Possible eye tumour

[beki]

Hi!
My poor bunnies aren’t having much luck this year we lost Betsy in January and now Bertie is poorly.

Bertie has a small ulcer on his eye. I have been treating this for 10 days and it’s getting much better. It is now very small and almost healed.

I have just got back from a vet check up and the vet (with the second opinion of another vet) think he may have a tumour in his eye! They can see a small pink fuzzy edged mass in his eye! Bertie is 11 (ish, he was a rescue so this is just a guess, he could be older!) and has been blind in that eye for around 9 years. The vet said that as ulcers heal the blood vessels in the eye are more noticeable and showed me a read healing area, this area is pinkish and does look a bit like a blob within his eye.

The vet has taken a photo and she is going to send it to another vet eye specialist to see if they can advise.

I know the only treatment is eye removal but the vets advice is that due to his age, Bertie may not survive the operation and if he does, he may have complications with aftercare. Of course they are happy to try if I want this. I don’t think I want to put him through such an operation at his age I think I’d just care for him until I know that the eye was affecting his quality of life.

Poor Bertie. I hope it isn’t a tumour

Has anyone else’s rabbit had a tumour in the eye and what did you do?

 

[bunny momma]

It is good the ulcer is healing well. Since they only noticed this because of the ulcer, you do not know if he has had it a long time and it is slow growing or if it is a tumor that requires removal.
If it is not bothering him, I would leave it alone. Even if he was middle aged I would wait and see before a big surgery. Sending lots of vibes his eye ulcer is soon fully healed and he can enjoy a good quality of life for a long time.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Does it look like this, which is EC related uveitis

 

[beki]

Does it look like this, which is EC related uveitis

View attachment 3648

Yes it did look fairly similar to this but more pink and not quite as obvious as it was less white.

He has a cateract covering just about the whole eye and at the time it developed he was diagnosed with having EC that caused it. His whole eye filled with blood. The vet said it was a rupture in the lense. It needed a second course of treatment a few months after as he had blood inside is eye again but since then (about 8 years ago) his eye hasn’t had any issues apart from one infection around 2 years ago.

 

[beki]

It is good the ulcer is healing well. Since they only noticed this because of the ulcer, you do not know if he has had it a long time and it is slow growing or if it is a tumor that requires removal.
If it is not bothering him, I would leave it alone. Even if he was middle aged I would wait and see before a big surgery. Sending lots of vibes his eye ulcer is soon fully healed and he can enjoy a good quality of life for a long time.

Thank you

He last had an infection in his eye 2 years ago and it wasn’t picked up then. He hardly has to go to the vets usually, just for his vaccinations. He was last there last June and they usually check his eyes and didn’t point anything out then. I’m not sure how thoroughly they actually look at that eye as it has a cateract so is almost completely white but they do check it.

It doesn’t seem to be bothering him so I’m hoping he is fine and given his age I’m hoping if it is a tumour it won’t cause him any bother and he will just outlive it

 

[InspectorMorse]

Yes it did look fairly similar to this but more pink and not quite as obvious as it was less white.

He has a cateract covering just about the whole eye and at the time it developed he was diagnosed with having EC that caused it. His whole eye filled with blood. The vet said it was a rupture in the lense. It needed a second course of treatment a few months after as he had blood inside is eye again but since then (about 8 years ago) his eye hasn’t had any issues apart from one infection around 2 years ago.

I suspect it is EC related Uveitis. Treatment would be topical eye drops with a steroid component eg Maxitrol. I would advise the eye pressure is checked too.

 

[beki]

I suspect it is EC related Uveitis. Treatment would be topical eye drops with a steroid component eg Maxitrol. I would advise the eye pressure is checked too.

Thanks

He is on antibiotic drops at the moment so maybe best not to treat the EC until this course has finished?

The vet last week mentioned eye pressure as there was a slight bulge in his eye but didn’t check it as wanted to see if it would improve first. When I went yesterday his eye was not bulging so she thought it was perhaps inflammation related and had come down with the metacam. She did a tear duct flush as he had some white goo there and after that he wasn’t really in the mood for any more prodding (he hardly ever bites but decided to give her a little nip!). She was going to ask for another opinion and give me a call on Monday and arrange another appointment so when I take him back I’ll ask for them to check the pressure in his eye.

If it’s EC it’s better than a tumour as at least I can treat that!

 

[beki]

Just quickly googled uvitis and it says it can be caused by pasturella as well.
Vet suspected he has this and he is particularly snotty having a flare up at the moment!