blind kit

[JessicaR]

I am pretty sure one of my 3 week old lionhead kits is blind I was taking pics of them today when I noticed that the only doe of the litter eyes looked weird. The pupil instead of being black is a milky blue color, which would explain why she is always so jumpy and doesnt like to be held. Now I dont know what to do with her. I will of course tell the woman who wanted her that she is blind and cant be used for breeding. So I dont know if I should try finding her a pet home, keep her myself or just have her put down. I hate the thought of putting her down, she is healthy and eats good. But I will have to eventually put her in her own cage and I dont know how she would deal with that. Plus I dont want her to live in fear of being touched.

I am wondering what could have caused this? None of my other kits have had this problem, is this just a fluke or do BEW's carry a higher risk for eye problems? I am now also wondering do they have the same problems like BEW cats?

 

[fuzzy9]

I don't have any technical information, just wanted to say I hope it works out for the poor little bun bun. Hopefully you could find it a nice pet home where it will have a good life.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Blind animals can be acclimated to their situation-- you always let the animal know where you are-- so talking is VERY important! Always handle gently, firmly, and with the utmost of care. A blind animal can live a healthy, happy life...

 

[mommaebear]

You can look into Moon eye symptoms with e.cuniculi. I had a blind bunny with it, and he lived ell in the house until theyer was and accident and with routine settled in really we. Plus I find people like "broken" animals as pets, makes them feel like that are changing a life

 

[ladysown]

blind rabbit will do just fine.
had one once. She accidentally got bred once, turned into an EXCELLENT brood doe. She knew where everything was in her cage. Kept her kits with her forever and she'd be fine with it. She had three litters for me before she suddenly took a turn for the worse and died.

 

[akane]

Blind small animals usually do just fine in cages so long as you don't move things around. Put the feeder, hayrack, water bottle, treat bowl..etc... in the same spot every time and they have no issues. Talk to them or come up with a warning signal like tapping the feeder to show you are there and don't surprise them. It's a little harder for them to move around a whole room or house but so long as things don't change too much from day to day they usually do ok with a little help. We had a blind terrier for years doing very well but decided to put her down when we had to move. She was at least 14years old and just could not acclimate to an all new house with all new furniture and different people living together than before. I had a blind guinea pig for awhile which I kept with another really laid back male in 2x4' cage with no problems. I eventually rehomed them when my boyfriend and I split up and I had to move back home for a couple months. I sent them with the cage and everything they were used to along with telling the person the layout I'd used for cage items and as far as I know he continued to do fine.

 

[JessicaR]

its good to know she should do ok. She is getting used to us holding her more, and I think she can distinguish light from dark because her pupils will contract in the light. Hopefully i can find her a home if not she will stay here and be my daughters pet.<br /><br />__________ Sun Aug 14, 2011 4:57 pm __________<br /><br />I dont know whats going on but I know have a second blind kit from that litter :x I had checked before when I discovered that the doe was blind and all the others eyes looked normal. Today though I was holding one and its eyes were milky, I thought I picked up the doe again (since they all look the same) but nope there was a blue B in the ear marking him as a buck not the purple D of the doe.

I bred this same doe to the same buck before and all the kits were good now with this one I have 2 blind kits and who knows if any more of them are going to go blind. Now i am thinking I shouldnt breed these guys togather anymore since I am wondering if it is a genetic problem between them.

 

[MaggieJ]

Any possibility this is some kind of eye infection rather than blindness per se?

If it turns out to be genetic, then I agree that is a breeding best avoided in future.

 

[JessicaR]

I dont think its an infection, at least their eyes look normal except for the pupils are cloudy/milky looking. No runny weepy eyes. Is there an eye infection that would show up like that? Maybe I should get eye cream and try it?

If it is genetic should I remove both from breeding or just the doe? The buck has had 3 litters with a different doe and no eye problems, and 2 with this doe, with this last litter showing eye problems. Probably should not use either one just to be safe.

 

[ladysown]

can you post a pic? I'd be wondering about e.cunnculi at this point. it can do weird things to the eye.

 

[JessicaR]

sure I can add a pic. Both eyes look like this on both of the rabbits. I have never heard of e.cunnculi before. But after looking it up I am wondering if that is what it is. I cant find to much info on it and what to do though.

 

[ladysown]

barbi brown has a protocol for treating it when it appears as wry neck.

 

[MaggieJ]

Here's the link to Barbi Brown's Wry Neck page. I don't know how much help it will be, but I knew right where to find it, so thought I'd post it for you.

http://www.barbibrownsbunnies.com/ecuniculi.htm

 

[JessicaR]

Thanks! So should I remove the healthy kits from the litter? They are almost 5 weeks old so they should be fine on their own. It looks like I need to go get some ivomec, I needed some for the dogs anyways.

 

[ladysown]

as with anything that it out of the normal with bunnies. I would isolate the ones that are "off".

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

I think isoalting the affected from the rest of the litter, isolate the remainder of the litter form the herd, and then disinfect with bleach-- Use the Ivomec, and of course, make the sure the kits are as un-stressed as possible So, that would mean-- if still with mom, put mom in one cage, the kits in one next to her.

 

[JessicaR]

Ok thanks hopefulley that will help!