NZ Red buck stone blind?!?

[GBov]

My hubby bought me three NZ reds ths last spring. Two does and a buck. Brother, sister and daughter by another buck.

They were all very skittish, over weight and anybodies guess how old. Seller said two for the brother, sister and one for the daughter.

The buck was so frightened of everything he kept himself pressed into the edge of the cage all the time and has a tilt to his head to match the angle of pressing. It looks like he has spent his entire life pressed into cage edges.

They wouldn't breed, wouldn't be petted, were absolutely miserable so I got fed up with them and turned them loose in the exercise pen. Its 15ft by 30ft with a sand floor.


They LOVED it! They started coming over to see my feet and were even starting to let me touch them.

Then I discovered the buck was blind in one eye, overnight! His eye had gone blueish white. And as the does were digging burrows by then I caught them and put them into my nest cages. No babies appeared but they settled in alright so they are still in the cages.


The buck was happy enough with his life and one eye so I left him in the pen.

Had a look at him today and his other eye is now a match to he first one.

__________ Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:02 pm __________

Sorry about the two post question but my text was jumping top to bottom with each letter I typed!

Big Red's eyes are blemish free. No spots, gashes, imperfections, shiny and clean looking, just china white.

What could have caused it? Is it genetic or disease?

I thought a hen had done it as they sometimes get into the exercise pen but a blow hard enough to blind a rabbit should have left a mark at the very least and would most likely have taken the eye right out!

Am well stumped! And as I really want some red babies, what do I do with them? If its genetic I really DONT WANT blindness in my red line!<br /><br />__________ Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:03 pm __________<br /><br />And if he was jumpy to work around before, he is - understandably - even worse now!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Could you get some pics? I had a rabbit die of pasteurella that presented as an abscess in the eye. She looked like she had a cataract.

 

[GBov]

Could you get some pics? I had a rabbit die of pasteurella that presented as an abscess in the eye. She looked like she had a cataract.

I shall try to get a picture tomorrow.

 

[MaggieJ]

It worries me a little that he had symptoms of head tilt/wry neck and now is blind. Apparently the two can go together. I am by no means experienced with rabbit diseases, but I did a google search for causes of sudden blindness in rabbits and found this:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html
Scroll down to Protozoal disease

rabbits with head tilt caused by E. cuniculi will likely have at least one other sign of central disease such as weakness, paralysis, blindness, altered appetite, tremors or seizures.

Unfortunately, it does not describe what the affected eyes look like. All the same, you may wish to look into it further. I would keep him isolated until you know what you are dealing with.

 

[GBov]

Th left eye, was fine last week.



The right eye, first to go blind.



The entire rabbit.

__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:12 pm __________

Sorry about the slight fuzz to the pictures, it was raining and I didnt want to get the camera wet so just ran and snapped.

__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:13 pm __________

Shouldnt wry neck be more pronounced than a slight tilt?<br /><br />__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:05 pm __________<br /><br />I had a good read up on wry neck but he doesnt have any of the falling down or body tilt or anything else, just a slight tilt to his head.

My hubby spent $30 on him so he will be a rather expensive dinner if I have to cull him, not to mention the two does.

Feel free to chime in anytime now folks opcorn:

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Protozoal disease - Encephalitozoan cuniculi is a one-celled organism called a microsporidian that can infect rabbits. Adult rabbits are infected by either ingesting or inhaling the spores (the reproductive organisms) passed in the urine of animals with active disease. However, the majority of rabbits become infected from their mother through the placenta during pregnancy. After entering the body of the rabbit, the infective spores pass through the intestine and then move throughout the body to the heart, lungs, liver and spleen. At this point in the disease most rabbits show no outward signs of illness. In some rabbits, however, E. cuniculi will eventually spread onward to the kidneys, eye and brain. Even at this stage, many rabbits will show no signs of disease and live normal lives. Others however can show serious consequences, including death if the infection overwhelms the ability of their immune system to contain it.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Feel free to chime in anytime now folks opcorn:

LOL!

Sorry, I'm stumped. The eyes look like they have a general opacity to them... my bun-rab looked very different, with a whitish form in her pupil.

I'm sure the severity of the symptoms varies from rabbit to rabbit, and some have more symptoms at one time than others. I read a bit of the link MaggieJ posted, and it does sound a lot like wry neck to me.

Genetic or disease, you don't want to take a chance with more of the same in your herd.

 

[GBov]

It worries me a little that he had symptoms of head tilt/wry neck and now is blind. Apparently the two can go together. I am by no means experienced with rabbit diseases, but I did a google search for causes of sudden blindness in rabbits and found this:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html
Scroll down to Protozoal disease

rabbits with head tilt caused by E. cuniculi will likely have at least one other sign of central disease such as weakness, paralysis, blindness, altered appetite, tremors or seizures.

Unfortunately, it does not describe what the affected eyes look like. All the same, you may wish to look into it further. I would keep him isolated until you know what you are dealing with.

