Poorly Rabbit Eye - How do I post a picture on here?

Hi all,

I have a rabbit with a mystery eye complaint. Three visits to the vet so far, antibiotics, eye drops and metacam for medication, and the Vet is now sending some pictures to a rabbit eye specialist for further input as no definite diagnosis yet. The trouble being that this chap is apparently VERY busy ALL the time, but is a furry animal eye genius! My vet has never seen anything like it before.

As this is proving hard to diagnose I'd love some input from you guys but would need to post a picture to illustrate. Is that possible on this forum? I can't see how you can do it unless you post a url from another website linking it to a photo - my picture is not on a website.

I could describe it but I think it would only lead to confusing answers unless any of you out there have experience in such things?

thanks

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OK, so i worked out how to post pictures!

Anyone got an idea what the problem is? Appeared quite suddenly, ok one day and was there the next. Pupil is dilated and cloudy. The liquid/growth in the corner of the eye is kind of jelly like, it is not a fluid liquid. The bad eye seems to be protruding more than the good eye when you look head on. Her other eye is fine.

The Vet's current best suggestion is that the eye has been punctured somehow and that 'jelly' is actually from inside the eye? But she's not sure...

Anyone seen this before?

Ooo-err, how weird! How old is she and how quickly did this come up? Has your vet been able to test pressure, for something like glaucoma?

Whereabouts do you live? One of the big eye geniuses is also a bunny vet and he is in Essex (Martin Lawton) is that anywhere near where you are for a referral? I've had one of my bunnies referred there for an eye problem and he was fantastic, he has all the latest whizzy equipment to take a really good thorough look and his diagnostic skills are absolutely phenomenal.

Mine has dry eye - in hot weather hers looked sort of wrinkly and dimpled like a golf ball on the surface; yours doesn't look the same but it does sort of look as if the top layer is flaking off, doesn't it? Has your vet tried to debride it to take off any loose dead cells? It's difficult to tell from a photo though, that may be a really bad idea!

Hope you manage to get to the bottom of it xx

(Edit sorry, cross posted with you so you may have answered some of the questions )

Could be Phacoclastic uveitis maybe :? The result of either a puncture wound or as a result of EC. Given the rapid onset a punture wound seems more likely I think.

Hope the Eye Specialist can help xx

Hi Santa,

I'm in North Hertfordshire, not a million miles away depending on what part of Essex he is in. I don't know this chaps name but could be the same guy. The Vet is contacting them for me and we'll see where we go from there.

As for all the tests you have mentioned, i don't think they have done any of those. The visits so far have resulted in them looking at her eye a lot, sedating her to look closer, a bit of head scratching and me having to administer antibiotics, metacam and some kind of eye drop twice a day.

As for how old? Not sure. Came to me via a relative who 'donated' her to me after finding her running around a park in London, and I've had her for three years since then. She was full size when she arrived.

The eye swelling came on pretty quick. I didn't notice it on the Saturday but then saw it straight away on the Sunday morning, so unless i missed something I'd say it was pretty quick. Also I think the eye 'jelly' may have started as a liquid as i was able to wipe it away on day one but it was back just as bad a couple of minutes later. Since then it has become more solid. In herself she is fine, eating as normal and interacting with the other rabbit as normal. Has been fairly quiet but then it has been pretty hot for them.

That's basically all i know at the moment

He's in Harold Wood, so it would be a bit of a drive but if you can get there it would be well worth it. An initial consultation on eyes is about £110 but I have to say for me it was worth every penny, he has so much experience and specialist ophthalmic equipment that if anyone can diagnose it, he can...and like I say, he's a genius in action when it comes to diagnosis. It sounds a lot of money, well it is a lot of money, but it will probably save you several trips to your normal vet trying other things which may not work and in which time potentially it could have got a lot worse. He doesn't work every day and is rather busy, so you may just be able to ring up and get him booked in and then your vet can send the referral notes afterwards if you wanted to try and get there more quickly.

ok, thanks Santa for all the info, much appreciated.

Anyone else out there in Rabbit Land recognise the problem?

Hi Jacks-Jane, thanks for the reply. Could you in simple terms (I'm no expert), let me know what 'Phacoclastic uveitis' is and also what EC stands for? Thanks again.

EC stands for 'Encephalitozoon Cuniculi'

Full explanation here:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...N3ISKU&sig=AHIEtbR1V0Bkgl46nxoM3IZVX7iM5Uaz_Q

One of the symptoms EC can cause is Phacoclastic uveitis



http://en.wikivet.net/Uveitis_–_Rabbit

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Encephalitozoonosis.htm

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Miscellaneous/UveitisRabbit.htm

ok, thanks. The picture looks different as my rabbits eye has a raised jelly like growth in the corner of the eye, a swelling of the eye as well as a cloudy look to the whole eye, whereas the image shows something under the surface? Having said that, a few of the links you sent describe a white mucus in the eye. I'll suggest it to my vet and see what they say. in the meantime the images of the eye have now been sent to the eye specialist (whose name is David Williams I have since found out) so hopefully I'll get some news back from him at some stage. Thanks again for your input.

