Eye Problems -- Opinion needed!

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MyBabyBunnies

MyBabyBunnies

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As many of you already know, Kiara has some eye problems. She went to the week 3 weeks ago and the vet said it was Conjunctivitis. It turned out not to be when the 10 days of drops stopped and her eyes had no improvements.

She went in 8 days ago and they said she probably had allergies. So Ir emoved the hay and straw from her cage. It did seem to improve (maybe I just imagined it) but her eyes are still wet. They are not as bad as they were. No longeris the area around her eye soaking wet 2 hours after I clean her face. But every2-3 days I have to clean her face because the hair gets crusty from her eyes.

I wonder if the hay in Mocha's part of the hutch is going onto her side and affecting her. I also questioned if she has plugged tear ducts:http://www.rabbit.org/chapters/san-diego/health/vet-talk/eyes.html

If anyone has any idea please post them here. I think I'll call 2 other vets in my area and find out what they think and go from there. If it is the tear ducts, I hope it isn't expensive. Has anyone ever had to have their rabbits tear ducts flushed?
 
Can rabbits get glaucoma? I have itmyself. Glaucoma prevents the eye from draining properly(naturally),which causeswatery eyes and pressure onthe optic nerve.

Has your vet mentioned this? I don't know if it's possible - just a guess.

I hope little Kiara gets better soon.

Laura


 
Poor Kiara! My cat has had watery eyes all (10years of) his life and never had a problem, as long as we keep wipingthem to keep them clean. I know he's a cat but just a demonstartion toshow that animals can still be happy with watery eyes. I haven't heardofblocked tear ductsin rabbits but it does soundlike thats whats wrong. I hope you can find out whats wrong with herand hopefully treat it.:)
 
The problem is that if her eyes stay like this,I can't keep her. :sad:She's an outside rabbit and it's notfair to her to have to be outside in below freezing weather with weteyes. I can't have her inside because my dad suffers from severeallergies and I suffer from allergies too.
 
Ask your vet about glaucoma. According to the House Rabbit Society, there are successful treatments:

Glaucoma is a disease where an excessive intraocular pressure (IOP)causes damage to the retina. Blindness results when the IOP is too highfor too long. Normal eye pressure is 15-25 mmHg. Glaucoma values can beinterpreted as 26-95 mmHg. In New Zealand White (NZW) rabbits, thecondition is inherited as an autosomal recessive trait. The onset ofdisease in the NZW is often between 3-6 months of age.

Clinical signs include buphthalmos (enlargement of the globe),generalized corneal edema (cornea appears blue), and blindness.Treatment of glaucoma is often frustrating. There are numerous topicalmedications (carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, prostaglandin antagonists,beta-blockers, parasympathomimetics) that can be utilized alone or incombination. Glaucoma is a disease that will require chronicmedications and frequent rechecks. The target IOP for a visual eye withglaucoma is below 20-25 mmHg. If the IOP starts to rise, thenadditional medications will be recommended. The goal is to keep avisual eye visual.

Sometimes surgery may be recommended for either the visual (diode lasercycloablation, cyclocryoablation) or blind eye (enucleation,evisceration). Another option for a blind glaucoma eye is aninjection of gentamicin antibiotic into the eye. This is called achemical ablation. A chemical ablation "kills" the eye's ability toproduce fluid. Without fluid production, the IOP drops permanently.The goal with a blind glaucoma eye is to keep the eye comfortable.Pressures below 35-40 mmHg are considered comfortable.
 
I asked about Glaucoma and they said probablynot. They said it's a painful thing and she would probably let me knowif it hurt. I called a vet that I got the name of off the net thatknows rabbits and called but they suggested I go back to my originalvet because with eye problems its trial and error a lot of times.
 
Have they flushed her tear ducts? Somerabbits (and I can't remember where I read this) need it every once anda while due to allergies, etc. It can help clear up thesymptoms for a while.
 
I read that in the article above but it alsosaid that flushing tear ducts is only temporarily fixing the problemand not getting to the source of the problem.
 
hi,

maybe you could get a second opinion on your bunny's eye bytaken her to a animal eye dr.i had to take my 1 rabbit buddy to onebefore he was a year old turned out he had glaucoma & a catract.he was given 2differnt eye drops for me to give&the glaucoma did clear upbut nothing couldbe done for his catract.he's now 4 years old no problems now with hiseye.he just needs a recheck once a year.he still is such a sweet boylike the day he was born.

good luck

michelle
 
The vet called me back and we discussed theissue of Kiara. She warned me that it could be Snuffles but I thinkit's safe to assume that being so young and her having this problemsince I brought her home, that it is not Snuffles. A young rabbit has aweaker immune system so other symptons of Snuffles should have shown upweeks ago. Her nose is not runny and I've had her for 6 weeks.

She said it's probably a plugged tear duct or possibly a sinusinfection. She said she can flush the tear duct but it requires ageneral anesthesia and it's not worth the risk of putting her underright now. She said if I was to get her spayed then they could do it atthe same time but she's too young (the vet didn't know that when Isuggested it) to get spayed.

She told me to watch it and give her eye baths to keep her face cleanand to watch for crusty sores. I'm going to arrange with mybrother-in-law that next time he goes in to see his mom or get his dogspayed, that I come along with Kiara so I can suggest things and talkto the vet myself.

So there's not much I can do except make another vet trip and see if it's a cronic problem or a one time thing.

If it is a cronic plugged tear duct, the best thing is a buddy so thatthey will clean it up. So Mocha and Kiara may need to have a few wintertime dates.
 
I think you are mistaken about glaucoma clearingup.my horse had glaucoma and The medication is extremely expensive.theVet told me there was no cure only treatment.the eye would needtreatment for the rest of the horses life.bluebird
 
hi,

sorry i must have miss worded it .what i ment to say wasbuddy has been doing really well for the past 3 years .he hasn't had tobe put back on his eye drops but i know some day he mite have to goback on them.i was told that buddy is legal blind in his left eye. theeye dr doesn't know why.buddy was out of a litter of 6 nobody else hasthis problem.infact i called the breeder i got his parents from she wasvery upset she never heard or seen such a thing so she called everyonewho bought sibs of buddy's parents up.there bunnies are fine. nobodyknows if it's the vennia gene as his mother was a blue eyed white& his daddy is a bkn black with alot of blue eyed white in hisback ground.i can't even find much info on moon eyes because buddy hasmoon eyes so i thought it mite be that.

good luck

michelle
 

I hope you get to the bottom of this soon, it must be driving you nuts wondering what it actually is.
Ask as many vets as you can what they think, I know it's hard for them to diagnose without seeing Kiara, but asking can't hurt.

Goodluck and keep on bathing the eye in the meantime.


 
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