Rory has blood shot eye - big time

Hmmmphhh!!!!!!!!!!

Rory has been fine as usual, then this morning he was having a cuddle with Yas and I knelt down to give them both a kiss - and noticed a red tinge to Rory's Iris. He has one very dark brown eye, and the left one is a much paler browny grey that sometimes looks blue - it is this eye that looked red. Had a closer look in better light and the whole Iris is a deep red, bit of red on the white of his eye, most concerning is his pupil is cloudy and speckeled looking, mishapen almost.

Zoom to the vets - a dye was put in his eye to show up any scratches - there are none. He has had no weepy discharge from his eyes at all, yet there is obviously something wrong. He has a had a pain relieving jab, and has been prescribed Metacam and felcithalmic eye drops. The vet debated giving him another anti-biotic that isnt licenced for rabbits - but on reflection decided not to as he is still a bit small - and I feel he is quite fragile and am not as confident about his health as I am about the girls. Vet has no idea what could of caused it, I know he had no sign of any abnormalities Thursday night as he had a very thorugh grooming and check over, where as last night he just ran around and had a cuddle but in the dim light I wouldnt have noticed the colour of his eye.

Im just hoping its nothing serious, I was thinking all sorts driving to the vets, I have been assured its in no way linked to the myxi jab he had last week - the vet i saw was the one who gave the girls their VHD's which resulted in felix having the cylap limp - she must dread me and my rabbits! Though she is very good with them - I have decided to forgive!

Any vibes for Rory and his spooky eye gratefully received!

Ooodles of Vibes for Rory. I cant think what this could be.

how does he seem in himself?

He seems fine Katie, though he didnt like the car journey too much, and just wants to sit on our laps all day - but thats normal, he is tired and he cant feel too special, looks so sore - though it isnt inflamed around his eyelid and he doesnt have any discharge. Im just glad I spotted it, its so gloomy today you wouldnt notice anything at a glance. He is just having a munch at the mo, and when he flops again im going to put him up my jumper while I potter about - poor baby

Put him up your jumper? Really? God daisy would freak out and then leave home.

Yeh, he loves it! If we have a dressing gown on he digs his way in! I wouldnt put him in there is he was busy running about doing his own thing, but when he wants to sleep on us and we have things to do, we will pu him up our jumpers with his head peeping out of the top and go about our business! Willow was a fan of this untill the hormones kicked in! I will take some photos

If there was some sort of discharge or weepy eyes I would have some idea but I just haven't got a clue, I've just been looking through some of my books and looking at eye problems in rabbits on the internet but can't find anything like what you describe. Will now sit down with me Francis H Brown medicine book and see if there is anything in there as Francis's Husband is an expert on eye problems in rabbits.

Aw wow, thanks so much for taking the time to do this Maysie x Vet mentioned some kind fo heriditory condition, but said that that normally happens sooner. Rorys mum is a red eyed white lionhead and the breeder women told me that she thought she was mostly blind. I have noticed Rory doesnt seem to have good sight, and walks into things - but have put it down to his fur, and keep trimming it back. I dont know - Im clutching at straws based on nothing I have even thought that this might tie in with the amount of licking and chinning he does?? That he makes up for his lack of sight with his other senses???

Felix&Willow wrote:Aw wow, thanks so much for taking the time to do this Maysie x Vet mentioned some kind fo heriditory condition, but said that that normally happens sooner. Rorys mum is a red eyed white lionhead and the breeder women told me that she thought she was mostly blind. I have noticed Rory doesnt seem to have good sight, and walks into things - but have put it down to his fur, and keep trimming it back. I dont know - Im clutching at straws based on nothing I have even thought that this might tie in with the amount of licking and chinning he does?? That he makes up for his lack of sight with his other senses???

No problem I'm actually reading on eye problems now in Francis's book and I have asked Mike about it and he wonders if Rory is blind in that eye and ran into something causing the problem.
Does Rory scan at all by that I mean does he move his head from right to left and back very slowly as this can indicate a sign that he can not see correctly and is trying to focus.

No I dont think so - but somethimes I will go to stroke him and he will jump - then he will lick my hand and come in for a snuggle, its like he didnt see my hand comming towards him. The vet put dye in his eye and there are no scratches on it, his eye lids top and bottom are still the same pale pink, they arent inflammed at all - I will try to get a clear photo - thanks to mike too xx

I've had a read but can't find anything Beki, but we had a blind lionhead boy called Angel and he was always washing and chinning things, everytime Mike picked him up he would wash him. Mike and I have been talking and Rory could very well be partially sighted especially if his Mum was a REW .
We have Angel's Brother still and he has 'cataracts' on one eye and that eye is hazy but not red.
I think I would see how he goes after his course of medication and see how he is after that but keep a watch over him.

