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possible visual impairment?

binkyCodie

Mama Doe
- Luna's very aggressive when something moves towards her.
- she will lunge when startled or presented with an object in front of her (no matter how slow or what it is, even if its a hand)
- she can never seem to "see" the object in front of her, she has to follow sniffing my finger, and I have to have it on the floor next to the item
- if she fails to find the object, i often have to pick it up and place it in her face, right in front of her mouth
- Luna seem's to rely heavily on scent. she sniffs the ground an awful lot, sniffs me, sniffs just generally along everything in the house.
- as said she relies on scent, and often rather than running to food she sniffs to find the food in the general area i place it. if i place food anywhere else she will only find it if she stands on it. same for toys, she walks along nose down to find it.
- she has ran into things before. not constant, but she has run into a wall (on three occasions), people. just today she almost ran out the door (there is a step down). she knows there is a step down too as she's been allowed in and out for quite a long time!
- multiple times she has shoved her face into a bowl of water (scaring the poop out of her) as if she thinks its a food bowl. even though they're completely different sizes!
- her eyes when shone a light in, the pupil seems to be more blue than black.
- if I click near her eye, clap, or move my hand in front of it, she doesn't blink. she'll only blink if im close enough to touch the eyelashes. Snoopy wasn't like that, he would blink when clapped in front of his eye.
- I have noticed her eyes seem.. weepy ?? it does seem to be both that mucus comes out of the eye and she seems to get quite irritated and try to wipe it off, so I do tend to help. its not stuck, just a strand of mucus that comes off with a simple swipe. its often hard by the time i find it.

I have had an eye ulcer with her before. we have no idea what caused it, but it was a big one in one of her eyes. however this is both eyes.

I'm still a novice to bunnies, would this behavior even be considered "normal"? :?
 
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- Luna's very aggressive when something moves towards her.
- she will lunge when startled or presented with an object in front of her (no matter how slow or what it is, even if its a hand)
- she can never seem to "see" the object in front of her, she has to follow sniffing my finger, and I have to have it on the floor next to the item
- if she fails to find the object, i often have to pick it up and place it in her face, right in front of her mouth
- Luna seem's to rely heavily on scent. she sniffs the ground an awful lot, sniffs me, sniffs just generally along everything in the house.
- as said she relies on scent, and often rather than running to food she sniffs to find the food in the general area i place it. if i place food anywhere else she will only find it if she stands on it. same for toys, she walks along nose down to find it.
- she has ran into things before. not constant, but she has run into a wall (on three occasions), people. just today she almost ran out the door (there is a step down). she knows there is a step down too as she's been allowed in and out for quite a long time!
- multiple times she has shoved her face into a bowl of water (scaring the poop out of her) as if she thinks its a food bowl. even though they're completely different sizes!
- her eyes when shone a light in, the pupil seems to be more blue than black.
- if I click near her eye, clap, or move my hand in front of it, she doesn't blink. she'll only blink if im close enough to touch the eyelashes. Snoopy wasn't like that, he would blink when clapped in front of his eye.
- I have noticed her eyes seem.. weepy ?? it does seem to be both that mucus comes out of the eye and she seems to get quite irritated and try to wipe it off, so I do tend to help. its not stuck, just a strand of mucus that comes off with a simple swipe. its often hard by the time i find it.

I have had an eye ulcer with her before. we have no idea what caused it, but it was a big one in one of her eyes. however this is both eyes.

I'm still a novice to bunnies, would this behavior even be considered "normal"? :?

Rabbits have poor near vision and often have trouble identifying an object right infront of them. So a hand moving towards their head can scare them and cause them to lunge out in defence.

Some Rex Rabbits can have poor vision due to intensive in-breeding. It is usually Orange Rexes who are effected, but occasionally other colours are too.

When Rexes moult if a bit of fur gets into the eyes it can make them weepy. But only a thorough examination by a Rabbit Savvy Vet can rule out an actual problem with the eyes.

Luna is spayed isn't she ?
 
