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.
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.
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