Cody Has Glaucoma :(

Took Cody for his check up for his inner ear infection. He has improved so much - eatting on his own for over a week now , the nytol really helped his balance / nausea and his head is no longer tilted. There is still some pus in his ear but less so it is improving so still injections for 3 more weeks. The vet optician was there this morning and she took a look at Cody eyes. Both have Glaucoma eye pressure in both are over 30 - think one is 36. Am waiting on my vet ringing back about the eye drops that have to be used so will ask more about the pressures. My buns r soo unlucky at the moment.

nickybunny1 said:

Took Cody for his check up for his inner ear infection. He has improved so much - eatting on his own for over a week now , the nytol really helped his balance / nausea and his head is no longer tilted. There is still some pus in his ear but less so it is improving so still injections for 3 more weeks. The vet optician was there this morning and she took a look at Cody eyes. Both have Glaucoma eye pressure in both are over 30 - think one is 36. Am waiting on my vet ringing back about the eye drops that have to be used so will ask more about the pressures. My buns r soo unlucky at the moment.

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Oh Nicky I'm sorry to hear this!

I hope the eye drops manage to control the condition. Is Cody on Metacam, I can't remember?

Sending you lots of vibes xx

Poor love. Sends (((vibes))) for happy peepers and hope it isn't causing too much distress to Cody.

Hiya

my bunny is 11 years old and has had a very complex condition of glaucoma for three years - his pressures are around 33 ish to both eyes now and he has 4 drops of Azopt eye drops to each eye plus he is on metacam twice daily which is also treating his slight arthritis so not just the glaucoma - he goes for 6 weekly check do test for any ulceration but is generally doing very well despite not now having much vision in his eyes - he is an elder bun but still very much enjoying life.

I also pop some drops of false tears every now and the .

Hope this helps.

Xx

I am very sorry to hear that you are having more health problems with Cody You have had a very tough few months.

I have had a few Rabbits with Glaucoma. Like fillygal my Rabbits were treated with Azopt. All were kept reasonably stable on treatment, although one did have to have an eye removed eventually. He came through the op' really well and was so much happier afterwards. His eye must have been giving him a lot of pain despite the treatment. He was blind in the eye, so losing it did not effect him re sudden loss of vision. He was just happy not to be in pain. He was an older Rabbit too, so he did very well to cope with it all.

I hope Cody will respond well to his treatment xx

Thanks filly gal that info was very useful and good to know Cody can remain comfortable with drops. The vet has prescription Azopt drops which she is posting out today so will have tomorrow. One drop 3 times a day I each eye. Yes Jane Cody has had a rough time but he is coping well still happy to be in the garden daily nibbling. Good to know Jane that Azopt helped ur buns also.

Mighty Max he was on metacam for the first few weeks of ear infection treatment and then i stopped but i started him back yesterday evening after the glaucoma diagnosis as i read this is painful. Vet happy with this. If the pressure comes down (he is to be checked again in 3 weeks) do I still need metacam then i wonder ??

How would i know if Cody was in pain with his eyes?? If the pressure comes down does that mean he is pain free?? How does the optician vet determine what vision Cody has ?? I know he can defo still see quite well as he still jumps over the little wall in the garden.

nickybunny1 said:

How would i know if Cody was in pain with his eyes?? If the pressure comes down does that mean he is pain free?? How does the optician vet determine what vision Cody has ?? I know he can defo still see quite well as he still jumps over the little wall in the garden.

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I have a glaucoma bunny as well and he is on timolol drops. I find 2 or 3 times a day is enough to keep the pressure down. If you are worried about pain I would speak to your vet about gabapentin as it's supposed to be better for nerve pain than metacam. Rabbits do tolerate high pressure in the eye better than humans and they can also regain vision better after high pressure than humans.

This was my thread if it's any help http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...Other-eye-cloudy-now&highlight=rocky+glaucoma

Thank u Lady Lagamorph. I have already read ur thread !! Whilst searching for glaucoma posts. I am on a steep learning curve this past few months learning about head tilt, inner ear infections and now glaucoma. Am positive Cody is on the road to recovery tho. Eyes drops have not arrived in post yet hopefully tomorrow.

nickybunny1 said:

Thank u Lady Lagamorph. I have already read ur thread !! Whilst searching for glaucoma posts. I am on a steep learning curve this past few months learning about head tilt, inner ear infections and now glaucoma. Am positive Cody is on the road to recovery tho. Eyes drops have not arrived in post yet hopefully tomorrow.

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Great glad you found my post. Yes there is a lot of learning with rabbit health isn't there and it's so much more difficult with less knowledge of illnesses in rabbits so vets often have to try human or dog/cat treatment even though rabbits eyes have differences. It sounds like you have had quite a time with Cody! When I got my drops my vet wrote a prescription which cost about £15 and I can pick up 6 prescriptions with this from the chemist as the eye drops are a human drug. Timolol drops are £5 each and these last Rocky about a month. The azopt ones have 2 combined ingredients in and timolol just one ingredient. I notice when Rockys pressure goes up as his eye bulges more and becomes cloudy. The drops definitely reduce pressure and his eye is still always slightly enlarged but is clear and he can see somewhat out of it. He has had a couple of episodes where his eye has had a bleed inside and blood pools in his eye. The vet has prescribed a steroid eye drop when this has happened. I think Rocky has a congenital problem which is from being a blue eyed white rabbit. I know New Zealands also can suffer this problem. What colour is your Cody?

Out of interest how many times a day were u putting drops in Rockys eyes?? I have been told one drop in both eyes 3 times a day so hope a bottle of Azopt 5ml lasts at least a month. It will cost £19 for a bottle of drops. My vet charges £15 for a prescription. Can she write that it's use for 6 times ?? Cause I checked with my pharmacist and they charge £12 for Azopt so that would mean overall cost around £14.50 ish still a good saving. Will ask when I am back on 5th of August. Cody is a creamy harlequin lop - I tried several times but could never figure out how to upload a pic, but he has a reddish tinge to his eyes. Interesting that the drops helped the bulging. Hope it helps Codys bulging eye. Does Rocky take metacam as well? I started Cody back on it on Wednesday and it has helped him. How long do u think it takes the drops to reduce the pressure??

Hiya

you may find that Cody has spikes in pressure readings - my bunny has recently been back for checks and we do find the pressure fluctuates quite a bit.

It was interesting during our last visit that the opthalmic vet mentioned it was really difficult to determine how much sight glaucoma animals have as owners reports as to how the animal behaves doesn't necessarily correspond to the clinical diagnosis - ie no or very little sight.

I also had full head X-rays done to ensure there wasn't any other conditions going on.

Just in my case my bunny continues to do well on Azopt, false tears and metacam with IOP pressures of around 33 and I do think the metacam helps with this level of pressure.

Sending snuggles to Cody x

nickybunny1 said:

Out of interest how many times a day were u putting drops in Rockys eyes?? I have been told one drop in both eyes 3 times a day so hope a bottle of Azopt 5ml lasts at least a month. It will cost £19 for a bottle of drops. My vet charges £15 for a prescription. Can she write that it's use for 6 times ?? Cause I checked with my pharmacist and they charge £12 for Azopt so that would mean overall cost around £14.50 ish still a good saving. Will ask when I am back on 5th of August. Cody is a creamy harlequin lop - I tried several times but could never figure out how to upload a pic, but he has a reddish tinge to his eyes. Interesting that the drops helped the bulging. Hope it helps Codys bulging eye. Does Rocky take metacam as well? I started Cody back on it on Wednesday and it has helped him. How long do u think it takes the drops to reduce the pressure??

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I am at work all day so only get to put drops in twice a day but that seems to be enough. My prescription actually says 6x a day which I did do at first though. Rocky only has them in 1 eye he has had the other one removed so your drops may last only 2 weeks. Azopt is more expensive than timolol so it may be worth asking your vet for timolol next time but azopt does have 2 ingredients in timolol has 1 ingredient. I think if your animal is on long term medication they will do you a prescription that lasts you longer so you are not paying the vets prescription fee each time. You can do this for metacam as well it's cheaper for the vet to write a prescription then you can buy it online. My vet does this now he knows Rocky is on them permanently. Rocky isn't on metacam or any pain relief now. He was at first but I was worried about him being on metacam long term so the vet advised me to reduce it and he seems to be getting on fine without pain relief. There was no change in his behaviour and he is eating and getting around fine. It took Rocky a good month or so until I started noticing his eye became clearer so I would stick with it as it takes a while for the fluid in the eye to go.

Thanks for that Lady L. I will defo have to ask vet about prescription as i couldn't afford £40 a month on eye drops as my vet bills have been mental this year and I have no insurance. Thankfully Cody is a wee star and just sits still while I put the drops in. Sooo good. He is in great form too. I am sorta trying to stop his metacam also but gave it yesterday as thought he was a bit less active. But am taking that day by day. His appetite is huge again lol!!

nickybunny1 said:

Thanks for that Lady L. I will defo have to ask vet about prescription as i couldn't afford £40 a month on eye drops as my vet bills have been mental this year and I have no insurance. Thankfully Cody is a wee star and just sits still while I put the drops in. Sooo good. He is in great form too. I am sorta trying to stop his metacam also but gave it yesterday as thought he was a bit less active. But am taking that day by day. His appetite is huge again lol!!

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I would ask about timolol as it's only £5 and it has worked well for Rocky so proof that it reduces the pressure in rabbits. You can ask for a prescription for 6 months so this will bring your costs down. Glad he tolerates it well and he is eating well...Rocky is the same and I do it when he is eating so he hardly notices now. If the drops work and his eye improves...becomes clearer and less enlarged I would then reduce his pain relief and see how he gets on.

Will ask about Timolol also thanks. I Googled it and couldn't find anything on it for rabbits - apart from ur post in the Google search !! But will defo suggest it as £5 is defo doable. As long as it brings the pressure down. His eye is still quite big but i guess he has only been on the drops 3 days.

nickybunny1 said:

Will ask about Timolol also thanks. I Googled it and couldn't find anything on it for rabbits - apart from ur post in the Google search !! But will defo suggest it as £5 is defo doable. As long as it brings the pressure down. His eye is still quite big but i guess he has only been on the drops 3 days.

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Thinking of you and Cody, Nicky. I hope you manage to get his eyes sorted x

Thank u Mighty Max.

So Cody was at vet yesterday and we have good news! His pressure is down in both eyes from 36 and 25 to 25 and 15 so a drop of 10 in each eye. Vet and me were so pleased. Also the pus in his ear has reduced greatly so he is down to depocillian injections twice a week. He has to go back in 6 weeks. So overall great news for the Code!