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Q. Diagnosis of eye problem - abscess or tumour?

abbymarysmokey

Wise Old Thumper
When a rabbits eye is bulging out of the socket, is there any way to diagnose the cause? Specifically I'm wondering if there is a way to differentiate between a retrobulbar abscess and a tumour without removing the eyeball? :?

Ultrasound, X-ray, etc?
 
We had a bunny who's eye was bulging because of tooth root issues but sadly the vets only established this once they had her under GA, it would be really interesting to know if they could accertain such thing by other means.
 
X-ray might show a difference in opacities and structure - abscesses are usually uniform whereas tumours tend to be more variable

You can ultrasound the eye itself but around/behind the eye is a lot more difficult AFAIK.

Sedation/anaesthesia and needle aspiration would also tell you pus vs tumour cells, and a sample could be sent away to determine if its malignant etc.
 
Having had many buns with both we have always found that an abscess has other symptoms eg runny eyes or nose or a history of dental/ root problems, sneezing that sort of thing. Where as with a tumour there are never any other symptoms except maybe weight loss, but a severe infection can also cause weight loss :?
 
I can't remember how they diagnosed Joejoes, but i'm pretty certain it was a scan because he'd already had one GA and an x-ray which i think did show the abscess but then they neede to do another one a couple of days later and scan him to see if it had gone into the bone or not?

I hope the bun concerned gets better soon, things like this are such a worry :( Sending positive thoughts your way xx
 
Having had many buns with both we have always found that an abscess has other symptoms eg runny eyes or nose or a history of dental/ root problems, sneezing that sort of thing. Where as with a tumour there are never any other symptoms except maybe weight loss, but a severe infection can also cause weight loss :?

My Betsy had a retrobulbar abscess without any other symptoms. She literally went from a perfectly healthy rabbit one day, to her eye grossly bulging out the next day. Even after removal she has never shown signs of infection....although she has been on a high dose of abx ever since the op. in October.
 
We just had CT scans on two buns with inner ear infections/abscesses to see the extent of the problem and its impact on the bones and whether there was any air in the bulla etc. as it helped decide treatment.

We are insured.

the CT scans were about £350 each. - they were amazing though. On top of that you pay for blood tests beforehand and sedation etc.
 
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