Advice please on my rabbits eye

I noticed on Saturday my rabbits eye wasn't looking right. Took him to the vet Monday and was given metacam and fucithalmic eye drops, the vet said he might loose the eye. I went back today for a check up. It was different vet. She has never seen anything like it before. She said its an ulcer under the eye. I am going back Saturday to see a different vet who specialises in rabbits. I am a bit confused. Has anybody else's rabbit had an ulcer and made a full recovery. What sort of timescale are we talking about to heal. I have put a picture below of how jaspers eye looks now.

He is eating and drinking fine. He enjoyed a mad run around the garden yesterday morning and today.

Any advice would be appreciated. Really worried about my little bunny.

Hi :wave:
I'm sorry, I can't quite see in the photo how big the ulcer is ... is it the white crescent shape at the bottom of your bun's eye?

I have been treating one of my rabbits, Mr Bingley' s eye for an ulcer caused by an injury and been charting his progress in this thread below with photos

http:// http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/showthread.php?370503-Eye-Injury-and-Recovery-**WARNING-GRAPHIC-PHOTOS**

We used Tiacil and Eye Soothe at least 6 times a day during the first couple of weeks, the drops your vet have given you will do the same job as they are also antibiotic. How often are you giving your bun the drops?

Thank you for the link. it really gives me hope that over time it will heal.

Yes it is the white bit at the bottom of his eye. The ulcer appears to be more underneath the eye. The drops are twice daily as well as 10ml meloxidyl once a day.

Jasper4 said:

Thank you for the link. it really gives me hope that over time it will heal.

Yes it is the white bit at the bottom of his eye. The ulcer appears to be more underneath the eye. The drops are twice daily as well as 10ml meloxidyl once a day.

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I'm glad they helped, I remember the feeling I had when we found him like that
I'm not sure if the fucithalmic eye drops are stronger than the Tiacil (any meds savvy forumers?) but I was putting the Tiacil drops in 5 or 6 times a day for the first while to make sure that the eye was as moist as possible to make sure the surface healed and to prevent infection.
Did your vet say it was an injury to the actual eye ball at the bottom, or to the socket?
Do you still have him on the Metacam as well?
Sorry for all the questions :wave:

Aplogies, ignore 're Metacam - just seen the meloxidyl, silly me :roll:

He was originally on metacam but tonight they have given me the meloxidyl.

It is definitely the eye ball with the injury. Not sure how it could have happened. He seems to be doing fine with the injury. He is an outside bunny. Will he be ok outside with the injury. He seems fine so far.

Thank you for your help:thumb:

Jasper4 said:

He was originally on metacam but tonight they have given me the meloxidyl.

It is definitely the eye ball with the injury. Not sure how it could have happened. He seems to be doing fine with the injury. He is an outside bunny. Will he be ok outside with the injury. He seems fine so far.

Thank you for your help:thumb:

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That's ok, they're both anti-inflamatories and painkillers
If it's the eyeball with the injury I'd be tempted to give the drops more frequently for the next few days. We also used Eye Soothe which isn't antibiotic but is a liquid contact lens. It's quite expensive (approx £20 a bottle) but it lasts quite a while as we used it twice a day (we'd use Tiacil in the morning, then the Eye Soothe 30 mins later, then Tiacil at lunchtime, and teatime and in the evening we'd use Tiacil and the Eye Soothe 30mins later when put them to bed).
Bingley is an outdoor bun and we kept him outdoors throughout his treatment and he was fine. Keep him where he's happiest
Fingers crossed for him, I think if you avoid infection you shouldn't have to have the eye removed, it doesn't look infected from the photo so that's good.
Buns can hurt their eyes quite easily because of where they are positioned on their head, but it could have been a piece of hay, or he could have been caught by accident by his partner flicking their feet (which is how we think Bingley did his).
Loads of vibes for him, he seems in very good hands with you :thumb:

Awe, poor little man. It's great that you have meloxidyl (this is the same ingredient as metacam) as eye ulcers are very painful so this will make him feel more comfortable eye ulcers aren't all that uncommon, my Dudley has one at the moment for the second time this year, as he somehow keeps getting hay seeds stuck in his eyes :? Dudley is outside and stays out there as normal. Did your vet put an orange drop in his eye which turns green when it hits the surface? This is a way of checking for an ulcer, they put that dye in and shine a uv light on it and the bit where there is an ulcer glows. That confirms an ulcer and let's the vet see how big it is, so they can track it next time.

Normal first treatment would probably be antibiotic eye drops and pain relief, but there are other things they can do too to help it heal. Dudley's ulcers haven't responded to fucithalmic so we swapped to a human eye drop (prescribed by the vet) called ciloxan and that seems to work much better, so it is worth discussing other drops if the ulcer doesn't seem to be getting smaller in the next few days.

My vet also sometimes does a 'cotton bud debride' if the eye surface isn't healing. In Dudley she can do this conscious with local anaesthetic eye drops because he is such a good boy and sits so still. Basically it's gently taking the surface of the eye off where it isn't 'sticking' properly, to encourage new growth. If this don't work they can do similar with chemicals or scratch fine lines across the eye under full anaesthetic to give new cells 'lines' to grow along.

