Rabbit eye problem

TooManyDogs

So I noticed today that one of my rabbits has a baldy ring around each of his eyes. No discharge and he's in good form but after looking up the internet (disaster I know) I'm now terrified he has myxomatosis, esp after realising I forgot his vaccine this year. :mad:

Any rabbit people out there that could shed a little light on the subject? Will be taking him to the vet tomorrow anyway

loveisdivine

I don't have any experience with rabbits, but 1 of our guinea pigs got a hay sees stick in their eye before and it was very red and sore.
Have you checked for anything stuck in there?

TooManyDogs

I never even thought of that because it's on both eyes but the one in the photo is the worst. I'll check now to rule it out, thanks

Groom!

Did you change any of his bedding/hay/straw/shavings/ to something different?

If he has towel bedding or is an indoor guy, did you use any different cleaning products or can you think of anything that might have irritated him?

Is he eating and drinking ok?

Don't jump to conclusions about Myx....hopefully it isn't!!

The vet will be able to clarify, fingers crossed!

Good luck:)

canonball5

Just a couple of questions,
Age ?
Is it male of female ?
Group housed ?
Feed ?

TooManyDogs

He's about 4 years old, neutered. He's living outside with a female who's about 8 years old. I did a huge clear out of their hutch and 2 runs over the weekend and put compost in one of the runs, the other is concrete. I replaced all the straw and hay. He's eating fine and there are no funny looking poos in their area. The female rabbit is perfect, no signs of anything at all. They're fed on Mr Johnsons Supreme (from local agri shop), hay, straw and whatever left over veggies are there, or weeds needing dealing with.

I know it's stupid to look up the internet cos it's easy to scare yourself silly, and I can't even figure how he would have gotten myxi. There are hares up the fields but they dont carry it, if there were foxes or cats around at night carrying fleas the dogs would be going mental sniffing the next morning, they havent had fleas, so I'm sure I'm over reacting!

Why do I always notice this stuff when the vets are closed for the day???

Sigma Force

Could of been straw but I wouldn't delay with any sick rabbit and I'd take him to the vet asap.

Staw can be pokey and is not as warm as hay, the irritation could be weather related if it's been windy it can cause a draught but it looks more like something has irritated the eye.
The rabbits should of been vaccinated the vets need to send out reminders that's something you need to do asap as soon as the one with the sore eye is better and don't forget vaccinating against VHD as well.

I'd gradually switch their dry food as well to Burgess rabbit.
Are the weeds you feed safe you need to be careful what you give them as some plants are toxic and some veg isn't suitable.

I would gently wash out the eye with some warm water and cotton pads until you can get the bun to the vets because it looks so sore a bit of warm water might help to relieve it. It could just be an allergy either the eye itself doesn't look for just the skin around it could be the start of mites either or the start of ringworm. Hard to know, let us know what the vet says.

Was the rabbit running around a run filled with compost? If so was the compost organic or had anything been added to it? I wouldn't put rabbits on top of compost though peat moss is fine.

kildare.17hmr

It doesnt look like mixy to me tbh and iv seen alot of it

Tito Ortiz

OP it looks like a scratch to me. the eye is quite red and looks like a red spot at the top of the eye. I would just keep bathing it until you get it checked. I'm sure it is nothing serious.

Odaise Gaelach

You might have scared yourself witless but you're doing the right thing by bringing him to the vet. They will be able to tell you whether it's myxomatosis or something else.

By the way, is he a lionhead chinchilla rabbit by any chance?

TooManyDogs

So Mr Bunsy was to the vet this morning, the vet suspects myxi but really isn't sure because the red puffy eyelids are the only symptom he has and he looked at Mrs Bunsy too and she's perfect. He was saying for her not to be infected too if it was myxi would be very surprising. He's given me an ointment for his eyes to treat for an ocular infection in case it's that and fingers crossed.

It might be my imagination but his eye looked less red this evenig when I gave him his second dose so I really hope it is an eye infection and not myxi.

@Odaise Gaelach, I don't know exactly what breed he is, I was told he was lionhead cross though

Sigma Force

If it was Myxi I'd say he would be getting worse by now it does look more like a irritation then infection follows. If the antibiotic ointment is working you'll see am improvement fairly quick and even by tommorow or the next day you'll notice a huge improvement. Hope he feels better soon, rabbits can be tricky and many vets still only know the basics..some don't even know that much.
Usually you end up having to practically diagnose the bun yourself and tell the vet what to do.

