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 Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2009 9:07 pm
Apologies for the length! I didn't realize how long this was!Just wondering if anyone's ever had any experience with this or has any tips that might be helpful.
Both of our adult rabbits came from a family friend who breeds them. Our adults are half-siblings (same dad). The rabbits mentioned in this post are half-siblings to my male rabbit (same mother). I think this is her second litter. Last one had no problems, but this was a different father. We're wondering if there was something in the genetics of combining Caramel (the mom) and Popper (the father of this last litter) that made them more predisposed....
Anyway, three of the baby rabbits (according to the vet, all girls) developed eye problems. It at first just seemed that they were maybe taking longer to open their eyes, and the owner tried to keep them clean in case they were overproducing anything that might cause them to stick together. Well, now they just hit weaning age, and there were still problems. Out of a littler of (I think) 7 or 8, one kit couldn't open either eye. Two others had the same issue with one eye. Obviously not normal. My mom, being the bleeding heart she is (and God bless her, I love her for being such a kind person) wanted to take the ones will problems, since we have less animals than our friend and can deal with the daily care better until they're well (not that we'll give themn away when they are). The kits were just recently weaned, pretty much as early and possible (in a healthy time schedule) to prevent the problem from spreading further, just in case. They just had their vet visit today (March 13th).
The vet we took them to is a really nice guy, great with odd animals like reptiles and rabbits. He took almost two hours examining the kits and reviewing the problem/treatment methods with my mom. His explanation was that all rabbits have natural bacteria in their eyes. In not-so-common cases like this, it can get out of control. The rabbits, quite literally, have ulcerated eyes. Eye ulcers - I don't even want to think about it. x-x They're on oral antibiotic liquid and some sort of antibiotic eye treatment. The vet said that, while they shouldn't share space, and we should change clothes/clean up before we handle our adult rabbits after the kits, it's not something contagious enough to be spread without close physical contact. They're all fine in the same room.
So basically, I'm wondering if anyone else has had experience with blind small pets. I know that, when they get old enough to come out of the cage, at least the blind one's going to need a very defined area without anything to bump into, or at least things with established borders that she can learn. I also brought the idea that, when they get too big and need separated, the blind one should also be the one to stay in this current cage, since she has to memorize the layout.
We're keeping all three in an adult-size cage together for now, as the siblings are obviously more comfortable together than separated. They're about 5 weeks old. All were eating and drinking on their own before we took them home, and all have eaten and least hay and drank from their water bottle in their cage as of this evening. The vet can't tell whether or not their vision will return in the affected eyes - we'll have to see. The completely blind one is partially opening one of her eyes now. Doesn't mean she'll be able to see out of it. My mom gets a bit "Oh, poor girl, she must be so confused because she can't see," to which I try to remind her that, while it poses problems for her, she doesn't know any different and doesn't feel bad or disadvantaged herself. She learns to walk around the perimeter of the cage to find out where in it she is and to find the food and water. She actually functions quite well and even went for a little bit of exploring at the far side of the cage (out near where we were) before hearing us getting excited about it and rushing back to snuggle with her sisters.
So, here's the breakdown of the girls and their personality/problems/behavior:
Mary: Can't see out of either eye and has the worst symptoms. While she was a bit stubborn and didn't want to eat at first, we got her to eat hay and some pellets that we provided and also got her to drink. After being returned to her cage, she ate a bit herself and found/used the water bottle.
Elizabeth (Lizzy): Can't see out of left eye, second-worst symptoms and behavior. She's the most stubborn of all three, I think, and took the longest to get her to take food from us. She only took a few dribbles of water when we tried. After a little bit in the cage after our evening feeding/water session, she also ate and drank in the cage by herself. She also made sure to walk through the bowl of pellets and to lay down in the hay while she ate it. I saw her explore the cage perimeter once - tagging along close behind Mary! The blind leading the semi-blind? o.0
Anna: One eye cannot see (can't remember which right now). She has the most promising amount of energy, least amount of worrying behavior, and seems rather unfazed by her new surroundings. She ate and drank by herself without us starting her off and explores the whole cage without worry. She's a bit of the "big sister" and clambers around the others/grooms them. When they snuggle together, at least one of the other two is usually behind Anna.
Gracious, we have a lot of work ahead of us....
Edit: Photo! Lizzy's up front, with Mary in the back. Amy is the little black and orange nose under/behind Lizzy.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 12:03 am
Actually your blind rabbits shouldn't really be any different than caring for any other rabbit. Although rabbits have good long distance sight, for spotting predators, their close up vision like many other small critters isn't that great. They rely on their sense of smell, hearing, and whiskers far more when it comes to shuffling around the world. Only thing I would really pay extra attention to is when you have them up someplace high like a table or bed. Because they lack eyesight they can be even more prone to accidentally taking a dive off of a high object.
