How do you treat a bunny that wont let you help it?/ shes gone

We do not know what to do for the best for Primrose

Her eye is so gunky and she wont let us near her. She has had her tearduct flushed twice and had a 10 day course of antibiotics and is having fucithalmic cream put in, but instead of getting better it is getting worse.

She suffers really badly from fear aggression that I cannot get close enough to bathe it regularly. She is bites so badly, growls and launches at you, poor girl.

This morning her eye was completely closed up with gunk for the first time ever, so i had to bathe it, it took me half an hour to only do a half decent job on it and she was in such a state during and after the whole thing

It now looks so sore, we really don't know what to do for the best for her. She is due back again next week for another flush, but nothing seems to be helping it. :?

Her eye is being pushed out by her teeth roots and they are also pushing her jaw bone out of shape so it is only going to get worse for her, yet she loves her food, in fact she is a right greedy :lol: . But when she is free ranging she doesn't do much anymore. We also can't bond her since her sister died as she is the same with rabbits as she is with humans

We have had/got buns here with terrible eyes but they have all been good as gold letting us bathe them numerous times aday. I am at a loss as to what to do here, she must be suffering so badly.

Here is her eye AFTER I had bathed it, as you can see it is still really gunky but there was no way I could do anymore to it

Poor Primrose

I have no advice (the only thing I used to do with my bunnies with poorly eyes was offer them food for a bit either before/aftrwards but they didn't have any aggression etc). Her eye looks so sore, bless her x

Is she a lone bun? I bunnysat for a bunny with tear duct issues - I looked after her several times a year for a couple of years and she was never keen on having her eye bathed by me, tolerated it just about. However, she was eventually bonded and her boyfriend bunny groomed her eye for ages, she seemed to love it, and her eye rarely got all gunked up. Obviously it didn't fix the duct issue but having any gunk cleared up almost immediately by the other bun really helped prevent the skin surrounding the eye from getting as sore as it used to get, and was a whole lot less stressful for the poor girly

Ben's mum said:

Is she a lone bun? I bunnysat for a bunny with tear duct issues - I looked after her several times a year for a couple of years and she was never keen on having her eye bathed by me, tolerated it just about. However, she was eventually bonded and her boyfriend bunny groomed her eye for ages, she seemed to love it, and her eye rarely got all gunked up. Obviously it didn't fix the duct issue but having any gunk cleared up almost immediately by the other bun really helped prevent the skin surrounding the eye from getting as sore as it used to get, and was a whole lot less stressful for the poor girly

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Yes she lives alone. She did live with her sister but she passed away suddenly. We have tried to bond her with several buns since but she is too aggressive towards them too, giving nast bites so getting her a partner is not an option. She also use to chase her sister but thankfully it never turned aggressive

That's a shame Have you tried something like giving Rescue Remedy a while before trying to groom her?

Ben's mum said:

Is she a lone bun? I bunnysat for a bunny with tear duct issues - I looked after her several times a year for a couple of years and she was never keen on having her eye bathed by me, tolerated it just about. However, she was eventually bonded and her boyfriend bunny groomed her eye for ages, she seemed to love it, and her eye rarely got all gunked up. Obviously it didn't fix the duct issue but having any gunk cleared up almost immediately by the other bun really helped prevent the skin surrounding the eye from getting as sore as it used to get, and was a whole lot less stressful for the poor girly

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Awww, what a special husbun!!

Honestly? I think it then becomes a 'what is best for her quality of life' issue, so you have human intervention, versus the illness, and then what you decide to do with the illness.

It might be for another bun it would be easily treatable, but for her, maybe it's not because maybe by stressing her out that's affecting her quality of life.

You do amazing things and I know you put your buns first (I'm not for one second saying you're not), which is why you have asked. I feel so much for you.

What does your gut instinct tell you is best for her? If you follow that, you won't go wrong.

I have a mitful of buns and would make different decisions for each bun because some can handle things others can't tolerate. It's so tough being a rabbit opwner sometimes, especially with those buns that you have.

I have a feleing I've worded that all really badly, so please don't take offence to any of it. I think you do a wonderful job, second to none, and I'm just looking at it as I would look at it with mine.

Sky-O said:

Honestly? I think it then becomes a 'what is best for her quality of life' issue, so you have human intervention, versus the illness, and then what you decide to do with the illness.

It might be for another bun it would be easily treatable, but for her, maybe it's not because maybe by stressing her out that's affecting her quality of life.

You do amazing things and I know you put your buns first (I'm not for one second saying you're not), which is why you have asked. I feel so much for you.

What does your gut instinct tell you is best for her? If you follow that, you won't go wrong.

I have a mitful of buns and would make different decisions for each bun because some can handle things others can't tolerate. It's so tough being a rabbit opwner sometimes, especially with those buns that you have.

I have a feleing I've worded that all really badly, so please don't take offence to any of it. I think you do a wonderful job, second to none, and I'm just looking at it as I would look at it with mine.

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I completely agree!

Seems like you may have a very tough decision!

You really are having a hard time at the mo!

Sky-O said:

Honestly? I think it then becomes a 'what is best for her quality of life' issue, so you have human intervention, versus the illness, and then what you decide to do with the illness.

It might be for another bun it would be easily treatable, but for her, maybe it's not because maybe by stressing her out that's affecting her quality of life.

