Scratch on eye-anyone had this?*pics*

Hi all!

I just wondered if anyone here had dealt with a bunny with a scratch on his eye and if so what treatment successfully helped?

Last saturday evening i noticed Timmy's eye was watering, sunday morning i was able to get a good look at it in the daylight and saw that he had a scratch on his eye ball:? He was seen by a vet the next morning who gave us fucithalmic eye drops to be given twice a day and metacam dosed at a 5kg cat(Timmy weighs around 3kg, maybe less) Well he has been having this treatment basically 6 days now and although there is definately an improvement in the appearance of the scratch(see photos below) I'm just not sure if it should be looking much better by this point. It was also runny this morning still. We have to bring him back to see the same vet monday morning to see how it is healing but im wondering whether to bring him to a different vet instead. The rabbit savvy vet who i wanted to bring him to was on holiday last week, but im very tempted to bring Timmy to see her this time around incase she does things differently/better.

So yes im basically wondering if anyone has dealt with something similar and if this is healing at the correct pace and we would be ok to continue letting the same vet deal with it, or if we should seek a second opinion from the bunny savvy vet?

This photo was taken last sunday:


and this was taken this morning:


As you can see there is a slight improvement. Oh and we have no idea how he got the scratch-they are all indoor bunnies, have their own large room, none of their nails were long or sharp enough to have done something like this from looking at them, but obviously its a possibility. They only have newspaper and hay as bedding and the hay has been soft recently though again i suppose its possible there was a sharp piece, but other then guessing we cant say for sure how it happened! Poor little guy, hes being good as gold about it all though bless himHes an extremely sweet little bunny-hes been in our lives about 5 years now(he will be 6 in may) and was always a very nervous bunny, but obviously age is agreeing with him as he has become much more chilled out as of late and enjoys a good cuddle and brushing now, both of which used to make his eyes and nose runny with stress! He stretched out on the vets table last week like a different bunny though ooh enough babbling from me, Im making the most of it as we only get to bunny talk to each other here:lol:

Oh poor Timmy. I haven't had this happen with a bunny but several years ago with one of my chinchillas. I had to put drops in 3 times a day and see the vets every 5 days. It took 3 weeks to heal but was not as bad as Timmy's.

Sorry that is about much use as I can be. I would see the savvy vets.

A corneal abrasion and ulcer can take several weeks of treatment to fully heal.

Poor Bun

Thankyou both for the replies, i had a feeling that it might be a slow healer-i figured if the treatment wasnt working that we would know by now and that the slight improvement probably meant it would take a while. sounds like he is on the right treatment course too then but i think i will bring him to see the better vet instead. not sure why i would need to bring him back after only a week if its something thats going to take weeks to heal, i guess its so they can see how its going themselves.

Timmy is well in himself and although the vet said it probably is painful for him you wouldnt think it, hes acting completely normal bless him. hopefully the metacam is helping to keep any pain at bay. I shall keep you all updated!

Ryo_the_rat said:

Thankyou both for the replies, i had a feeling that it might be a slow healer-i figured if the treatment wasnt working that we would know by now and that the slight improvement probably meant it would take a while. sounds like he is on the right treatment course too then but i think i will bring him to see the better vet instead. not sure why i would need to bring him back after only a week if its something thats going to take weeks to heal, i guess its so they can see how its going themselves.

Timmy is well in himself and although the vet said it probably is painful for him you wouldnt think it, hes acting completely normal bless him. hopefully the metacam is helping to keep any pain at bay. I shall keep you all updated!

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My chinchillas stratch was right across her eye ball but not visible to the human eye. I could just tell something was wrong. It was an ulcer (also invisible to the human eye), she was being treated for and then a stratch. The vets said it was probably from her rubbing her eye after putting the drops in. I had to go in every 5 days to see if it had healed, if not the vet said she may have to have a collar. That took 3 weeks of treatment before it healed. No collar was needed.

