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Bulging Eyes - Anyone ever had this???

M

MoBunny

Warren Scout
Hi,

My friend has a 7 year old rabbit and recently when the rabbit gets stressed evan mildly - you approach her - her eyes start to bulge. It looks very strange and not normal at all you can see the whites of her eyes which normally you can't.

She has been to a rabbit specialist in Watford (Guy Carter) and he said he has never seen this before Lucky enough it happened when she was there so he was able to observe it. He was going to do some research to see if he could find out anything.

Has anyone ever heard of this before ?? It looks very stange and the vet has checked out her eyes and they seem ok and he said she does not appear to be in any pain.

Any help would be very much appreciated.

Maureen
 
Thanks Jane I was hoping you would see this, in all my 10 years of keeping rabbits I have never seen anything like it.

It's a bit like Marty Feldman (sp) eyes we are old enough to remember him:lol::lol:

If you can think of anything else I would be very intersted to hear yours or
anyones thoughts if only to reassure my friend.

Maureen
 
is he a nethie? My smaller buns seem to have disproportionately large eyes which means when scared you can see little bits of the white.
 
Hi,

Yes she is a Nethie but one minute her eyes are normal and the next they
bulge, as though they have been pushed forward in the eye sockets and then you see them retract - most odd

Maureen
 
Angel (BEW lop) does this a little when she gets stressed. I doubt it's anything to worry about but interesting to find out more...
 
Rabbits have a venous sinus (blood-filled chamber) beneath the eye so if systemic blood pressure is high this can become excessively filled and displace the eyes. I have seen cases of thymoma (growth of the thymus gland) which causes raised blood pressure in the head only as the growth compresses the veins returning the blood to the heart. These tend to cause constant displacement of the eyes as the growth causes consistent pressure. It would be interesting to assess whether her blood pressure is normal when relaxed and to check for any conditions that can raise blood pressure. Some degree of eye protrusion when stressed can be normal, particularly in rabbits with small skulls like nethies.
 
Thanks for that Marie

I will pass this information on to my friend and the vet.

She is with me at the moment as they have just gone on holiday for a week and she seems fine otherwise very normal

Maureen
 
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