rabbit of about 7 months which an injured left eye. It might be a fight with a cat or bumping in something while trying to flight. At least this is what the vet (not specialized in rabbits) supposes.

The vet we took our rabbit to told us he was suffering from inflammation of the 3rd eyelid. His eye is white and black and there is edema.

We were told to treat it with Fucitalmic which we used for 9 days. Not seeing any improvement , we stopped and the edema reduced. After seeking another vet advice, we are now using Ciprocin one drop once a day and do warm compresses four times a day. The vet also suggest to use VitA-POS once a day.

The rabbit eats, drinks and produces excrement daily. He lies down with his elongated hind legs, relaxed. I think he can suffer from his injury in silence. His eye reacts to the light according to the veterinarian who examined it.

I would like to know if you could help me find an appropriate treatment. I do not want him to lose his eye. I know the treatment can be long before getting results, but I am very worried it might be a case of E. Cuniculi and pasteurella.. But this happened overnight..

I would like to have your advice. Thanks
Annie

 

[JBun]

It looks like it could be a corneal ulcer from a scratch to the eye, that may be infected. I would continue with the ciprocin eye drops, but I would apply it to the eye at least 4-6 times a day several hours apart. Once a day isn't enough to control a bacterial infection with that particular antibiotic eye drop, so application several times a day is needed. I would do this for a couple of weeks at least, if there are signs of it being effective and improving. If there wasn't improvement after the first week, a different ophthalmic antibiotic eye drop like gentamycin or neo/poly/bac are other options that could be tried.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Clinical/Eye_diseases.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Disorder/Ulcer/Ulc_en.htm

E. cuniculi induced uveitis looks slightly different than what I am seeing in your rabbits eye. But if it were e. cuniculi induced uveitis, there wouldn't be a whole lot you could do medication wise, except using anti inflammatory eye drops like prednisolone acetate eye drops and oral fenbendazole to treat the parasite system wide. Though sometimes in severe cases, complete surgical removal of the eye by an experienced rabbit vet is necessary.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.pro...9e50005056ad4736/file/PV1112_Pilny1_EE-CR.pdf

So aside from increasing the frequency of eye drop application, you are doing what I would do in your situation. Just be aware that even with the proper eye drop, sometimes there can be some residual damage to the eye, so there may still be a white spot left on the eye after treatment. And as long as the eye isn't getting red, inflamed, or weepy, ,then I wouldn't believe it's going to be a problem and that the eye should be fine.

 

[Annie Parenteau]

Dear Jenny, Thanks so much for your answer, it really eased my mind. When I came back home tonight, the eye seemed to have improved. There was a bit of white pus which I removed with cotton. I will continue using Ciprocin but more frequently as you suggest. This corroborates other advice I got from rabbit savvy people. I hope the ulcer will heal completely. Do you know any cases where they had to remove the eye?

 

[Annie Parenteau]

It looks like it could be a corneal ulcer from a scratch to the eye, that may be infected. I would continue with the ciprocin eye drops, but I would apply it to the eye at least 4-6 times a day several hours apart. Once a day isn't enough to control a bacterial infection with that particular antibiotic eye drop, so application several times a day is needed. I would do this for a couple of weeks at least, if there are signs of it being effective and improving. If there wasn't improvement after the first week, a different ophthalmic antibiotic eye drop like gentamycin or neo/poly/bac are other options that could be tried.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Clinical/Eye_diseases.htm
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Disorder/Ulcer/Ulc_en.htm

E. cuniculi induced uveitis looks slightly different than what I am seeing in your rabbits eye. But if it were e. cuniculi induced uveitis, there wouldn't be a whole lot you could do medication wise, except using anti inflammatory eye drops like prednisolone acetate eye drops and oral fenbendazole to treat the parasite system wide. Though sometimes in severe cases, complete surgical removal of the eye by an experienced rabbit vet is necessary.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.pro...9e50005056ad4736/file/PV1112_Pilny1_EE-CR.pdf

So aside from increasing the frequency of eye drop application, you are doing what I would do in your situation. Just be aware that even with the proper eye drop, sometimes there can be some residual damage to the eye, so there may still be a white spot left on the eye after treatment. And as long as the eye isn't getting red, inflamed, or weepy, ,then I wouldn't believe it's going to be a problem and that the eye should be fine.

See my answer above. sorry i wrote a new post instead of replying.

 

[JBun]

I do know of instances where eye removal was necessary, however in those cases the rabbits eye was much more severely damaged(more white in the eye and/or bulging). Your rabbits eye doesn't seem too bad, and I would expect the antibiotic eye drops should work. Though it may be necessary to apply them much longer than 2 weeks, and maybe even change antibiotic eye drops.

 

[JBun]

Just fyi, I don't know your rabbits breed, but based on those ginormously cute ears and the look of his eyes, your bunny could be much younger than 7 months. Which means he could have a lot of growing to do and become quite the big guy, if those ears are any indication. I could be wrong, but usually with ears that size, the rabbit full grown is 10 lbs or more.

 

[Bunny_Mommy]

I completely agree with @JBun on the Corneal Ulcer. My bunny, Baby, was diagnosed with one at age 10 days, and she is now 4 months old with no issues, aside from the unfortunate scar over her eye. The Vet said that the eye is not usually removed in this case, and you just need to be aware of any changes. The bunny can still see through that eye, as far as I know. Hope that helped a little