Aah yes, he's probably closer to you, too, I think he's based somewhere around Cambridge isn't he?

personally, having had experience of both him and Lawton I'd rather go to Lawton x1000 though

Ahh, right, sounds ominous! All this eye business is new to me so I'm just going with the flow. I don't think he would have even seen the images at this stage so don't really want to judge him just yet! What's the issue if you don't mind me asking?

It does seem very likely that there has been quite a traumatic injury to the eye. I have had something very similar in a bunny a few years ago and it was a Corneal Ulcer caused by a puncture wound. This cloudy, opaqueness can affect either part or the whole of the eye, and Benjamin's whole eye was affected, and like your buns just appeared very suddenly. When the fluorescent dye was put in the eye, it was very easy to see where the puncture wound had occurred, and that was what confirmed it was an ulcer. Apparently any injury like this to the eye will be very painful, and you need to have really good pain relief on board, or bunny may stop eating and/or drinking. From what I can remember, there was lots of treatment over about a week, and I'm sure I had to put the antibiotics in his eye about 6 times a day, because their effect only really lasts a few minutes, and because his eye was quite badly damaged it had to be protected and that was an absolute nightmare, because it is nigh on impossible to keep a eye patch on a bunny. What my vet ended up doing was placing an eye pad over the eye, and then vet wrap was wrapped round his head from the side, over one of his ears, with a hole cut in it for the ear to be gently pulled through, and this kind of provided the anchoring. It then meant I was able to from the top by just gently lifting the vet wrap away from the eye, applying the drops and then putting it back into place, but you have to be careful that you don't wrinkle up the eye pad underneath or else you could cause a pressure sore to the top of the eye. To be honest, it is pretty much impossible to apply all this treatment yourself, and so my husband would hold Benjamin from behind with a hand either side along his sides, and then I worked from the front if that makes sense. Actually, it is easy to remember the antibiotics that were prescribed because they were all from the same topical group and were Ciprofloxacin, Norfloxacin and Ofloxacin.

Of course it may not actually be the same as what Benjamin had, but the opaque cloudiness is the same, the sudden appearance of the condition, and the jelly like substance is the vitreous humour in the eye that light shines through and which protects the retina. I would say it is like very thick water, and Benjamin had this as well which was seeping out from the actual puncture wound. His eye looked like it was protruding more, but my vet said it was because of the increased blood flow in that area which automatically kicks in to help aid healing, and it was inflamed and very painful anyway.

In a way I hope it does turn out to be this, because it was diagnosed quickly, and although the head gear was really fiddly, the treatment was only for a week, and his eye was then fully recovered.

There is an excellent eye vet called Claudia (surname temporarily escpaes me but everyone will know who I mean if you ring number below) who works at the specialist Animal Health Trust (AHT) in Newmarket.

Unlike many eye specialists she was originally associated with a rabbit specialist vet practice and aso is good with rabbits. That is however a very expensive place to go (£250 an appt).

Claudia used to have a monthly eye session at the Cambridge vet practice I go to - phone number 01223 249331 - I am not sure if she still does but it would be VERY worth while checking. Even if she doesnt do it regularly now you may get a special price for referring via them as they have strong connections.

You can also ring her at AHT

She does not see enough rabbits at AHT and has I know in the past treated them at AHT for a very reduced price to encourage more to come.

TheRabbitZoo - you have pm

Parsnipbun - Claudia Hartley? http://www.aht.org.uk/cms-display/profilech.html

ok thanks RogerRabbit999, Parsnipbun and Santa (I saw your message). Lots to take in there. I guess my first step should be to see what comes back from the specialist who is being sent the photos. He may just come back with a straightforward answer and what needs to be done (hopefully). If not, then I'll speak to my vet with some of these notes and contact numbers.

RogerRabbit999, my rabbit doesn't ever seem to have shown any sign of discomfort and has continued eating and behaving as normal. If it wasn't for the fact you can see there is a problem with the eye you would never know. Since Monday i have been given to use daily - orally, 1ml dose of metacam & 2 x 0.6ml doses of Bayrtil, plus a drop of Tiacil directly to the eye twice a day. Sounds like not as much as you were having to administer? Since day one, the initial redness of the lower eye lid has gone and the milky white 'jelly' has become less fluid and white and to my eye looks more like the colour of the rest of the eye now. What hasn't changed is this 'jelly' in the corner is still raised from the rest of the eye surface and there is still a milky-ness to the eye which doesn't seem to look any better(?)

The one positive here seems to be a lack of pain?