Something inside her eye under the lens

[ChewieLop]

Hi. I'm new here, and was wondering if anyone has encountered something like this.

I have a 6 month old mini lop who eats mainly Timothy hay and a small handful of pellets. Occasionally we will give her a small treat of a raisin or a few bites of dried fruit. She hasn't started eating fresh veggies yet, just because she usually won't when we try to give it to her.

She is a vibrant bunny, doing all of the usual bunny things. She just began to become an adult bunny, so we're encountering all sorts of new behaviors, but she seems very happy overall.

The other day, we noticed a white spot in her normally very dark right eye. At first, we thought maybe it was a little bit of mucus that we could just wipe away, or maybe a fuzz or something. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the white spot was actually inside her eye, under the lens. You can tell that it is 3 dimensional when you look at it. It doesn't seem to bother her at all.

When we took her to the vet, we had her blood tested for a bunch of things. They discovered that she has E. cuniculi. We have been treating her for that, and giving her eye drops. But the vet seemed to be uncertain as to what this thing actually was.

She thinks it is some sort of pus that developed deep in her eye, and is leaking through the pupil over the iris a little.

Has anyone else encountered this? If so, what is it?

In the week or so since we started treatment, there seems to be more of whatever it is, and its bright white color has faded. I am really hoping it is nothing, especially since it doesn't really bother her.

Any thoughts?

 

[ladysown]

that's from the cunniculi. Should treatment be successful it will dissipate.

 

[JBun]

Those spots in the eye, can be caused by the e. cuniculi parasite. A corneal ulcer is a possibility, caused by a scratched eye. Did the vet rule that out? To me, it does look like uveitis caused by EC. Is your rabbit getting panacur for the EC? Did the vet also put your rabbit on an anti inflammatory like metacam?

You can check out this entire link, but just be aware that some of the photos can be a bit disturbing to see.
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Clinical/Eye_diseases.htm

Encephalitozoan-associated uveitis​

​

The dense white mass lesion in the iris with vascularisation is virtually pathognomonic for a lens-induced uveitis associated with Encephalitozoan cuniculi infection. The pathogenesis appears to be that the parasite enters the lens in utero and exits later sometimes giving cataract and sometimes a lens-induced inflammation, characteristically appearing as a variably vascularised white mass. Treatment can be by phacoemulsification of the lens, but a medical therapy if surgery is not possible, involves anti-inflammatory medication with topical steroid or NSAID and anti-parasitic systemic medication such as oral albendazole.

(c) 2004 Dr David L Williams

 

[ChewieLop]

Wow, you guys are great! Thanks for the help!

The vet did mostly rule out any injury to the eye. I think that was because she does not seem to be bothered by it, and because it looks like the pus is originating inside the eye.

We are giving her 3 medicines. I don't know what they are off the top of my head. One is a pill that we crush and mix with water and give via syringe twice a day. Another is a drop we put in her eye twice a day. The third was added after the EC was officially diagnosed as being present and active - it is a liquid that when shaken up has the consistency of Elmer's school glue. We give that with a syringe once a day.

 

[tonyshuman]

Not sure what all the meds are, but one should be panacur (fenbendazole) or something with a name similar to that. If there is anything on the bottles that looks like a medicine name we might be able to help more.

 

[SnowyShiloh]

My Skyler was diagnosed with EC in December 2009. The first sign of anything wrong was the exact same thing your adorable girl has, a white thing inside his eye. He developed more symptoms and died 6 months later, but hopefully your girl won't develop any other symptoms! Good luck!

 

[ChewieLop]

I will post the names of the meds when I can. I very much appreciate the help!

Snowy, was your bunny being treated for EC? Do you have suggestions for me to help Chewie survive longer with EC? Things to be on the lookout for, etc... I am so sorry for your loss. I know how painful that can be. Especially when you have such a sweet one to love. <3

 

[ChewieLop]

ofloxacin
Baytril
Fenbendazole

 

[JBun]

Did your vet make any mention of also giving metacam? It is an anti inflammatory med, that is often given with fenbendazole, when a rabbit has EC, because of the inflammation that EC causes, and the effects that the inflammation has on the rabbit. I've read of several cases where the metacam made a huge difference in the recovery of the rabbit. It may also help with the uveitis in the eye, if there is inflammation involved.

 

[tonyshuman]

Agreed, the thing posted makes it sound like having an NSAID or steroid in the eye may help. Metacam is a NSAID. The first is either ciprofloxacin or enrofloxacin (Baytril), eye drops.

 

[rpuckett]

I just found one of these spots in my newest bunny family member (new in a manner of speaking, she has been with us a few months, though she is going on six years old). Heart sore about the whole thing. Calling the vet tomorrow, started her on Safeguard today. This is not my first encounter with EC, but I am still depressed and kinda scared. Especially since I am seeing increased fluid intake and peeing. And she has been in the same room (though not the same cage) as my two younger bonded pair, and I am wondering if I should start them on Safeguard too. Just praying for a success story this time.

 

[ChewieLop]

Rpuckett, I am sorry to hear about your bunny. I hope things go smoothly for you.

 

[ChewieLop]

We are back from the vet. Unfortunately, she has some blood in her iris. That's not good. We're going to keep the same course of meds, and examine her eye daily. We also have to keep a log of how much water she drinks.

The vet (who I really like more and more) doesn't want to give her anti-inflammatory drugs because Chewie is still so young, and we are not sure yet if her kidneys are involved with the EC. When her eye looks good enough, we will have her spayed - with blood tests preceding. Then we will know for sure how her kidneys are doing. If they are not great, we will not be able to spay.

Meanwhile, we were told to send weekly pictures of Chewie's eye to the vet for comparison. If she notices something getting even worse, or if we do, we will need to take her to an eye vet who is knowledgable in exotics. That sounds crazy expensive!!! I hope her eye gets better soon!

 

[tonyshuman]

I see, that is a valid concern. EC commonly affects the kidneys first and most NSAIDs are hard on the kidneys, especially meloxicam which is the most commonly used in bunnies. A topical drop with NSAIDs in it may be helpful, although I actually have never heard of such a thing before. Usually topical eye drops contain antibiotics, steroids, maybe a mucolytic, and if they're being used to treat something painful they will include a local anesthetic of the -caine type (lidocaine). I am not sure meloxicam drops would be very effective for pain but they might be helpful to reduce inflammation in the eye, and they shouldn't go into the system in high concentration if they are just used on the eye. A small amount will get absorbed by the capillaries in the eye area and get passed into circulation to be processed and eliminated by the kidneys, just like if it were taken orally, but the amount would be much lower than oral meds. So I'm not sure that a topical NSAID would be a kidney problem, but I am not sure it is commonly used or is effective because I haven't heard of people doing topical NSAIDs in the eye.