PICTURES ADDED Baby rabbit with cataract

I have a litter of 6 lionheads. 1 of the babies has what appears to be a cataract in one eye. The eye has a cloudy opaque look to it. Vet visit is not an option. What will happen if left untreated? I'm concerned that I am going to have to put the rabbit down as selling it is probably a bad idea and keeping it is not really something that I want to do.

Rabbits can get juvenile cataracts...it will just be blind in that one eye. It *may* develop one in the other eye too. OR, it is *possible* that it is E. Cuniculi. That can cause a cloudy, opaque look the eye as well. Can you post a picture?

I'll try to post a picture tomorrow.

If the kit had nestbox eye it can scar the surface of the eye, giving it a cloudy appearance.

have you had any others with an eye problem in the past, or any history of head tilt, or back or front paralysis ,- [ EC ] in your rabbitry?
-- If not-- it could just be one of the things listed above, or- if using straw , or coarse hay for nest box bedding they sometimes get poked in the eye and cause some damage. [just a guess]
There are some treatments available for EC if you suspect it, and most rabbits tested have been exposed to it [according to internet sources]

michaels4gardens":25srur1v said:

have you had any others with an eye problem in the past, or any history of head tilt, or back or front paralysis ,- [ EC ] in your rabbitry?
-- If not-- it could just be one of the things listed above, or- if using straw , or coarse hay for nest box bedding they sometimes get poked in the eye and cause some damage. [just a guess]
There are some treatments available for EC if you suspect it, and most rabbits tested have been exposed to it [according to internet sources]

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I added pictures


No history of eye problems or any illness. Only problems I have had over 5 years were
Last year I was sick and cages didn't get clean, a couple of rabbits had weepy eyes from ammonia level. Clear within 2 days of cleaning, nothing since. I've lost a number of babies at birth, none from this litter though. I thought I had fur mites from some French Angoras that I added but other than a bald spot there were no sign to validate my thoughts. I has been cleared up for a couple of months.

I used shredded newspaper and hay. 75% newspaper, 25% hay.

the eye looks the same as the EC cases I have seen,[no outside scar tissue] when it was transmitted through the mom, into the unborns eye. Several treatments are available to "clean up" the doe if you suspect she is a carrier.

Anything that would clear up the eye on the baby? I'm in a pickle because I won't sell it with the eye, don't have the room to care for it for up to 10 years and not sure the family will like me culling it.

You could do the routine treatment for e.cuniculi and give panacur/ fenbendenzole and see if it clears up. Or, there's also another drug that people are using for e. cuniculi called toltrazuril which can be bought here http://www.allthingsbunnies.com/product-p/med132.htm which some believe works better for e.cuniculi. But really, its hard to know if the cataract is really from e.cuniculi for sure and whether it will clear up if treated.

If you decide to treat, please document what you are doing so if it works and the cataract regresses you can share it with other members.

It sure is a cute little bunny. I hope you can cure it. :good-luck:

ckcs, what it sounds like you need is a snake owner friend.
Someone you would trust to dispatch humanely. (Although, few snake owners are foolish enough to attempt live feeding rabbits.)
Anyway...snakes have to eat too... I like animals in general, so, I also like snakes. I like the snake owners I know, so I usually feel pretty good about snake food kits.

I'm not saying don't try to help the kit. I think everyone would like to know if it would respond to treatment.
And by all means, save any kit you can!
I was just thinking that it's a matter of time before there are more kits that have problems that would make one not want to sell them or keep them for breeding.

They are part of my Lionlop project. I was breeding brother to sister and the babies were wonderful. This past year I head back a DM Lionhead buck and now wonky issues are popping up. I bred that lionhead buck to his dam and 3 babies were very tiny and died. The 4th died after a couple of weeks but may have been from a fall. The cataract baby resulted from using the lionhead buck that I held back. I have 2 more lionheads due soon that he will be the sire of. His procreating days are done though. I'll stick with my original 7 year old chestnut buck whom I've never had problems with. I'll introduce another buck this year from separate lines.

