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white spot in rabbits eye

bunlover

Warren Veteran
ok ass you all know sittch is fostering woith me till we find him a new home. he has only one eye the other was surgically removed but we dont know why. his good eye has a small white spot in it.. the vet i saw is not my normal rabbit savvy vet as she is on maternity leave... she said its nothing to worry about an old trauma probly but if it got any bigger to go back... im not convinced as he seems to have relativly poor eye sight and she didnt even use any instruments to look into his eye just physically wiht her naked eye? hmm so iv been researching what it could be here is a list i have come up with/
cateract beggining to form?(cant find a pic to campare to for any of these things)
ec currently has it(tho not really showing any other signs) or has had in past(could be reason eye was removed also)
trauma to eye
abcess beggining to form
ulcer beggining to form

any one have any other ideas? liz has been racking her brain too (she runs a special needs rabbit sanctury) and cant think really of any others....
he seems well in himself... i wondered if i am making a fuss or whether i should be looking into it more? if i should get a second opinion then i will go to visit mum in gloucester and see jason as he is very rabbit savvy and would be able to tell im sure. just want to know what it is and if its going to become worse or not in future or if should be treating him for it ..dont even know how long he has had it ..it could be from birth it could be very recent. he is around 2 years old.

will try and take a picture but its very hard to due to light reflection etc.
 
I would put him on a course of Fenbendazole anyway as the problem may be lens damage related to EC. Buns with this EC symtom tend to have been infected at birth so although the protozoa is probably long since gone some dormant spores may be lurking around. I would probably treat him for 28 days and then for 9 days twice a year thereafter.

With this sort of Eye problem Uveitis can develope in which case treatment with a specific eye drop (Maxitrol) would be required. Uveitis is painful :cry:
 
It doesn't sound like a normal cataract to me, they usually start off like a slight cloudiness covering most/all of the eye, and gradually get whiter.

I don't think it would be a retrobulbar abscess either because the eye would be visibly bulging, and I've never seen one that changed the colour of the actual eyeball.

I reckon it most likely to be trauma, EC cataract, or an ulcer. :(
 
I would put him on a course of Fenbendazole anyway as the problem may be lens damage related to EC. Buns with this EC symtom tend to have been infected at birth so although the protozoa is probably long since gone some dormant spores may be lurking around. I would probably treat him for 28 days and then for 9 days twice a year thereafter.

With this sort of Eye problem Uveitis can develope in which case treatment with a specific eye drop (Maxitrol) would be required. Uveitis is painful :cry:

forgive me for my incompetance here but what is uveitis?. also is fenbendazole what is in pannacur? and lapizole?

how infectious is either ec or uveitis to other rabbits?
 
It is possible for trauma to the eye to break the lens which can then cause an abscess within the eye its self. This is different to a retrobulbar abscess which is behind the entire eye. These can look like tiny white spots, it can also be caused by pasteurella.

How big is the white spot, as big as a pin head? Cataracts can start as tiny white spots. Lottie has a huge one on one eye and a small one on the other, but she is still blind in both.

Even if it is a scar from an old injury he could still be blind in that eye.

I just think it is really suspicious that he has had one eye removed and now has a problem with the other eye.

As he has other behavioural issues too I am inclined to think it is ec related :(
 
arghh.. ok well this is the best way i can descirbe it... ther is what looks like 2 pin head sized circles which overlap each other so only a tiny bit of the other shows. then there is a small tail like bit to the spot(this is upon closer inspection today i hadnt relaly looked at it in detail before)

and upon this inspection there seems to be a slight hatched area in a differnt place which is on the lens...the actual "spot" seems deeper. the hatched area is only visible when light falls on it in a certain direction..erm kinda like a dirty smudge on a window? im glad i tried to draw it for you liz as this is what iv seen now.
 
Obviously I'm no expert, but this doesn't sound good. It could be phacoclastic uveitis. This is basically where the lens has ruptured, either due to EC, or an injury etc. The treatment of this is often eye removal :shock:

Sounds like he is definately blind in his "good eye" :(
 
Obviously I'm no expert, but this doesn't sound good. It could be phacoclastic uveitis. This is basically where the lens has ruptured, either due to EC, or an injury etc. The treatment of this is often eye removal :shock:

Sounds like he is definately blind in his "good eye" :(

but oyu cant just remove a rabit who only has one eyes "good eye" can you surely thats no life for a rabbit to have no eyes? sorry feeling a bit upset about this now.... does that mean he would need putting down? he seems so happy tho ::(:(
 
but oyu cant just remove a rabit who only has one eyes "good eye" can you surely thats no life for a rabbit to have no eyes? sorry feeling a bit upset about this now.... does that mean he would need putting down? he seems so happy tho ::(:(

If he has no sight in the eye than whether it is removed or not makes no difference to bunny. It may mean he is more comfortable though.

He doesn't need to be PTS as you say he is happy. I have 5 blind bunnies here and they all have a good quality of life, some are just different to "normal " bunnies.

Sorry I upset you, I haven't seen Stich so it is only a guess from your desciption, obviously a good rabbit vet will tell you more. If only P@H had kept his records we would know what was going on instead of groping in the dark for explanations:roll:

ETA I wasn't suggesting his other eye needs removing now, just it may be the reason the first eye was removed:)
 
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but oyu cant just remove a rabit who only has one eyes "good eye" can you surely thats no life for a rabbit to have no eyes? sorry feeling a bit upset about this now.... does that mean he would need putting down? he seems so happy tho ::(:(

Well if he is already blind in his one eye I guess he would not miss having it :?
Certainly not something to be undertaken other than as a last resort.
If its not bothering him then I'd be inclined to just leave it alone but monitor it. You will notice if Uveitis becomes an issue as when you shine an opthalmoscope or small torch at the effected eye you will see lots of 'angry' looking blood vessels. As its painful the Bun may appear unwell-ie anorexic/stasis etc.

'Yes' Fenbendazole is the active ingredient in Panacur/Lapizole

:)
 
If the worst case scenario is removing his remaining eye I'm sure he could cope as long as his environment was suitably adapted. Am I right in thinking that smell and hearing are more important than sight to rabbits?
 
If the worst case scenario is removing his remaining eye I'm sure he could cope as long as his environment was suitably adapted. Am I right in thinking that smell and hearing are more important than sight to rabbits?

i think you are right, i have decided not to jump to conclusions and to try and see a rabbit specialist(grr to nicola having her baby!!! not really but you know what i mean) i really need one i can trust...i could see jason or i might try ivan in bracknell. will see how it goes in the mean time stitch is happy and dora nad arhtur are happy and iv ordered the pannacur to treat them all as a precaution. so feeling a bit happier now...
 
i think you are right, i have decided not to jump to conclusions and to try and see a rabbit specialist(grr to nicola having her baby!!! not really but you know what i mean) i really need one i can trust...i could see jason or i might try ivan in bracknell. will see how it goes in the mean time stitch is happy and dora nad arhtur are happy and iv ordered the pannacur to treat them all as a precaution. so feeling a bit happier now...

... and you have saved some money on the cost of the panacur ;)
 
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