Nest box eye

[Dood]

I have never had a case in 3 years of breeding until now.

Only the kits from my new Californian buck are affected and it seems the himilayan marked ones are even more prone to the infection.

I know its been a brutaly cold winter but my guys are in a heated barn and the kits from neighbouring does are perfectly fine, even the REW ones.

I use to think it was a hygiene issue but not after these results and I am fairly certain this disorder is a heritable trait that can be weeded out of the gene pool with selective breeding.

Needless to say, this buck is off the breeding list and outta my barn ASAP - anyone in Southern Ontario want a proven Californian buck :mrgreen:

 

[Zass]

I've also never seen nest box eye and figured it was a hygiene issue.

Perhaps it can also be something as simple as a sign of a weaker immune system?

 

[skysthelimit]

I agree, Dood. I had a particular doe that always had one kit with nest box eye. After a few repeats, I culled the kit and the doe.

 

[Damani]

I have a 2 1/2 wk old kit with nest box eye. I noticed they are out of the nest and like to stick their heads in the corner where mom has built up a mound of sticky poop and urine. I am treating the eye with chamomile tea washes. I also find the symptoms to agree with Silicea (homeopathic Silica). The eye is somewhat goopy, but the lids are swollen. The other kits are fine. She has had 2 other litters without this complication. I do believe it is an immunity problem and homeopathy is fantastic for speeding the healing response on the molecular level, rather than the tissue level.

 

[Miss M]

Other members on here have noticed that it seems to be largely a heritable trait. It'll be a particular buck's kits, or a particular doe's kits... so some immunity issue being passed down. They cull the affected line, and the problem is gone.

I have seen nest box eye here maybe three times. We're slowly working out of that line. Hopefully, we eventually won't get it any more, either.

 

[GBov]

If you have a doe that is in all other ways perfect but she herself is blind on one side due to nest box eye as a kit, could you cull her kits hard for eye health and work it out of the line or cull the doe herself and not even try with her?

I agree that it seems to be something that can be inherited but how inheritable is it?