As for allowing them out of the cage, if you plan to let them have a room/explore the house you can help them out by getting a little kit of a several essential oils. You can use one scent for doorways, another scent to mean there is a drop off like stairs or a step down and so on.
Don't worry about them bumping into things. Unlike humans they have handy whiskers to help them navigate and explore knew surroundings.
Naturally though if you make a major change in a room they are used to bopping around in on a daily basis, you will want to bring them over and let them feel/smell the new object so they can check it out.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:06 am
Krissim Klaw Actually your blind rabbits shouldn't really be any different than caring for any other rabbit. Although rabbits have good long distance sight, for spotting predators, their close up vision like many other small critters isn't that great. They rely on their sense of smell, hearing, and whiskers far more when it comes to shuffling around the world. Only thing I would really pay extra attention to is when you have them up someplace high like a table or bed. Because they lack eyesight they can be even more prone to accidentally taking a dive off of a high object. As for allowing them out of the cage, if you plan to let them have a room/explore the house you can help them out by getting a little kit of a several essential oils. You can use one scent for doorways, another scent to mean there is a drop off like stairs or a step down and so on. Don't worry about them bumping into things. Unlike humans they have handy whiskers to help them navigate and explore knew surroundings. Naturally though if you make a major change in a room they are used to bopping around in on a daily basis, you will want to bring them over and let them feel/smell the new object so they can check it out.
I personally wouldn't trust them around anything elevated above anything else, partially because of the depth perception thing, like you mentioned (had a gerbil once I took home because she leapt off a table in a high school biology class and broke her tail), and partially because we had a hamster that went a wacko once and started jumping off the upper platform of her cage, then started doing it off her bars when we took that away until she broke her own neck. > - > I don't trust rodents with heights, with the exception of maybe something like rats that are more built to understand/use climbing.
The scents is an interesting idea. Thanks for that. It might be a good idea to at least leave something like the food close to the edge of the bars of the cagte when they're out, so they know where home is..... not that they're big enough to get in and out by themselves yet! They're small enough to hold in one hand. ^-^ I'd be very cautious about what to use for scents, though - I know small animals can have sensitive lungs, and I don't want anything they can react to.
Side note: Lizzy was up and about when I got up this morning, resting at the front of the cage and eating some hay/pellets. The other two were snuggling asleep in the back, and Lizzy joined them after a while (see photo added to above post). I think she fell asleep right on top of Amy! Amy's nose and head aren't covered, though, so everything's okay.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:22 pm
Eucalyptus and Vanilla can be very simple easy scents that the rabbits can pick up on. I wouldn't worry too much about them running into things, just keep all sharper edges covered with something and they should be fine.
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 9:07 pm
I think your rabbits should do just fine even if they can't see very well or at all. Many animals adapt quite well with blindness because their other senses are quite strong. If anything, humans have the most problems with loss of sight because it is one of our strongest senses. Rabbits have strong hearing and smell, so they should have no problem finding food or anything like that. Just watch where they go, and make sure nothing startles them too badly. They might be a little more nervous then other rabbits.
I had a fish just lose an eye to an infection and in his old age, the chance that his vision in his other eye will go is quite high. Fish have an wonderful sense of smell and motion and he has been adapting quite well. It takes him a little longer to find his food. It's creepy though, he'll swim over to say "hi" to me and stares at me with his empty eye socket. eek
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Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2009 10:30 pm
Aw. Poor fish. None of my bettas have ever lost eyes, but they've had plenty of other problems.
Hopefully I'm not jinxing it, but I think all three might make it. We weren't so sure about Mary, the worst-off one, as of earlier this afternoon. She'd eaten the night before and hadn't seemed to have done so since. The vet said she would have been dead pretty soon without medical care, so we weren't certain if she was going to make it at all. My mom brought her out to feed her this afternoon, as she hadn't eaten all day. She was really weak and refused everything at first, then ate a little bit of food - wouldn't really take the water. After my mom got some food in her, we tried what seemed to work the night before - putting her back in with her sisters in hopes that our waking her up and getting some food in her stomach would encourage her. She went back and huddled with her sisters for a bit, then Lizzy groomed her a little, and that seemed to wake her up. She wandered over to the hay and ate by herself, even drank a little! =D She ate and drank more when we got home this evening, and I'm pretty positive she's the one I saw eating when I went downstairs about an hour ago. She's only eating hay so far - refusing the pellets for now - but that's much better than nothing! She seems most interested in eating if her sisters are up and awake, particularly Lizzy. Those two are together far more often than either is with Anna (she's way more independent, though friendly). Lizzy's acting much better herself. Plenty of eating and drinking (pellets and hay), and she's very alert. She wants to leap off my arms every time I hold her - she doesn't quite realize that that's a bad idea!
They fell asleep this evening with Anna on the left facing left, Mary on the right facing right, and Lizzy on her stomach in front of Mary, with Mary's right front leg across her back. It was too cute.
