~ILoveMyBunny~
Alpha Buck
Hi all,
Sorry to be a bother but just wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Two of our boys have had very lengthy/recurring corneal ulcers (one is our tilty boy, 90 degree head tilt of undetermined cause despite extensive testing and seeing multiple exotics vets, including a top rabbit specialist who also consulted Richard Saunders on his case - he recovered from all other symptoms and has been happy and healthy for 5yrs minus the tilt but no definite cause was found - e. cuniculi was the only thing our vet could settle on, despite constant negative blood tests)
The other is our 10yr old lop boy.
We've been treating them both since app Feb/March and just can't seem to get rid of the ulcers.
Harley (5yr old tilty boy) initially had a very inflammed eye/conjunctivitis and ulcer. Enucleation was discussed after it didn't respond well to treatment and actually booked in, but on the day of surgery it had gone down significantly and surgery was postponed. He responded well to further treatment and eventually had the ulcer disappear completely and inflamation go down to nearly nothing. Unfortunately it then came back after about 2 weeks. A while later it had "healed" again and then came back yet again. A few weeks ago I was hopeful we were finally close as the inflammation on the eyelid had gone down to nearly nothing but when the dye was put in there was still uptake and vascularisation could be seen. Since coming home the following day his eyelids have again inflammed like crazy and whilst not being at their worst they are really nasty looking.
Pinot (10yr old) has ulcers in both eyes that have proven to be a similar problem. He initially also has conjunctivitis but that seems to have cleared up (for now anyway!), but his ulcers have proven to be really confusing. Multiple times now he's gone down to having just pin-***** sized ulcers left, only for them to come back again in a couple of weeks. We were once again very close to having them heal some weeks back, then at his last visit they were huge again - one is nearly 4mm! You can see the scar without the dye. It's awful.
He's had more grids done on the eye to remove the scar tissue than I can count at this point.
Both have had their eyes swabbed. Harley returned a very scanty growth of bacteria we were ironically already treating for (sensitive to chloramfenicol, though don't remember what it was) and Pinot returned with nothing at all.
Pinot did also have an ear infection recently (swab done, returned e.coli) but that is hopefully under control, no idea if it's related.
At this point we've done so many different eye drops, ciloxan, chloramfenicol, remend, thealipid, maxidex, maxitrol (Harley only on those two) and now stromease.. I've probably missed some out, there have been so many. We come so close to having them heal only for them to come back again.
Teeth look good, though an x-ray hasn't been done in either due to higher risk for sedation. But neither have ever had dental issues and what can be seen looks good.
Both have had eye pressures checked, both normal there.
I'm stumped. Vet doesn't think they're related, just coincidental that they've happened around the same time, but I'm lost as to why they just won't completely heal/keep coming back. I've tried to go over environmental causes and simply can't identify anything. We've gone so far as to change to mild soaps and laundry liquid for washing their blankets just in case. Plus the other rabbits are all fine and in the same environment (all house rabbits).
Any ideas what could be happening?
Should mention just for anyone worried both at on appropriate painkillers too and both well in themselves. Pinot in particular seems to have found an incredible amount of energy lately and runs around like a young kit. He's improved dramatically since adding in paracetamol (and briefly buprenorphine but he's off that now)
I'm just completely stumped
I wish I knew why we keep coming so close to curing them only for them to come back again.
Edit: Just another small note, both boys are housed away from each other as they could not be bonded (Harley wasn't able to be neutered when he was younger as it was deemed too risky for him)
Sorry to be a bother but just wondering if anyone has any experience with this. Two of our boys have had very lengthy/recurring corneal ulcers (one is our tilty boy, 90 degree head tilt of undetermined cause despite extensive testing and seeing multiple exotics vets, including a top rabbit specialist who also consulted Richard Saunders on his case - he recovered from all other symptoms and has been happy and healthy for 5yrs minus the tilt but no definite cause was found - e. cuniculi was the only thing our vet could settle on, despite constant negative blood tests)
The other is our 10yr old lop boy.
We've been treating them both since app Feb/March and just can't seem to get rid of the ulcers.
Harley (5yr old tilty boy) initially had a very inflammed eye/conjunctivitis and ulcer. Enucleation was discussed after it didn't respond well to treatment and actually booked in, but on the day of surgery it had gone down significantly and surgery was postponed. He responded well to further treatment and eventually had the ulcer disappear completely and inflamation go down to nearly nothing. Unfortunately it then came back after about 2 weeks. A while later it had "healed" again and then came back yet again. A few weeks ago I was hopeful we were finally close as the inflammation on the eyelid had gone down to nearly nothing but when the dye was put in there was still uptake and vascularisation could be seen. Since coming home the following day his eyelids have again inflammed like crazy and whilst not being at their worst they are really nasty looking.
Pinot (10yr old) has ulcers in both eyes that have proven to be a similar problem. He initially also has conjunctivitis but that seems to have cleared up (for now anyway!), but his ulcers have proven to be really confusing. Multiple times now he's gone down to having just pin-***** sized ulcers left, only for them to come back again in a couple of weeks. We were once again very close to having them heal some weeks back, then at his last visit they were huge again - one is nearly 4mm! You can see the scar without the dye. It's awful.
He's had more grids done on the eye to remove the scar tissue than I can count at this point.
Both have had their eyes swabbed. Harley returned a very scanty growth of bacteria we were ironically already treating for (sensitive to chloramfenicol, though don't remember what it was) and Pinot returned with nothing at all.
Pinot did also have an ear infection recently (swab done, returned e.coli) but that is hopefully under control, no idea if it's related.
At this point we've done so many different eye drops, ciloxan, chloramfenicol, remend, thealipid, maxidex, maxitrol (Harley only on those two) and now stromease.. I've probably missed some out, there have been so many. We come so close to having them heal only for them to come back again.
Teeth look good, though an x-ray hasn't been done in either due to higher risk for sedation. But neither have ever had dental issues and what can be seen looks good.
Both have had eye pressures checked, both normal there.
I'm stumped. Vet doesn't think they're related, just coincidental that they've happened around the same time, but I'm lost as to why they just won't completely heal/keep coming back. I've tried to go over environmental causes and simply can't identify anything. We've gone so far as to change to mild soaps and laundry liquid for washing their blankets just in case. Plus the other rabbits are all fine and in the same environment (all house rabbits).
Any ideas what could be happening?
Should mention just for anyone worried both at on appropriate painkillers too and both well in themselves. Pinot in particular seems to have found an incredible amount of energy lately and runs around like a young kit. He's improved dramatically since adding in paracetamol (and briefly buprenorphine but he's off that now)
I'm just completely stumped
I wish I knew why we keep coming so close to curing them only for them to come back again.
Edit: Just another small note, both boys are housed away from each other as they could not be bonded (Harley wasn't able to be neutered when he was younger as it was deemed too risky for him)
