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Need Advice - Rabbit Corneal Ulcer not going away

M

moosic

New Kit
Hi All,

I have a 6 year old blue mini lop, murphy and for the past two months he has had an eye ulcer.

I have taken him to the vets on so many occasions now and are due to take him again later today.

First I was prescribed something called Isathal (Fucithalmic) 10mg/g eye drops, this carried on for around a month as I was getting married. I think we got through around four tubes. On my return the ulcer seems pretty much the same. The vet seemed to think it was healing inside the eye but we decided to move onto some called Remend (modified hyaluronic acid (HA), which has been going on for around 20 days now, the ulcer looked to get slightly smaller in the first 10 days but it seems to have stopped working.

I would like to know anyone's views on this and opinions of what to do next? How long does a eye ulcer like this take to heal?










imgur
 
Hi Moosic, do you know what the cause of the ulcer was in the first place? I've had good success with a couple of off-label antibiotic eye drops, called ciloxan and exocin (not at the same time - used for different bunnies) for persistent eye ulcers. The remend is a good idea too, but it must be given at least half an hour after the antibiotic eye drops otherwise it coats the surface of the eye and stops the other drops from getting to where they need to go. I can't remember what it's called because it's some time since I've had it done, but your vet can also put some local anaesthetic drops in the eye and gently wipe away the dead cells around the ulcer to stimulate new growth and get new cells to 'stick'. If this doesn't work there are other more advanced procedures to encourage healing. I would also recommend some pain relief for your little one if he hasn't already got it - ulcers are very painful!

But it's important to know why it happened in the first place, as if there is something wrong with the eye (for instance not producing enough tears) then no amount of drops and interventions will make the ulcer heal without tackling the underlying cause.

I hope you manage to make some progress in getting his eye sorted x
 
Santa said:
Hi Moosic, do you know what the cause of the ulcer was in the first place? I've had good success with a couple of off-label antibiotic eye drops, called ciloxan and exocin (not at the same time - used for different bunnies) for persistent eye ulcers. The remend is a good idea too, but it must be given at least half an hour after the antibiotic eye drops otherwise it coats the surface of the eye and stops the other drops from getting to where they need to go. I can't remember what it's called because it's some time since I've had it done, but your vet can also put some local anaesthetic drops in the eye and gently wipe away the dead cells around the ulcer to stimulate new growth and get new cells to 'stick'. If this doesn't work there are other more advanced procedures to encourage healing. I would also recommend some pain relief for your little one if he hasn't already got it - ulcers are very painful!

But it's important to know why it happened in the first place, as if there is something wrong with the eye (for instance not producing enough tears) then no amount of drops and interventions will make the ulcer heal without tackling the underlying cause.

I hope you manage to make some progress in getting his eye sorted x
Click to expand...

I agree with Santa but you also have the option of surgery & debrid of the ulcer.

Its a simple procedure where they'll anaesthetise or sedate bunny and use a sterile cotton bud to remove the top surface of the ulcer. This allows eye drops to penetrate into the centre of the ulcer. Its worth discussing with your vet - they may prescribe more drops that act in a different way & may only want to do surgery if more drops don't work. (We usually allow around 5/6 months for eye drops before using the surgical route)

ETA - Just noticed Santa already mentioned something like this :)
 
Hi Santa and Daphnephoebe

Somehow I have managed to post the same thread twice, maybe someone could put the two threads as one?

I'm not sure what exactly has caused the ulcer, sometimes Murphy has been out playing with the cat and maybe the cat may have scratched him. I'm really not sure to be perfectly honest. I can't work out how this has happened. He was on the Isathal drops for the first six weeks, the only thing he is on now is the Remend drops which he has been having for the past 20 days.

I have been to the vets today (companion care, pets at home in Oxford, UK) and just got home. The vet I have seen today is different from the one I have been seeing regularly as he has now left. The vet today said it could take up to two months for it to heal, which was strange because the other vet said around a month. She also said it was quite deep when the other said it the color seemed to be healing in his eye. What also is strange is daphnephoebe said "(We usually allow around 5/6 months for eye drops before using the surgical route)" this is totally the opposite to what the vet said as she said we shouldn't keep putting drops in and go more down the surgery route.

I said that I wasn't happy as I have now been going there for probably a total of 6-8 times over the past couple of months. They suggested a referral at Great Western Exotics, in Swindon or a dedicated ophthalmology vets but I'm totally mixed up after what they have told me today. So frustrating, I just want Murphy to be OK.

He has always been healthy apart from this ulcer. He still seems in good spirits, he's still eating, although he had gone off his water but has started to drink again this week.

How long does a deep eye ulcer last? and what are your thoughts please?
 
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Hi,

I am currently with great western exotics and personally although they are good when my bunny had really persistent eye ulcers they even recommended me to go to see a eye specialist.

So my bunny Harvey was scratching his eyes which is why his wasn't actually healing but we went through months of trying so many different things so feel free to ask me;

Harvey had fulthanic eye drops, chlorophenical, Remend and another 2 which I can't think of at the Moment but I'll find out. Are you also using a lubricant? We ended up adding drops into his eyes about 6 times over the course of the day, how many times are you applying to his eyes?

Also Harvey under went an operation where they put loads of little holes/****** in to his eyes which would help start the heeling process this also involved us putting some of his blood back in his eye to help with anti-bodies etc. there is a post on here about it; might be worth searching Harvey's eye ulcers.

To be fair after his operation this did work really well and most of them cleared up really well but because he was scratching his eyes, it was always going to be a problem. But pain relief wise he was on tramadol as metacam is an inhibiter and can sometimes make ulcers remain longer.

We also had an anti-biotic which was via a eye drop format and went directly into his eyes which was a huge help and really helped Harvey out x

Hope this helps xx
 
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Hi Ruthyjones89,

Thanks so much for the reply, the vet simply told me to use the Remend on it's own. I have been using that for the past 20 days. Before that I was using the Isathal which was for around six weeks if I remember correctly.

I'm putting Remend drops in around every 6-8 hours.

Do you know a decent vets that specializing in ophthalmology for rabbits or should I just keep using Remend seeing as Murphy has only been using that for 20 days?

daphnephoebe said we usually allow 5/6 months for eye drops, should I just keep using Remend instead?

so confused
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Well to be fair when my vets were saying that once they had been on one topical drop for 6-8 weeks, they would want us to change to another one. We ended up trying 4 different topical drops and after that decided to go down the surgery route. Being honest they said to me that a normal ulcer should always happily clear up within 2 weeks to a month max, so there is obviously something to prevent it from heeling. So I am guessing everyone says different, think it all depends on what you think? Do you think the Remend is actually helping? Do they seem to be getting smaller? And he is in pain relief?

When I was on the Remend we was using Remend at 6am in the Morning, visco tears which is a lubricant at lunchtime then Remend again in the evening.

I can't really remember now sorry, but I can certainly call vets now and ask them for you! To be fair, they were brilliant with helping me treat Harvey. Have your vets actually tried doing a scrape?

Also do you see your bunny rubbing his eyes? Or does he have his eyes closed quite abit? Xx
 
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I thought with the first 10 days of using the remend, it looked slightly smaller, but looking at it now it just seems the same as the start. He is not rubbing his eye at all from what i can see, his eye is fully open.

Murphy has no pain relief, what would you recommend for that?

Pets at home didn't do a scrape, I was more concerned going down that route today as I had conflicting answers from each of the vets so thought it was probably better to look elsewhere for advice.

Would you have a recommendation on a vets near me that could possibly help?
 
The 5/6 months depends on the extent of the ulcer & progression with drops. If the vets feel it isn't progressing with drops at all then I'd go for the ophthalmologist to get a professional opinion.
 
Ok, thanks for all of your help so far.

Murphy has been on the Remend solution for 20 days so nearly three weeks, I will give it another three weeks and see how he progresses.