You do amazing things and I know you put your buns first (I'm not for one second saying you're not), which is why you have asked. I feel so much for you.

What does your gut instinct tell you is best for her? If you follow that, you won't go wrong.

I have a mitful of buns and would make different decisions for each bun because some can handle things others can't tolerate. It's so tough being a rabbit opwner sometimes, especially with those buns that you have.

I have a feleing I've worded that all really badly, so please don't take offence to any of it. I think you do a wonderful job, second to none, and I'm just looking at it as I would look at it with mine.

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You've worded it fine This is the discussion we had this morning when saw how sore it was and knowing it is only going to get worse in the long run :?

We knew that once she gets abscesses we would not be able to carry on, but didn't think until now that we might have to consider her options because of a sore eye

At the moment we have agreed to try as best we can until she sees the vet for her flush on Wednesday and then discuss options with her, unless of course it gets a lot worse before that.

She is still really loving her food, but that eye has got to really hurt

I haven't got any advice I'm afriaid but just wanted to say what a fantastic job you do with all your buns. I really admire what you do - I know I couldn't do it.

Sending loads of vibes to little Primrose x

That sounds like the sensible way to deal with it.

It sounded like you already knew the answer to the question you posted but that maybe you needed reassurance about what you feel is best for her?

I guess it becomes one of those situation where you have to reassess every day as to what is best for her.

Poor you, and poor her.

Liz have you tried one holding her and one cleaning the eye. Any difficult buns I have I always wait for David to hold them.

Sky-O said:

That sounds like the sensible way to deal with it.

It sounded like you already knew the answer to the question you posted but that maybe you needed reassurance about what you feel is best for her?

I guess it becomes one of those situation where you have to reassess every day as to what is best for her.

Poor you, and poor her.

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I don't think we know the answer for definate yet, but have realised that we are now having to consider certain possibilities. Personally I would like to keep trying if I can, but don't know if that would be for me or for her :?

We are having a similar situation with Liquorice too, she has a tumour behind her eye. She is slowly deteriorating and we are assessing her at least twice aday to make sure we get the timing right. At least now it is not so hot we can tell how well she really is

kayj said:

Liz have you tried one holding her and one cleaning the eye. Any difficult buns I have I always wait for David to hold them.

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You can't hold her, thats the problem, we can't even get her in a towel :?

At the moment I am doing it with her still in the crate as she shrinks into a corner, but then she will lunge and bite.

If you pick her up she will launch at whatever she can get hold of, she has hung from my wrists and launched at my throat before.

The last couple of times she was vaccinated the vet did it while she hung from the sleeve of my sweatshirt, which had a lovely hole in at the end :roll:

I feel so sorry for her as I know she is just frightened, but we just can't win her round.

If the crate door stays shut she is fine, she will come over for food and you can stroke her head through the bars

Yeh, I didn't quite mean what I wrote, lol, I think I meant that you already knew you were faced with certain options for her sake, that you wouldn't be faced with in different circumstances. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer, it's just what you feel is best at any given time.

It's really hard assessing and constantly reassessing. I've just been through that with my Summer and its so draining, but the peaceful feeling you get when you know it is the right choice makes the stress worth it, I think.

I'm so sorry things are so torrid for you right now.

I think it is because we have now realised we that we may have to face loosing her that I posted.

I think I was hoping I had missed something obvious and there might be a way forward for her that I hadn't thought of :?

Liz, I am so sorry you are going through this, It isn't that long ago I was going along your line of thinking regarding Eric my 12yr old Nethie but, I still couldn't make the decision. In the end the decision was made for me (Thank god as it is a heart rending decision. If I am totally honest when faced with situations like this I always put the decision on my vet (but I do trust her 200%).
Take care and thinking of you as I have had the worst weekend last weekend as you have done over the last month or so.
xxx

Thanks Kay

We were faced with a similar situation with Fuzzy with his tooth roots. We knew if he got abscesses etc we wouldn't be able to treat him because of his behaviour, so in a way although it was horrible we are glad his roots went up and ended it for him quickly.

I keep watching Primrose for signs that she may be struggling, bless her heart

Hugo's There said:

Thanks Kay

We were faced with a similar situation with Fuzzy with his tooth roots. We knew if he got abscesses etc we wouldn't be able to treat him because of his behaviour, so in a way although it was horrible we are glad his roots went up and ended it for him quickly.

I keep watching Primrose for signs that she may be struggling, bless her heart

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Oh how sad What a difficult decision to have to make, i'm so sorry
This may sound like a totally inane suggestion but what about a foster carer for Primrose as a last ditch attempt? Not because you can't handle her or anything like that, but perhaps someone spending one on one time with her 24 hrs a day as it were she might learn to overcome her fear aggression enough to treat her? It's just a stab in the dark? No doubt you've already considered this and whether or not it would make a difference in a short enough time to help her I don't know. I know you must have had loads of bunnies with fear aggression before but was thinking how rushed off your feet you must be with all those special needs buns. I'm just thinking of how with our very nervous rescue girl, just spending hours every day sat near her and talking to her helped her overcome her fear of people slowly, but she didn't have the aggression factor as well thank god.
I was also wondering if there was anything else that might be causing her pain driving her aggression? Or is it definitely behavioural based? Sorry for asking such blindingly obvious questions! Just racking my very inexperienced brain to come up with some ideas!
I'm sure whatever decision you make it will be for the best