You could phone if you are not sure. But guessing it is going to take much much long than my chinchilla.

Good luck. Let us know how Timmy is.

Thankyou Barn Yard Bunnies, im glad your chinchilla didnt need a collar in the end, i cant imagine that would have been much fun! We once had to try and get a collar/lamp shade on a rattie who wouldnt leave her stitches alone and ended up needing to be restitched twice naughty little lady! She was having none of it though, so instead we just lost alot of sleep and she ended up a little annoyed at us poking her every time she went for those stitchs!:lol:

Jack's-Jane said:

A corneal abrasion and ulcer can take several weeks of treatment to fully heal.

Poor Bun

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Sorry i should have asked earlier but from your post it seems you have had experience with this, can i ask what treatment you used? Im wondering if something else would work better or if he is on the right course of treatment already. The vet also didnt mention that he had an ulcer, not sure if that makes any difference. He said it did seem to have gone quite deep into the cornea but luckily not all the way through.

Im still trying to make up my mind over which vet to see-the bunny savvy vet is the obvious choice, but the vet we saw last week with him will obviously be able to see if there is any improvement as he is already dealing with the problem:? I guess we shall weigh up what will be best for Timmy and make a decision from there.

bunlover had exactly thee same with her bunny. I think it took 3-4 weeks to heal and she started with the same treatment as you but then went on to something else but I can't remember the name of it,sorry.

pm bunlover- I think she will be home lunchtime?

sue:wave:

the one that bunny had after was clorenphenacal drops but also metacam and also had a drug at teh beggining to allow the pupil to dilate i cant remember the name. sorry it does take around 3 weeks to heal and then you may have scarring on the eye depending on how deep and extensive the damage is. x

Mine has never had a scratch quite like that, but did have an ulcar in his eye, I used Fucithalmic twice daily and meloxidyl (pain relief) and it went after about 2 weeks. I know where I work we use Tiacyl eye drops in the rabbit with an ulcar in its eye but I don't know if they are any better or worse than fucithalmic, but it might be a question worth asking the vet when you are next there.

Thankyou all for your replies, i shall make a note of the names of the different drops but we have decided to bring him to the bunny vet now so im hoping we wont need them. I do trust her, i have trouble trusting other vets as ive had so many bad experiences, and even though the other vets at this practice are all very good I still always prefer to see her with the little ones. Plus she is sort of promoted as being the bunny vet up there as bunnies are her passion so cant go wrong! She was very good with Gabriel when he first entered our lives with all his problems, she certainly fell for him anyway, though he was extremely hard to resist(see avatar for proof!) Just a shame she was on holiday last week, then i wouldnt have spent a week wondering if Timmy was on the right treatment. Glad he seems to be though, seems like the vet i saw has done everything right so far! Almost feel guilty not keeping the appointment with him, but its what is best for Timmy at the end of the day.

The appointment will most likely be tuesday now as that is when our preferred vet works so i shall update as soon as i know more! I'll have to get some photos of the gang so you can all see more then just Timmy's eye!:lol:

Just giving the update as promised! Timmy's eye is healing according to the vet-she explained without me asking why they wanted to check him again today. apparently the dye they put in his eye is an indicator as to how its healing-if the scratch turned green(which it did last week obviously) then its not healed. She done the same test today and she said it turned just a little green but that it is definately healing and to keep on with the fucithalmic drops but to stop the metacam now. She said to basically just make sure it doesnt get worse and that he doesnt start to show signs of discomfort again and that unless we are worried about anything they shouldnt need to see him again now. She said he may be left with a scar on the eye ball but that sometimes it does completely heal and go, that it all depends on the bunny/injury. So yes, basically good news! She said Timmy was very good and brave, hes such a love, he was more stressed out this time around-probably because he remembered this time that the carrier meant vets!:shock: I shall let you all know how hes getting on and will update if there are any changes.

Thanks again everyone!

Thanks for the update. Great news. :wave: