Newly blind bunny, help!

Hello,

I posted on here several months back about my bunny possibly having Myxi. After several tests it was confirmed she had Myxomatosis and e-cuniculi. I spoke to several vets to try and get treatment but none were willing to help, until i met this amazing bun savvy vet. She finally saw the fight in Martha that i saw had and was willing to try. We've got to a really amazing place with her now, however her eyes were severely affected. We are all completely convinced she cannot see anymore.

She head bobs and nudges/chins everything these days, but i was wondering if anyone has an experience with blind buns? Anything i can do to help her? (She seems to be doing absolutely amazing so far!!) the worry we have is that one eye is not "recovering" as well as the other so may need to be removed, which is something i do not want to do if this is more stressful for the bun!

Any honest help, experience, advice or information would be gratefully appreciated.

Thankyou!

Meghan said:

Hello,

I posted on here several months back about my bunny possibly having Myxi. After several tests it was confirmed she had Myxomatosis and e-cuniculi. I spoke to several vets to try and get treatment but none were willing to help, until i met this amazing bun savvy vet. She finally saw the fight in Martha that i saw had and was willing to try. We've got to a really amazing place with her now, however her eyes were severely affected. We are all completely convinced she cannot see anymore.

She head bobs and nudges/chins everything these days, but i was wondering if anyone has an experience with blind buns? Anything i can do to help her? (She seems to be doing absolutely amazing so far!!) the worry we have is that one eye is not "recovering" as well as the other so may need to be removed, which is something i do not want to do if this is more stressful for the bun!

Any honest help, experience, advice or information would be gratefully appreciated.

Thankyou!

Click to expand...

Hello again

Rabbits can adapt to blindness as they rely more on their hearing and sense of smell; re the latter the chinning will her be scenting things so she knows what is around her. It is generally advisable to keep the environment the same and not move things about. At first she may be more jumpy at sudden noises.

There are some helpful tips on here :

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/blindness.html

Re the enucleation (eye removal). It may seem to be a drastic step, but if the Rabbit has no vision in the eye and it has a disease process going on causing discomfort then enucleation would be the best option. I had a Bunny, Mr Bean, who had his eye removed due to EC damage. He came through the op' well and made a rapid recovery. He was also a lot happier as the eye had obviously been causing him pain which medication was not able to control.

Sending very best wishes for brave Martha x

I don’t have any experience of a blind rabbit so I can’t advise specifically. But I’m so glad you were able to get help for Martha and I am sure she will adapt well. Sending lots of vibes for her xx

I too have no experience, but sending my good wishes and lots of vibes for your bunny, that she can cope well with her loss of sight xxx

I had a blind bunny years ago and he learned where everything was and was able to charge around as normal. If I moved anything around he would inspect it and he had a picture of the layout in his head! It sounds like he would possibly be better off without the poor eye but that is up to you and your Vet.

Thankyou so much for the advice and best wishes. Martha is a fighter, i saw it in her from the day i found her, so i have no doubt she would take loosing an eye completely in her stride like she has done everything else in the last 6 months. I'm more worried about making the wrong choice for her.
Me and her vet has decided to give her another month to see how her eyes take to some more intense treatment since one eye is now showing some light sensitivity, and then make a decision from there.

I'm so so lucky to still have her that i do not want to make any mistakes now.

Meghan said:

Thankyou so much for the advice and best wishes. Martha is a fighter, i saw it in her from the day i found her, so i have no doubt she would take loosing an eye completely in her stride like she has done everything else in the last 6 months. I'm more worried about making the wrong choice for her.
Me and her vet has decided to give her another month to see how her eyes take to some more intense treatment since one eye is now showing some light sensitivity, and then make a decision from there.

I'm so so lucky to still have her that i do not want to make any mistakes now.

Click to expand...

She is obviously very precious to you and I am sure you will always do what is best for her

Hello again,

I only posted that we were going to keep treating her eyes for another month recently, but she took a slight turn Thursday. Her eyes became infected and swollen, so we went ahead and removed both of her eyes. I cried whilst signing her over to the vets for the surgery, but she came out of it alive and so much happier (well as happy as you can be after major surgery). It was a tough decision but one i hope was the right one for her.

So, now i really need help and advice! Anything anyone can share would be gratefully appreciated.

Meg and Martha

As always, I think you have done the best thing for her, she was blind anyway so having painful infected eyes removed is imo the best decision. I’ve never had a rabbit in this situation so I can’t advise, I hope someone can give specific help for you.

Sending lots of vibes xx

Meghan said:

Hello again,

I only posted that we were going to keep treating her eyes for another month recently, but she took a slight turn Thursday. Her eyes became infected and swollen, so we went ahead and removed both of her eyes. I cried whilst signing her over to the vets for the surgery, but she came out of it alive and so much happier (well as happy as you can be after major surgery). It was a tough decision but one i hope was the right one for her.

So, now i really need help and advice! Anything anyone can share would be gratefully appreciated.

Meg and Martha

Click to expand...

As she probably had no vision in her eyes, but she did have pain and infection once she has fully recovered from the op' I am sure that she will feel so much better. She was probably blind before, so for her the op' has been the very best thing as now she wont have constant pain. I certainly think you made the right decision for her.

She has probably already begun to adjust blindness and I expect that she will cope just fine. She will gain more and more confidence, not impeded by having pain. The surgical wounds may look a bit shocking at first, but once the swelling goes down and the fur regrows it all looks much better. I expect you were given post surgical care advice by the Vet and an appointment for a check up in a few days time ?
I expect you were also given pain relief to administer daily and maybe antibiotics too ? Just make sure that Martha's eating and pooing is OK, gut slow down can occur after a GA and you want that to resolve ASAP. So encourage her to eat, I find fresh herbs like Coriander, Basil, Flat Leaf Parsley and Methi (Fenugreek) great for tempting a Rabbit to eat. If you pull the herbs apart it will release more of their aroma which may further encourage Martha to try them. Keep an eye on her poo output too as what comes out is as relevant as what is going in when monitoring GI tract motility.

I posted this link above before, it may be helpful

http://www.disabledrabbits.com/blindness.html

Sending lots of speedy recovery vibes for your precious girl

I hope that little Martha will soon heal, and feel much better now that she's out of pain. I'm sure she'll adjust really well, by using her other senses, animals are amazingly adaptive. Sending loads of vibes for your brave little girl xxx