I'll keep you all informed.
 
Ah Okay, fair enough. So when you go to the vets, are they doing the test where they add a dye into his eye? I believe ulcers can be quite deceiving just to our eye as I would always think because I could see a cloudy spot, but when I would go to the vets & have the dye inserted sometimes they'd surprise me & say how much better it looked when I thought it looked worse, so just wanted to check?

It's got to be a good thing he keeps his eye open as poor Harvey did used to close his abit. Pain wise, try & stay away from metacam as it's an inhibiter with ulcers, so if he's in a lot of pain I'd maybe ask for tramadol but he might just benefit from something called Ocufen which is normally kept in the fridge & is given as drops in his eyes. It's an anti-inflammatory too which might work well with the remend! Harvey was on both of these together after his keratamy & worked well.

Well obviously it's up to you, but yeah I personally would defo have someone look at it, even a opthalomogist they would have much better equipment to look at it & see how deep it is. Where abouts are you?
 
Several months sounds a very long time to me, I've always been told that corneal tissue regenerates extremely quickly and you'd normally expect to see an ulcer resolve within a couple of weeks...and this has certainly been my experience in cases where there hasn't been an ongoing cause for it. The only times it's been problematic for me is if there has been another problem contributing to it which hasn't been sorted. Good luck x
 
Santa said:
Several months sounds a very long time to me, I've always been told that corneal tissue regenerates extremely quickly and you'd normally expect to see an ulcer resolve within a couple of weeks...and this has certainly been my experience in cases where there hasn't been an ongoing cause for it. The only times it's been problematic for me is if there has been another problem contributing to it which hasn't been sorted. Good luck x
Click to expand...

Yes, this has been my experience too. Moosic, it is obviously up to you but personally I would not wait another 3 weeks before consulting an Opthalmologist, I do hope that Murphy's eye problems will resolve, it must be very worrying for you x
 
Hi - I'm sorry to hear about your bunny - they are such a worry but well worth it :love:

My bunny has reoccurring cornea ulcers and I ditto above really that it really does help to see a specialist opthalmic vet - they can look more in depth at the eye to see exactly what is causing the ulceration. In my bunny it is due to long term glaucoma and complicated free floating cysts which I wouldn't have know without opthalmic examination.

My bunny is currently on Chloramhenicol twice a day with also high care hydraulic acid drops and Visco tears - he has cornea ulcers on and off and during the bad bouts he has contact lenses fitted - these protect the surface of the eye and aid healing - he has these in for approx 6 weeks and then we renew them if necessary - the thing to watch with this is that contact lenses can dry out the eye but in my bunnies case his eye condition is chronic anyway so it's the lesser of two evils and they really do help the healing with the ulcers - he still has all the drops above when lenses are fitted and the Chloramhenicol is also a lubricant so that helps with the dry eyes.
He is also on metacam.

When the ulcers return more frequently I will probably make a decision for him as he is 12 years old now and I don't want him to have recurring discomfort but while we can manage things I will give him all the support I can.

Just for me I think an opthalmic examination is really essential as you can spend money with your normal vets and not be getting to the root of the problem. Just for me I wouldn't go down the road of trying any off the shelf products unless vet advised and checked.

Hope this helps

:wave::wave:
 
Hi sorry for the delay in responding. I'm based near Witney, Oxfordshire. Still trying to locate a good ophthalmic vets near me with no sucess yet. I want to use the remaining drops this week then try to get him in for specialist advice or surgery starting next week. Really need a good vets recommendation. Need Murphys eye to heal asap.

This is the place I have found so far which looks promising.

http://www.abingdonvet.co.uk/ophthalmology/
http://www.abingdonvet.co.uk
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,

Just an update...

I'm just using the remaining drops this week then getting him in for specialist ophthalmology next Monday morning.

K Fraser, Abingdon, Oxfordshire.

abingdonvet.co.uk/ophthalmology/

What do you think? Good choice? Has anyone used before? £180 consultation charge!
 
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