He is one of three rabbits to lately inhabit the chicken/rabbit exercise pen. Before them it was an impromptu colony with a doe and her buck and their numerous offspring. In all about 30 some rabbits have lived there, on and off, for about two years.

He is the only one that is blind.

We did have, three different times, very small baby bunnies come above ground early and die. Each one just got weaker, wheezed a bit, and was dead by day two or three. No amount of putting them back in the burrow worked.

I thought it was the fine dusty sand in the burrow causing it so we caught the doe and let her have her litters in a cage. Out of her last three litters we had one very small bun fail to thrive, get weaker and weaker, wheeze a bit, and die. Even holding the doe so it could feed and then fostering it into a litter of day olds didn't save it.

But no head tilts, no blindness, no dizziness, no falling over, nothing like in your link.

I know he can breed when blind, well, they dont need eyes for that lol. But if its genetic I dont want it in my herd.

__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:45 pm __________

But if its genetic, wouldnt his sister be showing some sign of it?

AAAAARGH!!! I dont know what to doooooooo!

Its really hard to cull $90 worth of rabbits, esp. when two of them look just fine and the other is eating and acting normal!<br /><br />__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:48 pm __________<br /><br />Didnt I read that wry neck is passed from doe to kit via the placenta?

If its the buck, and if it is wry neck, wouldnt that still make him a safe breeder?

And if it is wry neck, why did he get it and no other rabbit in the place get it too?

 

[Typykal]

It worries me a little that he had symptoms of head tilt/wry neck and now is blind. Apparently the two can go together. I am by no means experienced with rabbit diseases, but I did a google search for causes of sudden blindness in rabbits and found this:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/tilt.html
Scroll down to Protozoal disease

rabbits with head tilt caused by E. cuniculi will likely have at least one other sign of central disease such as weakness, paralysis, blindness, altered appetite, tremors or seizures.

Unfortunately, it does not describe what the affected eyes look like. All the same, you may wish to look into it further. I would keep him isolated until you know what you are dealing with.

He is one of three rabbits to lately inhabit the chicken/rabbit exercise pen. Before them it was an impromptu colony with a doe and her buck and their numerous offspring. In all about 30 some rabbits have lived there, on and off, for about two years.

He is the only one that is blind.

We did have, three different times, very small baby bunnies come above ground early and die. Each one just got weaker, wheezed a bit, and was dead by day two or three. No amount of putting them back in the burrow worked.

I thought it was the fine dusty sand in the burrow causing it so we caught the doe and let her have her litters in a cage. Out of her last three litters we had one very small bun fail to thrive, get weaker and weaker, wheeze a bit, and die. Even holding the doe so it could feed and then fostering it into a litter of day olds didn't save it.

But no head tilts, no blindness, no dizziness, no falling over, nothing like in your link.

I know he can breed when blind, well, they dont need eyes for that lol. But if its genetic I dont want it in my herd.

__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:45 pm __________

But if its genetic, wouldnt his sister be showing some sign of it?

AAAAARGH!!! I dont know what to doooooooo!

Its really hard to cull $90 worth of rabbits, esp. when two of them look just fine and the other is eating and acting normal!

__________ Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:48 pm __________

Didnt I read that wry neck is passed from doe to kit via the placenta?

If its the buck, and if it is wry neck, wouldnt that still make him a safe breeder?

And if it is wry neck, why did he get it and no other rabbit in the place get it too?

It could be E. Cuniculi, I have my suspicions too. It's present in most rabbits, and most never show symptoms or become ill from it. But it is opportunistic, in times of illness, stress or a compromised immune system. It can be spread through birth, but can also be spread via contact with urine from a rabbit that is shedding it. I have read that there has been success in treating with fenbendazole (Panacur, and Safguard wormers). Might be worth a shot, as long as you isolate him. If it doesn't work, you're only out a couple dollars.

 

[GBov]

Would treatment bring back his eyesight? Or just make him non-contagious and fit to breed? Or what?

Sorry I sound so lacking in know how, but so far my rabbits have been super trouble free!

 

[Typykal]

My understanding is that treatment would not reverse the damage already done, just stops any further damage. As far as being contagious there is a great deal of argument. I have read they are only contagious for a period of time ranging for a few weeks to a few months, and then are no longer contagious - but I have also read that they will periodically continue to shed spores throughout their life. There is also a great deal of argument about whether successfully treated rabbit can actually be called cured. Unfortunately, while I did a great deal of reading on it a few months ago I came away with more questions than answers... it would seem that we really don't know a lot about it yet. There are many conflicting opinions.

Would he be fit to breed? If it were me I wouldn't chance it, I'd replace him, whether it is e. cuniculi or not. Something in his genetic makeup allowed him to become ill, while the rest of your herd stayed healthy. Personally, I wouldn't cull the does unless they show symptoms, others might.

 

[GBov]

I do have a lovely, friendly, very outgoing young NZ red buck to replace him with. I had just hoped to get a few breedings by this one first so I had two different lines to work with.