Our two adult rabbits are determined to get in with those babies, whether for good or bad. xd Marple, our female, refused to leave the back of the babies' cage, kept trying to figure out how to get in, and eventually plopped down next to it. Fawn, my male, did much of the same, but figured out that he could get under the throw covering the back half of their cage and get a peek at them. Anna came over with this "Who the heck are you, and what are you doing?!" confused posture. Fawn would stick his head up, then duck down and move around, then peek over again, then move again.... he moves a little too fast for anyone to get much of a read on what he's doing. Oh, and he also tried to pull the throw off of their cage.... xd
Overall, though, the kits seemed to like when the adults each came out for their evening romps - the activity of other bunnies around them must've made them feel safe, as they all woke up and ate at that time. They also tend to prefer when we're up and in the kitchen - I'd say it's probably a prey animal thing where, so long as other animals are roaming around near them, that means it must be safe for them to roam around. When I came downstairs and found Mary eating a little bit ago, everything was pretty much quiet in the house (it was about 12:30am). She heard me pass by, stopped eating, and picked up one ear a little, but she relaxed and ate again the moment I spoke to her a bit. "Oh, just a person, okay." I don't think most noises will be much of a problem for them, as they were all raised within 50-100 feet of other rabbits, a visiting barn dog, barn cats, pigs, horses, and sometimes a radio or power tools. Their mother lived in the same place since she was a few months old, so she was used to it as well. I think it's a pretty good thing - they don't grow up afraid of noise.
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Posted: Sun Mar 22, 2009 9:07 pm
Well I read your post and you'd be amazed that we have cared for disabled pets as well. Even a blind kitten named Margette. Margette was not a particularly healthy kitten before hand and it was never easy for her to develop as the other kittens. Apart from being blind she was maul nourished. Margette lead to this, because her mother a cat we owned had her uterus on the outside after birthing so many kittens. We think it was just to much for the size she was. We bottle fed her as well as another disabled kitten named Ness (who had a disfigured leg). Anyway in the case of Margette she learned to cope beautifully. Unfortunately my cousin had a dog and it was part coyote. The coyote got her and like the natural coyote would mauled her. She didn't make it, but up til then her coping was very successful.
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:16 pm
I bottle-raised Plicethenese who was partially blind because his mama, Nani, attacked him at a tiny Joey and scarred most of his eye. Because he was very young, little was done to accommodate him... he grew up not knowing anything different, and so had little trouble with this problem.
However, it did make him a LOUD little cuss. He couldn't always see who was coming up on him, it scared him, but rather than hide he would just crab and yell at anything in his way to sound bigger than he was. xd
As for adaptations, it did mean he could not be placed with a regular cage mate. He would bully a shy one, to prove he was tough stuff despite his fuzzy sight, but a dominant male could hurt him. We found his perfect friend, though, and he was placed with another special needs glider named Special K. Special K has Hind Leg Paralysis and lives in an adapted cage for his disabilities. They work together and help each other.
That is one thing I recommend. Don't keep blind animals alone. By an ironic twist, Nani is now losing her sight. While it is much more traumatic for her, ********* and Lilo make sure she is always okay. biggrin
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Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 3:28 pm
Touching stories, everyone, =) So sorry about Margrette, though. I know from family experience that coyotes are very prey-aggressive - we've had them go after our full-grown cats before, so I can see a half-coyote going after a kitten quite easily.
I'm happy to say that they are now off oral antibiotics (20 days of treatment!), though my mom's still administering the eye ointment twice daily until the next vet check-up. I'm also happy to say that all three girls seem active and healthy now, and they're all about twice as big as when we first got them! Weak little Mary's become downright pushy with her sisters, clambering right on top of them whenever they're in the way. Lizzie seems to be the one who has to put up with the most, since she just stands there and lets everyone literally walk over her. She'll likely to be the first to get her own cage - she goes off on her own more than the other two. Anna is like a mother to the other two - she grooms everyone and shoves your hand away if you try to pick up Mary, even if Mary's bugging her at the time. They still all love the adults (Mary particularly gets excited when Fawn's out and starts leaping around the cage), and the adults are still crazy about them. When he wears himself out running around, Fawn wedges himself between their cage and Marple's (our adult female rabbit) and lies down there.
It will unfortunately be impossible for us to keep the girls in the same cage when they're fully grown, as they're simply too large to fit in any available around us. A custom-built one that big likely won't even fit in our little home! However, all our rabbits stay directly next to each other and get let out to run daily in the kitchen (with all the other bunny cages), so none of them ever feel lonely. So long as no aggressive behavior develops, the sisters should all be able to be let out together at that time. Heck, they might even be able to go out with Marple, too, as soon as they're big enough. My mom tried letting her out with the babies (for a few minutes - the size difference is too big still to do this for longer), and the biggest issue was to get her to stop following them! She loves them.
New picture! This one was taken just a week or two ago. Lizzie's in front, with Anna behind her and Mary on the right.
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