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Eye problem - probable tumour. Advice please

weedug

Mama Doe
Little Boo, who’s almost 9 now, has been having a rough time lately. She’s been in stasis a couple of times within a week, the last time she was referred to D1ck vet. By that time she had a problem with her eye with the third eyelid showing and a white discharge. The vet thought it was caused by the bandage on her ear (for fluids) rubbing against her eye. She stayed at D1ck vet for 2 days, and had a ct scan. The scan showed slight arthritis. The only other symptom was a very low temperature on admission.

She was sent home on Thursday, and seemed to be doing ok. I moved her and her partner Pippin indoors because Boo felt cold after being outside for a few hours.

By Saturday she was a bit quieter again. On Sunday morning I noticed a slight white discharge from her eye again. By Monday morning the eyelid was swollen, and the eye was red with more white discharge. She was admitted to D1ck vet again because she hardly had any gut sounds again. The vet thought she would get home today.

Unfortunately, Boo’s eye has continued to get worse overnight. They put dye in her eye which is now showing up all over her eye, and not just as the one or 2 ulcers. She has been checked for glaucoma, which was fine, if anything the pressure was a bit low. No sign of dry eye. They have done a tear duct flush during the day today, and a blood test for ec.

They still aren’t sure what is causing the problem with her eye. She is on strong pain relief and is needing syringe fed. The eye specialist isn’t in till Thursday.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts? I don’t know if this has been building up and has been the cause of her stasis, or if it is totally unconnected.

Sorry for such a long post. I have tried to miss out the details of all her vet visits before she went to D1ck vet. D1ck vet sent her home on metacam and ranitidine.
 
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I don’t have any experience of this, so I can’t advise, but I’m sending lots of vibes xx
 
Little Boo, who’s almost 9 now, has been having a rough time lately. She’s been in stasis a couple of times within a week, the last time she was referred to D1ck vet. By that time she had a problem with her eye with the third eyelid showing and a white discharge. The vet thought it was caused by the bandage on her ear (for fluids) rubbing against her eye. She stayed at D1ck vet for 2 days, and had a ct scan. The scan showed slight arthritis. The only other symptom was a very low temperature on admission.

She was sent home on Thursday, and seemed to be doing ok. I moved her and her partner Pippin indoors because Boo felt cold after being outside for a few hours.

By Saturday she was a bit quieter again. On Sunday morning I noticed a slight white discharge from her eye again. By Monday morning the eyelid was swollen, and the eye was red with more white discharge. She was admitted to D1ck vet again because she hardly had any gut sounds again. The vet thought she would get home today.

Unfortunately, Boo’s eye has continued to get worse overnight. They put dye in her eye which is now showing up all over her eye, and not just as the one or 2 ulcers. She has been checked for glaucoma, which was fine, if anything the pressure was a bit low. No sign of dry eye. They have done a tear duct flush during the day today, and a blood test for ec.

They still aren’t sure what is causing the problem with her eye. She is on strong pain relief and is needing syringe fed. The eye specialist isn’t in till Thursday.

I wondered if anyone had any thoughts? I don’t know if this has been building up and has been the cause of her stasis, or if it is totally unconnected.

Sorry for such a long post. I have tried to miss out the details of all her vet visits before she went to D1ck vet. D1ck vet sent her home on metacam and ranitidine.

Poor Boo :cry: I assume the CT scan included her head and a retrobulbar abscess has been ruled out ? Sometimes these can occur secondary to tooth root elongation

http://wildpro.twycrosszoo.org/S/00dis/Bacterial/RetrobulbarAbscessRabbit.htm


*WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES ON THIS LINK*

http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Clinical/Eye_diseases.htm

At least you know she is being cared for by the Experts at The D1ck. Sending lots of vibes for her xx
 
Thank you both for replying. It was a full body ct, including her head. They have had a close look at her eye on the ct and nothing has shown up.

Boo is doing a little better today, although the haemorrhage around the eye is still clearly visible, and it is still cloudy. They have decided to see how she goes without the injectable pain relief today. She is on antibiotic and anti inflammatory eye drops at only a couple of hours between doses. She has to stay in again today and see the eye specialist tomorrow. Depending on how she is doing, she might get home tomorrow. Pippin, her husbun, is having a great time eating everything and destroying his enclosure!

They still have no idea what the cause is, except perhaps ec. I’m very greatful she is in D1ck vets so h is being seen by experts and can stay in the one place.
 
Thank you both for replying. It was a full body ct, including her head. They have had a close look at her eye on the ct and nothing has shown up.

Boo is doing a little better today, although the haemorrhage around the eye is still clearly visible, and it is still cloudy. They have decided to see how she goes without the injectable pain relief today. She is on antibiotic and anti inflammatory eye drops at only a couple of hours between doses. She has to stay in again today and see the eye specialist tomorrow. Depending on how she is doing, she might get home tomorrow. Pippin, her husbun, is having a great time eating everything and destroying his enclosure!

They still have no idea what the cause is, except perhaps ec. I’m very greatful she is in D1ck vets so h is being seen by experts and can stay in the one place.