TooManyDogs

I never even thought the compost could have been a problem. We had this great idea that the run would be filled with grass, planted grass seed and then let them in. Unfortunately they decided it was better as a toilet and now there's a few brave weeds and little else. Another problem arising from that was as I cleaned it out more and more soil came out and that was why I put the compost in. I had been thinking of getting grit and using that instead.

I'm always careful with the veggies and weeds I give them that it's safe for them to eat, I've tried getting them to eat the Burgess but they only eat small bits out of it.

TooManyDogs

I just treated Mr Bunsy's eyes today, and there isn't any redness at all!!! :DThrilled so hopefully it'll keep getting better

Sigma Force

That's great news!
Would the concrete run be more practical for the mucky winter months then redoing the other one. Or ideally a warm shed tis getting chilly outside at night now. Or a hutch hugger.

Grit might be rough on their paws perhaps loose patio slabs (they're heavy enough to set down n not wobble) or sheets of marine plywood that goes right to the edges of the run so they can't chew the edges of it. Marine ply generally will last one winter when placed on the ground.

Blue or green tarps work well to cover outdoor runs if tied on tightly out of the wind.

I would suggest astro turf but I'm not sure if that is safe to use with rabbits.

TooManyDogs

Sigma Force wrote: »

Would the concrete run be more practical for the mucky winter months then redoing the other one. Or ideally a warm shed tis getting chilly outside at night now. Or a hutch hugger.

Grit might be rough on their paws perhaps loose patio slabs (they're heavy enough to set down n not wobble) or sheets of marine plywood that goes right to the edges of the run so they can't chew the edges of it. Marine ply generally will last one winter when placed on the ground.

They have access to both runs all day and the soil one during the night because the concrete one doesn't have a roof on it, during the day the dogs prevent any cats annoying them. The thing about the soil one is that they use it as a litterbox so trying to effectively clean up the poo from slabs or marine ply would be a pain, I had been thinking of using children's play sand but wasn't sure if it would be too fine so that was why I had been thinking grit.

I had a look at those hutch huggers, with the wind we get here it'd be ripped off and blowing down the road in a week!

Their hutch has insulation wrapped around the outside and then more cladding on top of that again so their sleeping area is fairly toasty! No drafts and a new roof that is made out of decking boards so nice and thick and no leaks. (this is the hutch)



I have hay inside their sleeping area, and straw on the concrete in the downstairs of the hutchcos they spend most of the day chilling there watching the action. The upper large door is covered with wood so there's loads of hiding room for them. The roof of that hutch wasnt great which is why we replaced it.

The concrete run is off the front of the hutch and the soil one is built into the centre of a raised flower bed so we cut a hole in the back of the hutch, the result is they play chasing between the front run, then upstairs and back down and into the back run!!

I had a look at those hutch huggers, with the wind we get here it'd be ripped off and blowing down the road in a week!

TooManyDogs

I figured I'd better update the thread. Unfortunately it's turned out that my rabbit does have myxi, but the atypical/chronic form that vaccinated rabbits can get rather than the classic form wild and unvaccinated rabbits get. Initially it looked like my female rabbit was fine but has since also contracted it.

It's not always fatal in this form, but because myxi is a pox virus they have pox lumps all over their bodies, particularily their eyes, nose and mouth. They've both had a course of antibiotics to prevent secondary illnesses and I've moved them into my bedroom (hubby delighted ) until they're better. I had been taking them to the vet but he said that if the antibiotics didn't improve them we should put them down, I haven't taken them back because from what I've researched to get them over this will take time, and nursing. While they're still happily eating and running around I'm not going to have them pts despite how elephant-man their poor faces look. I'd be more worried about Mrs Bunsy because she's about 7 now and I know that's getting on for rabbits.

It's very frustrating that most of the vets here know very little about rabbits and their first reaction is if he's not better in a week to pts.

Anyway, I'll keep you up to date with their progress.

TooManyDogs

Bad day today, my male rabbit Mr Bunsy had to be PTS today. It's been 6 weeks that he's been ill and it looked like he had turned a corner and was going to be ok. Monday he stopped eating and I was syringe feeding him which he took to quite well but last night he stopped swallowing the feed so another trip to the vets and he agreed that it was time. The gutting thing is that the pox on his body were healing up and coming off so he was nearly there but the ones on his face got worse and I think it was hurting him to eat.
RIP Mr Bunsy

loveisdivine

So sorry to hear this. My heart goes out to you and mr bunsy.

piperh

Oh i'm so sorry.

lucycat

Ah I'm so sorry OP, poor Mr Bunsy RIP xxx how is Mrs Bunsy doing?

homerhop

A nasty bloody disease be it in a pet or wild animal.

TooManyDogs

lucycat wrote: »

Ah I'm so sorry OP, poor Mr Bunsy RIP xxx how is Mrs Bunsy doing?