I will keep checking to see how he is and I'm sending Rory lots of 'eye healing' Vibes xxxxxxx

Right when you go up to Rory and he jumps is on the side of his bad eye at all .

Maybe, im not sure if its when he is face on mainly, I wouldnt reach out to him from behind, but I can recall it on both sides - maybe its because sometimes he is asleep with his eyes open - just taken a photo without the flash and im waiting for it to load. Aha! heres an example for you - when the vet was going to shine a light into his eye earlier, she told me to hold him tight as may jump, he didnt move at all - she was surprised by this and just remarked at what a chilled out bun he is - maybe the light didnt disturb him because he cant see it.

Remember I said to you a few weeks ago that he walked into the clothes horse in the lounge, so I gave him a hair cut? Well he hasnt walked into anything since, but he is very cautious and doesnt pick up much speed, but I always put that down to him being kind of physically delayed from living in cramped conditions - I will just get the photo

So, the gunk is whats left of the dye and anti- biotic the vet put in his eye, its not discharge. If you look more in the centre of his iris you can see the red, this part of his eye is usually light grey. Also if you look rally close at his pupil you can see it is cloudy and mishapen

How on earth it could have got so bad so quick I just dont know - the photo I posted of him yesterday was taken thursday and his eyes along of the rest of him were perfect - this looks horrendous, it must really hurt!

Bigger!

I just saved the photo and enlarged it to have a better look and Mike think's he has been running around and has walked into something and banged his eye as it's the bunny equivalent to a black eye.
At the end of the day we are not vet's and so we can only give our opinion of what it could be, but with there being no scratches or weepy eyes I can't see it as being anything else then trauma to the eye especially with the eye being ok and then suddenly overnight it's like this.

It makes sense to me - hopefully it will go back to normal soon and will just be the result of him bumping into something - could be anythiing, he could of walked into the spout of his water bottle or the hay rack - or something in the lounge. I suppose thats a better thing to have happended than an infection that could keep popping up. As for him bumping into stuff, I will keep a close eye on him, His face is as trimmed down as I can safely do and he should be able to see, I suppose if he is blind in one or both eyes there is nothing that could be done to rectify it, I will just have to be carefull about whats in the lounge that he could walk into.

Thanks guys, you may not be vets but I expect you have seen most things throughout your bunny carreer, and are certainly qualified to make super educated guess's!

Rory, rambo and his war wound - says ta very much - he is sitting on Yasmins shoulder at the moment like a very hairy parrot

The cloudy colour sounds like cataracts but they wouldn't cause the redness to occur, the other thing that can cause a haze on the eye and also redness is an ulcer but that should have show up with the dye....it's very strange! I hope the drops clear it up and that it's just some irritation/minor infection.

Thistle is on the same meds atm, hope rory gets better soon x

Yes, thanks sooz, if it isnt loads better by monday i will take him back to the vet - baffling!

Thanks lillygrace - hope thistle is better too - i must read that thread properly - keep tryig to and get disracted

Thanks! Ah, well Thistle has ulcers which were really quite bad..he's a lot better now though :o). There's something else wrong with his eye but I can't remember what the vet said. We have to take him back this week

These bunnys are a worry arent they! Goodness, I was hoping Rory could have his VHD nxt week and be neutured 2 weeks later, but he isnt going to be up for it! At least it wont be any trouble putting in the eye cream or giving him the metacam - he is sooo compliant bless him. Poor little Roars, such a rubbish start in life - and yet he is so trusting and will let anyone poke him about. I cant wait to have him neutured and have him fully litter trained, Im going to keep him in the house and let him free range all the time, I cant imagine being confident to bond him with the girls, he is too delicate. Im sure he would love rabbit company but the thought of another rabbit humping him and pushing him about is not a good one! We shall see, perhaps he would be better off paired up with an older or extremely calm bunny, though maybe the girls will calm down over the comming months following their spay...........sorry im rambling!

I found this for you http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2009/10/Bloodshot-eyes.htm

Buphthalmia
This disease is congenital glaucoma caused by an autosomal recessive defect with incomplete penetrance. There is abnormal production and removal of aqueous from the anterior chamber. Clinical signs may occur as early as 2 to 3 weeks of age, but are more common at 3 to 4 months of age. Signs include slight cloudiness progressing to increasing cloudiness of the cornea, a prominent eyeball, conjunctivitis, keratitis, ulceration, and rupture of the cornea. The condition may affect one or both eyes. Affected individuals should be removed from the breeding colony. Enlargement of the globe due to increased intraocular pressure as a result of the absence or underdevelopment of the outflow channels with incomplete cleavage of the iridocorneal angles characterizes buphthalmia.


It looks like this is what the vet was reffering to as a consideration - lets hope he bumped it