My boy is a 5 year old Netherland Dwarf. This is the situation at the moment.
During prolonged treatment for a corneal ulcer, I noticed that Oren’s affected eye was different to his healthy one- cloudier and the pupil was much larger. When I brought this to the attention of the vets, I was told the pupil was totally non-responsive and he had a pressure test which came out at 45. He has glaucoma and is totally blind in that eye.
The vet did say ideally he should be referred to a specialist, but that would be seriously more money than I can afford (I remember the one time I looked up an out of hours vets a few years ago… it was £100 just to get through the door!)
Before we got the results of the pressure test back, she was talking theoretically about treating the secondary symptoms (such as the ulcers if they reoccur, although I'll add the original ulcer was caused by a piece of hay) unless they occur so frequently as to rethink the plan. After the pressure test, she says that anything above 30-35 mean he's in pain, so I don't think that's so much of an option as it was theoretically. Basically as I understand it, I have two main choices, either to give him eye drops for glaucoma or I have the eye removed.
Both of these present problems.
With the eye drops, I’m told they are licensed for human use and giving them to rabbits is out of the usual territory. She says the treatment is very expensive and not guaranteed to have success. A friend of hers who knows more about it said that there are side effects of the treatment and often the treatment is successful for around 6 months and then tails off, leading to the prospect of eye removal in the end anyway. One big problem with this approach is that Oren would have to be caught once a day for the eye drops. Now, the totally dumb set-up I have; a double decker shed I can only get into by crawling Commando style through the attached run. Oren can no longer be bribed out after weeks of eye drops for his ulcer and so unfortunately catching him would be a hassle stressful for both myself and him. He’s made it quite clear that he’s had enough of his treatment, which has thankfully ended for now, because when a shy, generally agreeable character like Oren starts trying to bite you, you know it’s the last straw. Of course, one equally expensive option would be to get rid of the shed and redo the set-up with something more practical, so catching him would be a speedier affair, but to be honest I don’t know that I could finance that and I don’t know if I could fit anything company-bought in the space the shed is in (because I custom made it myself).
With the eye removal… aside from the fact that it would break my heart to see his pretty face with only one eye… she says it is a dangerous procedure and in fact although she’s removed plenty of animal eyes, she’s never done a rabbit and doesn’t know anyone who has. This is also a procedure that will cost several hundred pounds. Removing it, if he gets through the op OK, would cut out all the stress of constant medication and any health issues associated with the meds and the potential failure of that treatment option, but on the other hand I think I’d feel guilty to go for the easy option like I’m too lazy and selfish to buy him a new set-up and put effort into treating him, even more so if the op kills him.
I’m feeling rather emotional and overwhelmed at the moment.
Of course, if eye drops are his best option and I can’t provide for him in the best way I can, there might be the third option of giving him back to the Rescue Centre so they can find him someone who can look after him like he deserves to be looked after, but I really don’t want to do that.
During prolonged treatment for a corneal ulcer, I noticed that Oren’s affected eye was different to his healthy one- cloudier and the pupil was much larger. When I brought this to the attention of the vets, I was told the pupil was totally non-responsive and he had a pressure test which came out at 45. He has glaucoma and is totally blind in that eye.
The vet did say ideally he should be referred to a specialist, but that would be seriously more money than I can afford (I remember the one time I looked up an out of hours vets a few years ago… it was £100 just to get through the door!)
Before we got the results of the pressure test back, she was talking theoretically about treating the secondary symptoms (such as the ulcers if they reoccur, although I'll add the original ulcer was caused by a piece of hay) unless they occur so frequently as to rethink the plan. After the pressure test, she says that anything above 30-35 mean he's in pain, so I don't think that's so much of an option as it was theoretically. Basically as I understand it, I have two main choices, either to give him eye drops for glaucoma or I have the eye removed.
Both of these present problems.
With the eye drops, I’m told they are licensed for human use and giving them to rabbits is out of the usual territory. She says the treatment is very expensive and not guaranteed to have success. A friend of hers who knows more about it said that there are side effects of the treatment and often the treatment is successful for around 6 months and then tails off, leading to the prospect of eye removal in the end anyway. One big problem with this approach is that Oren would have to be caught once a day for the eye drops. Now, the totally dumb set-up I have; a double decker shed I can only get into by crawling Commando style through the attached run. Oren can no longer be bribed out after weeks of eye drops for his ulcer and so unfortunately catching him would be a hassle stressful for both myself and him. He’s made it quite clear that he’s had enough of his treatment, which has thankfully ended for now, because when a shy, generally agreeable character like Oren starts trying to bite you, you know it’s the last straw. Of course, one equally expensive option would be to get rid of the shed and redo the set-up with something more practical, so catching him would be a speedier affair, but to be honest I don’t know that I could finance that and I don’t know if I could fit anything company-bought in the space the shed is in (because I custom made it myself).
With the eye removal… aside from the fact that it would break my heart to see his pretty face with only one eye… she says it is a dangerous procedure and in fact although she’s removed plenty of animal eyes, she’s never done a rabbit and doesn’t know anyone who has. This is also a procedure that will cost several hundred pounds. Removing it, if he gets through the op OK, would cut out all the stress of constant medication and any health issues associated with the meds and the potential failure of that treatment option, but on the other hand I think I’d feel guilty to go for the easy option like I’m too lazy and selfish to buy him a new set-up and put effort into treating him, even more so if the op kills him.
I’m feeling rather emotional and overwhelmed at the moment.
Of course, if eye drops are his best option and I can’t provide for him in the best way I can, there might be the third option of giving him back to the Rescue Centre so they can find him someone who can look after him like he deserves to be looked after, but I really don’t want to do that.