Mrs Bunsy is doing very well, she had fewer pox on her body and they're all healing up really well, including the pox on her face, she's just getting better and better. At the moment she's in my bedroom but shortly will be moving her to the kitchen where she'll live for now on. I'm not putting her outside again except on good days to have a play around in the runs. Thinking back on it I wonder if the flood we had a while ago brought something down from the fields with the flood water, our garden got badly flooded. Although I figured they were safe because their upstairs was a couple of feet above the water and cleaned their entire area after we're now thinking something was deposited in the garden

MrVestek

There's a fantastic exotic vet in Bray that specialises in Rabbits amongst other things. I agree with your assertion that it's frustrating that most vets don't know their stuff when it comes to exotics.

http://www.veterinary.ie/

Check out the above website for directions etc. It may be a bit of a trek for you but it's totally worth it. I'd personally be a fan of keeping the rabbits indoors and house training them... as strange as it sounds it can be done, I have my little guy Sam sitting on the shoulder of our Sofa as we speak while he grooms himself (and me, occasionally).

Anyway I'm going off on a tangent... sorry to hear about your loss.

TooManyDogs

I house trained my first rabbit and Mr Bunsy was house trained but as soon as I took Mrs Bunsy in the house training went out the window. She spent her time marking everywhere. I spayed her and went back to basics with house training but nothing helped, she was a 3 year old back garden rabbit when I got her, rarely in a hutch. Finally after 2 years I admitted defeat because Mr Bunsy also regressed with housetraining until I was constantly cleaning up wee and poo, wooden floors and dog beds were getting ruined and it didn't matter how many litter boxes I had down. Thats when we decided to put them outside with 2 large runs and a 2 storey hutch, they could sh!t where they wanted then!

Now with Mr Bunsy gone I'll be moving Mrs Bunsy into the kitchen and hoping that the lack of competition will make her less likely to mark everywhere. Fingers crossed

MrVestek

TooManyDogs wrote: »

Now with Mr Bunsy gone I'll be moving Mrs Bunsy into the kitchen and hoping that the lack of competition will make her less likely to mark everywhere. Fingers crossed

Yeah we're kinda having the same trouble at the moment too. We just got a new guy (Alfie) in to keep the older guy (Sammy) company but the two just aren't getting on... will have to wait to get the new guy neutered before they both settle down with eachother.

The funny thing is we only got the new guy because Sammy seemed a bit down, wasn't coming out of his cage much etc and we thought it was because we were both in work during the day. Bunnies being social creatures can easily get themselves down if they don't have any company.

Will have to wait to get the new guy neutered though as he still has to get his second set of injections...

Hah the last time we had them out together in neutral play space we managed to calm Sam down enough that he wouldn't try to attack the new guy if he came near him... Alfie is a little divil though... he went over and sniffed around Sam a bit then tried to mount him as a sign of dominance!

You can imagine how well that went, lol.

TooManyDogs

Achilles wrote: »

The funny thing is we only got the new guy because Sammy seemed a bit down, wasn't coming out of his cage much etc and we thought it was because we were both in work during the day. Bunnies being social creatures can easily get themselves down if they don't have any company.

We tried that with our first rabbit too, we figured Beans would prefer rabbit company and got another rabbit, but he hated the new one on site!!! Luckily a friend of mine had falllen in love with the new rabbit and offered a home. Beans was more dog than rabbit I think, he would run and play with them and then sit and groom them. Mind you we discovered he had a sweet tooth, he used to be able to sniff out chocolate a hundred yards away and would climb into my handbag to steal it :eek:

MrVestek

TooManyDogs wrote: »

We tried that with our first rabbit too, we figured Beans would prefer rabbit company and got another rabbit, but he hated the new one on site!!! Luckily a friend of mine had falllen in love with the new rabbit and offered a home. Beans was more dog than rabbit I think, he would run and play with them and then sit and groom them. Mind you we discovered he had a sweet tooth, he used to be able to sniff out chocolate a hundred yards away and would climb into my handbag to steal it :eek:

Chocolate? Wow, lol. Very bad for their digestive tract... I hope you didn't let him get away with it too much! :P

We can't give the new guy away we've fallen in love with the little rascal too, although Sam will always be our favourite.

I'm sure once Alfie is neutered they'll get along a bit better... they won't have a choice. The vet told us before that Sam is a grumpy old sod and doesn't really take to change very well... and this was just her advice when we got him a new two story cage, lol.

In retrospect maybe getting a second guy wasn't the best idea in the world but what can you do eh? Cute... furry little bastards :P