How can you tell if your bun is blind?

What are the signs? My friend has just been telling me that she doesn't know what to do with her 8 month old rabbit. He screams when she goes to the cage tries to pick him up. He will scream for no reason. He has lots of free range time in the garden but she says he too scared to do a lot. He eats and poops and wees ok. Hes been checked at the vets. He has made his own hiding hole in his hutch and hides in it when she comes even with food. The thing that made me think that he could be blind was that she said he will get so scared of something he will run into things? She said his eyes are dark brown and she hasn't noticed any oddness about them but shes going to have a good look tomorrow. Hes started to pull fur as well but has been checked for mites ect. Any ideas?

It's tough to tell with rabbits as they compensate with their other senses well. It's possible for them to be blind without anything obvious visible. It's uncommon for a young rabbit with brown eyes to be blind but not impossible. Even rabbits that can see, can crash into things when panicking so that's not a certain sign either - he could just be very scared.

Making some changes to the living arrangements may help, I'd suggest a hutch with an attached run rather than free ranging - limiting the area he has access to will make him feel more secure and having permanent access will let him settle more. I'd suggest covering the top and one side of the run to make it feel more enclosed and also adding tunnels for hiding. If the hutch is very open the part covering the mesh may also help.

Spending time with him, ignoring him with help him get used to her. Just sitting in his space being non threatening.

A confident friend may help but with his behaviour I'd recommend getting someone very experienced to help with choosing the friend and doing the intros as he might not react as you'd expect.

Thanks Tasmin. She already has two rabbits and has had rabbits before so she just cant understand the high level of fright the bun seems to go into. Do you think the fur pulling could be stress from being so scared? Is it common for a baby bun to be that frightened even with daily handling? She got a run to put him in as he didn't like to be in the garden I will tell her to attach it though :wave:

I have a rabbit who has had degenerative eye problems for some years - a specialist ophthalmic vet would need to examine the retina and eye extensively to determine if it's an eye problem - it would be unusual for a rabbit to scream from just an eye sight problem if secure in his/her environment as generally they cope well with eye sight difficulty although there is always the exception.

If you need any help with vet specialists happy to recommend and the RWA may also be able to help via Richard Saunders their advisor vet.

Sounds more as if the little thing is terrified rather than blind. I would suggest giving him an environment that he stays in 24/7 rather than unsettling him by moving from hutch to run etc or giving him free range time which it sounds is more giving him terror and making him feel on edge rather then having fun. I would work on building his trust by just sitting nearby with food and waiting for him to come to you. As Tamsin said, a confident friendly bunny to bond with him could really help to reassure him. Has he always been like it since she's had him, or has it started later?

My Bertram is blind, whenever he is put in a new place, he puts his head near to the floor and swings it from side to side, using his whiskers to feel his way around. He tends to move quite slowly and deliberately rather then using sudden movements...think about how you walk if you get up to go to the loo at night - even if you know where things are, you still move carefully and feel your way around. I would think it pretty unusual for a blind rabbit to run like you describe - although I guess you can never rule anything out.

Thank you for your responses! From what you lovely people have said sounds like he's just really scared then. She's had him from 3 months and has two happy friendly buns she doesn't mind him not being friendly as such it's just that he's terrified that gets her down. He has always been like it but getting worse. I've passed on your ideas and she's is going to try them at least the weather is getting better so she will have more time to relax with him in the garden