Rabbits have poor near vision and often have trouble identifying an object right infront of them. So a hand moving towards their head can scare them and cause them to lunge out in defence.

Some Rex Rabbits can have poor vision due to intensive in-breeding. It is usually Orange Rexes who are effected, but occasionally other colours are too.

I have three Standard Rexes, one Orange and two Castor (from a rescue, but ex-breeder). They all have very poor near vision and locate food mainly by smell.
 
thank you Jacks Jane. I wasn't aware of rex's having poor sight.

I knew they had poor near vision, however it doesn't matter how far away I start she always lunges as if she is struggling to see me or who it is at all and feels threatened. she seems to very much locate everything by smell. I'm only just noticing it now as I'm without two little brats running around :lol:

I was hand feeding her pellet yesterday and she was very much struggling to come to me to find the food, was sniffing my tummy where she thought it might be. it wasn't close to her face either. she was sat away from me and still couldn't find my hand so I ended up placing it always in front of her nose.

she also has before lunged towards me in a general direction, just not the actual direction I was in. she did this yesterday and its not the first time so I suppose it make me think. I was maybe a foot away when she did this, and she instead went right past me. close, but no cigar :D she also has turned her head one way when approaching in the wrong direction as if she's just hearing where the sound is.

Luna is fixed yes. she has been for a year now. had her done last Feb :)
i have no idea on her background or parents as she was a rescue, I do just know the breeder she came from.
 
- Luna's very aggressive when something moves towards her.
- she will lunge when startled or presented with an object in front of her (no matter how slow or what it is, even if its a hand)
- she can never seem to "see" the object in front of her, she has to follow sniffing my finger, and I have to have it on the floor next to the item
- if she fails to find the object, i often have to pick it up and place it in her face, right in front of her mouth
- Luna seem's to rely heavily on scent. she sniffs the ground an awful lot, sniffs me, sniffs just generally along everything in the house.
- as said she relies on scent, and often rather than running to food she sniffs to find the food in the general area i place it. if i place food anywhere else she will only find it if she stands on it. same for toys, she walks along nose down to find it.
- she has ran into things before. not constant, but she has run into a wall (on three occasions), people. just today she almost ran out the door (there is a step down). she knows there is a step down too as she's been allowed in and out for quite a long time!
- multiple times she has shoved her face into a bowl of water (scaring the poop out of her) as if she thinks its a food bowl. even though they're completely different sizes!
- her eyes when shone a light in, the pupil seems to be more blue than black.
- if I click near her eye, clap, or move my hand in front of it, she doesn't blink. she'll only blink if im close enough to touch the eyelashes. Snoopy wasn't like that, he would blink when clapped in front of his eye.
- I have noticed her eyes seem.. weepy ?? it does seem to be both that mucus comes out of the eye and she seems to get quite irritated and try to wipe it off, so I do tend to help. its not stuck, just a strand of mucus that comes off with a simple swipe. its often hard by the time i find it.

I have had an eye ulcer with her before. we have no idea what caused it, but it was a big one in one of her eyes. however this is both eyes.

I'm still a novice to bunnies, would this behavior even be considered "normal"? :?


Hi there :wave:

All rabbits have less visual acuity in the near range ...

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/vision.html


The price the bunny pays for this remarkable field of vision is a small blind spot directly in front of his face, but forward-placed nostrils and large, spooning ears compensate for that minor loss of predator-detecting space. For an animal to have binocular vision, the field of view of both eyes must overlap to some degree. The central blind spot in the rabbit's field of view precludes a three-dimensional view of nearby objects. When your bunny cocks her head and seems to be looking at you "sideways," she is actually looking as straight at you as is possible for a bunny. As far as we know, she does not have a primate's level of depth perception at such close range.
 
I was aware that buns have bad near vision but I've never been sure how bad or how it was, so that makes for an interesting read :D

still, I do wonder if she's maybe a tad blind or if she's just stupid :lol: running into walls, people, falling out of the door. either way, she sometimes doesn't seem quite normal about how she goes about her daily life.
then again I've nicknamed her Lunatic
 
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