Rabbit will have his eye removed today. :/

Hello, I have a 3yr old rabbit with absolutely no health issues. Yesterday I was putting him in his pen in the backyard so I could clean his cage inside the house. This pen is chicken wire with green stakes to hold it in, so he can roam in a large area and be in the grass. We have a lot of Hawks flying around so I have a sheet of plywood in the center for him to stay under and provide cover. I’ve done this the last three years with no issues.

Yesterday I went to put him in there, and he pushed to jump off me as I was putting him in, and went in awkwardly. He must’ve caught the plywood just right. I saw him come close to the wood, but didn’t hear any noise, so I assumed he missed it and was fine. Well, I looked at him as he was on the ground as he proceeded normally to move about and I noticed his eye was bulging out. I picked him up right away and went inside to find a vet. Being Sunday, to add to things, nothing was open. I had to take him to an exotic pet and rescue emergency clinic over an hour away. Other than his eye bulging out of his head, he was acting normal. I put him in a tote and he sat up looking around, and was eating hay.

The whole ride I held a wet paper towel on his eye so it wouldn’t dry out, remoistening it every so often from water I had in a cup. I thought for sure they would be able to surgically save his eye by pushing it back in. Especially since I kept it moist the whole ride. The vet recommended enucleation of the eye. I asked why, and she said because of the tissue damage to the muscle around it, and the problems it could cause in the future by leaving it in.

I see successful cases of this happening to dogs/cats and pushing the eye back in, resulting in 100% recovery within a month or so. I couldn’t find much information on this for rabbits, other than it’s rare that this happens. He is a big rabbit at 4lbs and a foot and a half in length.

Is it common for an eye injury like this for a rabbit to result in most cases of enucleation? I just want to make sure the right decision is being made as surgery is in a few hours. They currently have a cone on him, and put ointment all over his eye.

This is shocking as a day ago I had a completely healthy 3yr old rabbit. Now today he will lose what was a perfectly good eye. Hard not to blame myself for not handling him better when putting him outside. This is something I have done since the day we got him, leave him outside in nice weather, and then bring him inside so he’s out of the elements. Never would have imagined something like this happening.

I'm so sorry to hear about your bunnys eye. I've no experience of this, so cannot really offer any advice. If your bunny does lose his eye however, there are others on this forum with bunnies that have had an eye removed, and have made good recoveries. I'm sure someone with more experience will be along soon. Good luck for you and your bunny, let us know how he gets on.

I'm sorry to read your rabbit is unwell. I work in a vets and have seen many enucleations across various species, I've never seen anyone try and save the eye surgically. I've seen cases where medication has been used but ultimately the eye has had to be removed. I think he would cope well with one eye, especially indoors where he doesn't have the threat of predators to watch out for. Best of luck with him

Thank you both. I did get a little more information talking to the veterinarian a little bit ago who will be doing the procedure.

She said because the blood vessels detach from the eyes in rabbits when these situations occur. And they would essentially be putting an eye back in that he can't see out of, causing future issues. So this is the better solution.

It was better to get a little more details and made a little more sense. I was just concerned maybe they weren't considering all options. As mentioned I saw some posts on other forums of this happening to dogs and cats. The outcome was successful in pushing the eye back in the socket, sewing the eye shut until it healed, and removing the stitches. I guess for rabbits this isn't as typical.

I don’t think that it is particularly rare. One of mine had her eye removed a couple of months ago and as long as adequate pain relief is given for a good while afterwards, there should be no issue and he’ll continue to be a happy healthy bunny. Mine certainly is.

I am so sorry to read this. You acted quickly and although the vet couldn't save the eye, your rabbits life is saved. Please don't be too hard on yourself - it was an accident. I'm sure that your rabbit will adapt to vision from the remaining eye although you'll probably need to make some adjustments.
Sending millions of healing vibes for your bunny. xx

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TheBee said:

I don’t think that it is particularly rare. One of mine had her eye removed a couple of months ago and as long as adequate pain relief is given for a good while afterwards, there should be no issue and he’ll continue to be a happy healthy bunny. Mine certainly is.

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Did you need to use a cone? Will they eventually try to scratch at it? My vet didn't mention anything about a cone, and I forgot to ask.

Craig 1965 said:

I am so sorry to read this. You acted quickly and although the vet couldn't save the eye, your rabbits life is saved. Please don't be too hard on yourself - it was an accident. I'm sure that your rabbit will adapt to vision from the remaining eye although you'll probably need to make some adjustments.
Sending millions of healing vibes for your bunny. xx

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Thank you! Picked him up today. He seems to be pretty active already. Just very odd seeing him this way. The stitch line is pretty long and it just looks like he is sleeping seeing him from the side. You forget he's not.

I put him in his cage, looking at his wound, and him still going about his day like he was yesterday except one less eye. All I can think is if I would have left him alone yesterday, he'd be fine today. But what's done is done. I'll keep you all posted on his recovery.

Glad it's all over, sending lots of vibes for a swift recovery for him. Please don't blame yourself, things happen xxx

Sending lots of vibes for your bunny, I hope he recovers quickly. You shouldn’t blame yourself, it was an accident.

Eaglei22 said:

Did you need to use a cone? Will they eventually try to scratch at it? My vet didn't mention anything about a cone, and I forgot to ask.

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She didn’t have a cone and never messed with it. You wouldn’t know she had only one eye, she behaves completely normally. Good luck with his recovery