I'll be petting the lionhead buck sire soon. Maybe cataract baby can live in his cage. Sigh another free loader lol. I'll just have my wife sing
And his mama cries
Cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto

Just wanted to say, my optometrist mother (who does not raise rabbits) looked at the picture and said that it is probably a cataract. She said that a scratch or an infection would be more diffuse, less uniform, and probably whiter in color (not as dense of a color). <br /><br /> -- Wed May 14, 2014 10:04 pm -- <br /><br /> Also, just to point out cataracts are not genetically inherited.

squidpop":7uich7gs said:

You could do the routine treatment for e.cuniculi and give panacur/ fenbendenzole and see if it clears up. Or, there's also another drug that people are using for e. cuniculi called toltrazuril which can be bought here http://www.allthingsbunnies.com/product-p/med132.htm which some believe works better for e.cuniculi. But really, its hard to know if the cataract is really from e.cuniculi for sure and whether it will clear up if treated.

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MamaSheepdog":7uich7gs said:

If you decide to treat, please document what you are doing so if it works and the cataract regresses you can share it with other members.

It sure is a cute little bunny. I hope you can cure it. :good-luck:

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Treatment sounds so hit or miss. If I do treat I will document it. If it is e.cuniculi will it stick to the eye or will it transform in the Neurological disease - head tilt, unsteadiness, weakness of the hind legs, neck spasm and urinary incontinence or Kidney disease? I see Fenbendazole in some canine dewormers can this be used by adjusting the dose?

WildWolf":7uich7gs said:

Just wanted to say, my optometrist mother (who does not raise rabbits) looked at the picture and said that it is probably a cataract. She said that a scratch or an infection would be more diffuse, less uniform, and probably whiter in color (not as dense of a color).

-- Wed May 14, 2014 10:04 pm --

Also, just to point out cataracts are not genetically inherited.

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I'm hoping that is the case. Am I correct that other than eventual blindness the rabbit could live a normal life? I've read it will likely turn into Glaucoma.

Someone we know has about 14 rabbits living in same sex colonies. I may ask them to take the rabbit in when it gets older. Till then we will care for it.

Most rabbits with EC live a normal healthy life, and we never know they had it, -- but-- if the rabbit has a weakened immune system, for some reason, it can manifest then. The eye problem will most likely be confined to the eye. and if treated, will not show up later unless re-infected. EC is only spread through the urine for a short time. -and with wire floors ,exposure is limited.-
"according to the internet" more then half of all rabbits tested in the US had been exposed to EC [EC blood titer test]
In the UK 80% had a positive titer test, - so ,it is very likely we all have, or have had, some of it in our rabbits. Those who practice colony rabbit raising ,or solid floor raising of rabbits are much more likely to have wide-spread exposure.

ckcs":nn1ojdoo said:

I'm hoping that is the case. Am I correct that other than eventual blindness the rabbit could live a normal life? I've read it will likely turn into Glaucoma.

Someone we know has about 14 rabbits living in same sex colonies. I may ask them to take the rabbit in when it gets older. Till then we will care for it.

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The cataract will only cause blindness. Hypermature cataracts can cause Glaucoma, but the cataract might not be hypermature, and it doesn't happen every time. Still, it is a possibility.

Just thought I would post this link here incase it helps.
It is a paper about the efficacy of fenbendazole in a group of rabbits.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11334074

But would also like to add, after reading a lot about various drugs I've found lots of anecdotal stories and conflicting evidence which has made me unsure of what to recommend as far as treating e.cuniculi is concerned. All of the drugs I've read about worked for some rabbits but not others, which could mean they were misdiagnosed from the beginning or that the drugs simply didn't work. There are rabbitry owners who say they treated with panacur for 60 days and the e.cuniculi came back- but then they treated with ivermectin and never had a case again. However, a parasitologist I emailed told me ivermectin kills worms by attacking the neuromuscular system and since e.cuniculi is a protozoa with no neuromuscular system ivermectin could not work. So, hard to know what to believe. Most vets would recommend the fenbendazole because of the study I posted above which did seem to prove some efficacy. But then again, a rabbit rescue person (who I respect) who has used panacur believes the infections usually reoccur and told me if I could get it, toltrazuril would be better. So, I myself am confused as to what would be best.

Barbi Brown says she has treated hundreds of rabbits with ivermectin with success and I've emailed her and she answers. So maybe it would be good to email her and ask her if she ever treated a rabbit with a cataract with ivermectin and did the cataract go away?