I really hope that she will respond to treatment and soon be well enough to come home xx
 
I forgot to update this. Boo got home on Thursday last week, with a diagnosis of anterior uveitis and secondary keratitis. She got worse for a couple of days then started to improve again. Her eye isn’t as bad as it originally was.

She had a check up today again at D1ck vet. The 2 ec tests were clear so they are fairly confident it’s not ec. They were quite happy with her until they took her away for some tests. They said the pressure of her eye is the same as the other one, but there was too much pigmentation in her eye and they couldn’t rule out a melanoma. They want her to see the eye specialist again and will be in touch when they have something organised.

In the meantime, her partner Pippin has started harassing her by chasing her away and not going anywhere near her. It’s as if he knows there is something wrong with her and doesn’t want her near him. I feel so sorry for her when she could do with some support. Her sight isn’t great now, with the bad eye still being cloudy and the good one having the start of a cataract.

She’s to continue on her eye drops and have pain relief and gut stimulants as needed until her appointment.
 
Sorry to hear Boo has been having health problems recently, she’s certainly got the best care at D1ck vets though. I’ve also had one of my bunnies there over the last couple of months with an eye problem, they are very good :D Hope Boo is on the road to recovery soon and Pippin starts being a bit nicer to her again!
 
I forgot to update this. Boo got home on Thursday last week, with a diagnosis of anterior uveitis and secondary keratitis. She got worse for a couple of days then started to improve again. Her eye isn’t as bad as it originally was.

She had a check up today again at D1ck vet. The 2 ec tests were clear so they are fairly confident it’s not ec. They were quite happy with her until they took her away for some tests. They said the pressure of her eye is the same as the other one, but there was too much pigmentation in her eye and they couldn’t rule out a melanoma. They want her to see the eye specialist again and will be in touch when they have something organised.

In the meantime, her partner Pippin has started harassing her by chasing her away and not going anywhere near her. It’s as if he knows there is something wrong with her and doesn’t want her near him. I feel so sorry for her when she could do with some support. Her sight isn’t great now, with the bad eye still being cloudy and the good one having the start of a cataract.

She’s to continue on her eye drops and have pain relief and gut stimulants as needed until her appointment.

Poor Boo :cry: I hope that that it is not a melanoma. Sending lots more vibes xx
 
Boo had her check up today. The pigmentation is worse and an ultrasound showed thickening on part of her eye. They are fairly confident from the results of her tests that it is a tumour :(. Between us, we have decided that she goes back in 2 weeks for the tests to be repeated. If the results are the same, I need to decide whether to go for eye removal or palliative care.

I’m not totally sure which to go for. She is 9 years old and I keep wondering if it is fair to put her through the op, but her blood tests came back good and the ct taken a couple of weeks ago showed no major problems.

Has anyone else had an older bun go through eye removal? Did they cope ok? She has the start of a small cataract on the good eye.
 
Boo had her check up today. The pigmentation is worse and an ultrasound showed thickening on part of her eye. They are fairly confident from the results of her tests that it is a tumour :(. Between us, we have decided that she goes back in 2 weeks for the tests to be repeated. If the results are the same, I need to decide whether to go for eye removal or palliative care.

I’m not totally sure which to go for. She is 9 years old and I keep wondering if it is fair to put her through the op, but her blood tests came back good and the ct taken a couple of weeks ago showed no major problems.

Has anyone else had an older bun go through eye removal? Did they cope ok? She has the start of a small cataract on the good eye.

I had a 9 year old Bunny (Mr Bean) who had to have an eye removed due to Glaucoma that failed to respond to any other treatments. He came through tho op' with no problems at all and made a rapid and full recovery. He was also a lot happier as he was no longer in pain. He had no vision in the eye he had removed anyway, so he had already adapted to the loss of vision. I would say that if Boo's overall health is good then I'd opt for the eye removal. Very best wishes for whatever you decide xx
 
Thank you for replying Jane. Can I ask how long Mr Bean took to recover from the op?

Other than the occasional not eating episode, everything else with Boo seems fine. The vet things her recent episodes of not eating could have been caused by the start of her eye problem.
 
Thank you for replying Jane. Can I ask how long Mr Bean took to recover from the op?

Other than the occasional not eating episode, everything else with Boo seems fine. The vet things her recent episodes of not eating could have been caused by the start of her eye problem.

He was back to normal eating pooing etc within 24 hours. The wound took about 2 weeks to heal and a bit longer for all the fur to grow back. He was so much happier once the eye was removed. It had been causing him constant pain that could not be successfully managed medically and he was blind in the eye anyway. I will try and find the photos I took of his recovery.

ETA- Here's the thread but no pics yet.......... http://forums.rabbitrehome.org.uk/s...liant-News-)/page2&highlight=bean+enucleation
 
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Thank you both for replying, and thanks for the link Jane, it was really helpful.

I’m worried that it isn’t actually cancer, and is caused by the bandage rubbing against her eye. But then the pigmentation in the eye is getting worse, while the inflammation and other problems are quite a bit better now. I would hate to get the eye out if it would heal itself. The vet thinks she still has some vision on that side, and doesn’t seem to be in pain now.

I suppose the results in 2 weeks might make it more obvious what to do.
 
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