So please don't panic yet, there are plenty of things can be done. I would suggest taking a photo every day so you can flick through them and see if it is changing, as its sometimes hard to see the change when you look at it often. Eye cells regenerate quickly so if it isn't starting to progress within a few days and almost sorted within a week, I would discuss trying some other course like changing the drops and maybe a simple non-chemical debride.

Hope your little one is ok x x

The vet did put dye in his eye and then anaesthetic eye drops and wiped it several times. Bless him he was really brave. She said it was an ulcer and wanted another vet on Saturday to have a look as she hadn't seen anything like it before. The damage seemed to be on the white bit of the eye underneath. So you can't see the full damage until you move the eyelid.

I am hoping the vet on Saturday will give me a bit more information.

Can the eye still get infected while he is being treated with these drops?

Is it still early days really about loosing the eye or will it be weeks?

Sorry about the questions.

Jasper4 said:

The vet did put dye in his eye and then anaesthetic eye drops and wiped it several times. Bless him he was really brave. She said it was an ulcer and wanted another vet on Saturday to have a look as she hadn't seen anything like it before. The damage seemed to be on the white bit of the eye underneath. So you can't see the full damage until you move the eyelid.

I am hoping the vet on Saturday will give me a bit more information.

Can the eye still get infected while he is being treated with these drops?

Is it still early days really about loosing the eye or will it be weeks?

Sorry about the questions.

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Don't worry re the questions, it's better to ask than worry
If you keep up with the antibiotic drops the chance of it getting infected are much reduced, just make sure you keep their living area nice and clean etc Try and make sure your bun's other half doesn't lick the injured eye if possible, but if not then if you try for the first 30 mins after you give the drops that should be ok as it'll give the drops the chance to work (Blakey does lick Bingley's eye now and then and he's been ok so far)
You should know in the next week whether the eye will need to be removed, the vet will be looking for blood vessels moving in towards the ulcer and if they are then it means the eye is starting to heal itself which should vastly reduce the likelihood of removal.
If there isn't, I agree with Santa that the vet should try the abrasion and other drops, the abrasion will encourage blood vessel growth to the area.
If the ulcer is under the lid then it should be more protected from being ruptured as well. Just try and make sure their hay has no small bits or seeds in it that got could get into his eye and irritate it further.

Thank you for all the information so far. Jasper no longer lives with another bunny as she passed away a year ago.

I have took another picture today and I think it looks worse. There seems to be more white showing. Not sure if maybe the vet looking at it yesterday has made it worse. Do you think something could still be in the eye and is causing more damage?

I have another appointment tomorrow at 10.10am is there anything I should ask the vet?

I have finished work for the Christmas holidays now so hopefully I can give him more attention.

Aww, sorry about your other bun
It does look like it's gotten a bit bigger from the photo, but I'm sure the vet would have found if there was still anything in his eye?
If it's still 'growing' I would maybe ask the vet about seeing if there are blood vessels starting to form towards the ulcer and if not maybe lightly debraiding the edge of the ulcer.
Because of where the ulcer is it' s quite difficult to get the drop to as you have to pull the eyelid out and the drops run out, so it might be worth speaking to the vet about getting a gel antibiotic eye drop, or at least a more viscous one, and ensure you're applying the drops approx 5 times a day, gently pulling the lower lid out to make sure its well coated.
Keep up with the pain relief as well.
Loads of luck at the vet and nose rubs for Jasper
X

I have been given maxitrol to try. Drops to be given three times a day. They really are not sure what it is. I have to call on Monday lunchtime with an update. I don't think it is an ulcer. She said if it was a dog it looks like glaucoma but he can blink and its not showing much discharge. It's all a bit of a mystery.

She said the eye seems harder on the outside than the other one.

Hmm, that is a mystery, I don't have any experience with glaucoma I'm afraid but there are quite a few people on here that have or have had buns with it.
If they think glaucoma have they done a pressure test on his eye? That's usually a good place to start with the diagnosis.
Hope the drops help, and keep up with the painkillers as pressure in the eye can start to be painful.
Has the white spread?
If you add to this thread's title query glaucoma someone should see and hopefully be able to give you better advice than me

Advice please on my rabbits eye UPDATE aberrant overgrowth

Well the vet now thinks it could be aberrant overgrowth. Has anyone else's rabbit had this.

Jasper4 said:

Well the vet now thinks it could be aberrant overgrowth. Has anyone else's rabbit had this.

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Nope. But I hope your bun gets better soon.

Not had a bun with it but have heard of it I think. Is it where the conjunctiva starts to become too big? If it's that one then I think as long as it doesn't obstruct Jasper' s vision or cause him any pain and doesn't cause secondary problems with his eye it can be left alone with no treatment?
If it does then they can stitch the overgrowth back to the eyelid or remove the excess. Either way it's unlikely they'll have to remove the eye.
Have the vets said what they'll do?
x

The vet explained what she thought it was and that they could have jasper in and look at the eye under GA. I decided not to. My gut instinct was telling me not to mess. He is eating and acting his usual self. I am just going to monitor his eye to make sure it doesn't get worse and call the vet after Christmas with an update. Thanks for your help.