cellophane
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- Dec 20, 2017
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Hello!
About a month ago, my daughter was given a bunny as a therapy animal. I don't know much of the history except that it was born on a farm and Googling tells me she is a Rex. She is 5 lbs. and 5 mos old.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a couple of what looked like white opaque or milky threads extending into the pupil of one eye. My unprofessional thought was that it was a bacterial infection of some kind, so I called my dog's vet. They don't see rabbits, so I called another local vet. That vet did not have a proper lens for a rabbit, only cats/dogs, but looked and determined it was likely a congenital malformation of the iris as her vision was much reduced. Fast forward to a week and a half later and she is squinting a lot and has some clear discharge. The eye is more pink/cloudy and has that blue opaque sheen around the whole iris (similar to this, but not my pic: http://www.birdsandexotics.com/wp-content/uploads/E.-cuni-Rabbit-head-tilt-also-had-surgery-for-a-jaw-abscess.jpg) There are broken capillaries in the sclera. She does not have other symptoms at this time beyond her eye and maybe in disposition.
So, I call the vet back and they say, "You have to go to the opthamologist." So, because I already had an appointment for me in the city (1 hr away), I took her to the opthamologist. The opthamologist says it's uveitis but will not speculate on the cause other than saying it could be e. cuniculi or it could be eye trauma (and leaving the possibility open that it is something else). They cannot do a blood test there and she does not treat systemic problems... so I am supposed to go to another specialist. They do sell me NSAID eyedrops.
Now, I am a single mom and I am already $200 into this without much information beyond what I could have guessed myself. So, instead of calling the specialist, I go to the farm supply store and I get terramycin ointment for eyes and fenbendazole for goats. That was Monday around noon (Wednesday evening now). The three treatments take care of the redness in the sclera and the eye seems to look a little less sad overall and she seems to maybe see just a little better in that eye than she was. But, now the eye seems to be stuck in that state of being.
Today, bunny was a little less snuggly than she has been (remember we have only really had her for a month...) I am not sure if that is because she is feeling better or worse.
I don't want bunny to suffer but I just can't afford to put much more into this than I have already. I couldn't afford an enucleation if necessary (or maybe even euthanasia), so I am tempted to throw a few more tractor store remedies in. I really want to save it if possible. I know the fenbendazole is supposed to work kind of slowly but I am worried about things getting worse while it takes time to kick in.
TLR; What is a good treatment for possible e. cunniculi from a farm supply store? Already using fenbendazole, terramycin eye ointment, and NSAID eye ointment.
I'd like to err on the side of blanket treating possible issues without being very pharmacologically unsafe.
My questions from most pressing to least:
* I found a daily dose for the oxytetracycline, but not a duration. Any ideas here? (I did get syringes to give it intramuscularly and probiotics for offset any GI issues.
* Is it okay to give more than one kind of dewormer at a time? She is on the fenbendazole, but I have ivermectin for my dog and can get piperazine from the store.
* I got Duramycin instead of Liquamycin because it was cheaper and they seem almost the same, a slightly different chemical formula but both oxytetracycline. Is there any reason to pay extra for the Liquamycin?
* It seems that an ophthalmic steroid might be of use here but I can only find Rx ones by Googling. Any hacks here? Hydrocortisone on the fur kind of near the eye?
* I also got MircrocynAH eye treatment. http://microcynah.com/ Will this be helpful beyond the anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drops already given?
Thank you for any help/experience! I have never had a rabbit before.
About a month ago, my daughter was given a bunny as a therapy animal. I don't know much of the history except that it was born on a farm and Googling tells me she is a Rex. She is 5 lbs. and 5 mos old.
A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a couple of what looked like white opaque or milky threads extending into the pupil of one eye. My unprofessional thought was that it was a bacterial infection of some kind, so I called my dog's vet. They don't see rabbits, so I called another local vet. That vet did not have a proper lens for a rabbit, only cats/dogs, but looked and determined it was likely a congenital malformation of the iris as her vision was much reduced. Fast forward to a week and a half later and she is squinting a lot and has some clear discharge. The eye is more pink/cloudy and has that blue opaque sheen around the whole iris (similar to this, but not my pic: http://www.birdsandexotics.com/wp-content/uploads/E.-cuni-Rabbit-head-tilt-also-had-surgery-for-a-jaw-abscess.jpg) There are broken capillaries in the sclera. She does not have other symptoms at this time beyond her eye and maybe in disposition.
So, I call the vet back and they say, "You have to go to the opthamologist." So, because I already had an appointment for me in the city (1 hr away), I took her to the opthamologist. The opthamologist says it's uveitis but will not speculate on the cause other than saying it could be e. cuniculi or it could be eye trauma (and leaving the possibility open that it is something else). They cannot do a blood test there and she does not treat systemic problems... so I am supposed to go to another specialist. They do sell me NSAID eyedrops.
Now, I am a single mom and I am already $200 into this without much information beyond what I could have guessed myself. So, instead of calling the specialist, I go to the farm supply store and I get terramycin ointment for eyes and fenbendazole for goats. That was Monday around noon (Wednesday evening now). The three treatments take care of the redness in the sclera and the eye seems to look a little less sad overall and she seems to maybe see just a little better in that eye than she was. But, now the eye seems to be stuck in that state of being.
Today, bunny was a little less snuggly than she has been (remember we have only really had her for a month...) I am not sure if that is because she is feeling better or worse.
I don't want bunny to suffer but I just can't afford to put much more into this than I have already. I couldn't afford an enucleation if necessary (or maybe even euthanasia), so I am tempted to throw a few more tractor store remedies in. I really want to save it if possible. I know the fenbendazole is supposed to work kind of slowly but I am worried about things getting worse while it takes time to kick in.
TLR; What is a good treatment for possible e. cunniculi from a farm supply store? Already using fenbendazole, terramycin eye ointment, and NSAID eye ointment.
I'd like to err on the side of blanket treating possible issues without being very pharmacologically unsafe.
My questions from most pressing to least:
* I found a daily dose for the oxytetracycline, but not a duration. Any ideas here? (I did get syringes to give it intramuscularly and probiotics for offset any GI issues.
* Is it okay to give more than one kind of dewormer at a time? She is on the fenbendazole, but I have ivermectin for my dog and can get piperazine from the store.
* I got Duramycin instead of Liquamycin because it was cheaper and they seem almost the same, a slightly different chemical formula but both oxytetracycline. Is there any reason to pay extra for the Liquamycin?
* It seems that an ophthalmic steroid might be of use here but I can only find Rx ones by Googling. Any hacks here? Hydrocortisone on the fur kind of near the eye?
* I also got MircrocynAH eye treatment. http://microcynah.com/ Will this be helpful beyond the anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drops already given?
Thank you for any help/experience! I have never had a rabbit before.