Blind Buns!

[PeachyCream]

So Bright Eyes is almost completely blind.. He can see things up to about an inch in front of his face but no further.. Apparently he’s lucky because apparently out of the 7 babies that were born with him, only 2 survived: him and a female. Unfortunately the female was severely malformed and had to be put down after a few months (according to the breeder) :'( .. So I guess he’s lucky that he only got blindness as a side effect. Other than this he seems to be a very healthy young man (or older man, I’m still not sure what his age is). He’s energetic, feisty, a bit cheeky but still a bit on the nervous side. Now his blindness doesn’t seem to affect him too much… He just doesn’t see when I approach and I have to speak to him as I approach him… At first I thought his blindness is what stopped him from jumping on and off furniture but low and behold, 5 days in, he began jumping from the couch and ottoman when I put him on there! Do any of you have buns with sight problems? How do you make them feel safer in spite of their sight? I’d like to know because I really want Bright Eyes to be comfortable in the house…

[BinkyBunny]

We do have some members here with blind bunnies and I hope they will chime in this weekend with some tips.
You can check out an older post that might be helpful https://binkybunny.com/FORUM/tabid/54/aft/110011/Default.aspx (but don’t respond to that post, it’s just for reference only)

My Vivian has recently gone blind in her left eye due to glaucoma. She can see out of her right, but it has a cataract so it’s not great vision. It took Vivian a couple of months to really become comfortable with it, as I could tell she just wasn’t understanding that she no longer had sight and so she would easily be confused when she could hear something from the left side that she could not see. She would not use her good eye to look around to check it out. But now finally she does do that more often. She is startled less now. But to make her comfortable, I just make sure to keep things in the same place. I also make sure I quietly say something as I come in. She hears my footsteps, but before, she would be startled when I would start speaking too close to her. So now I greet her more in advance. Then when I get close to pet her, I rub my fingers together twice – the sound mimics her tooth purr when I am petting her (she always does a gentle grind – two quick grinds moments apart — she and Jack used to also do this to communicate something when they were sitting a few feet from each other, but it seemed like they were doing this when they were relaxed, and it was as if they were just checking in with each other. I don’t know for sure what it means, just that it means something. Either way, when I try to mimic this sound with my fingers, Vivian is not startled when I put my hand on her head to pet her.

[tobyluv]

I had a bunny who developed cataracts and lost his sight. He may have had some sight left, but if he did, it wasn’t much. Like BB, I would speak to him as I was entering the room, and I made sure that the furniture, and his bowls and litter box were always in the same place, and not to set down anything new in his potential pathway. He would occasionally bump into the furniture, but for the most part, he got around pretty well. He was not caged, and he had a sweet companion to help him along and give him a lot of love.

[PeachyCream]

@tobyluv aww that’s so sweet, I get all gushy when I hear about animals interacting =D I chat to him a lot to let him know I’m around. I’ve also tried rubbing my finger tips together to emulate the tooth-purring sound and he seems to respond positively to it, so I might do that from now on

[LBJ10]

No experience with blind bunnies. Only deaf. I do work with a blind bird though. He has a routine that we follow so he knows what is happening and when. His stuff is always in the same place. We also talk to him when we approach and give him verbal commands. I always try to announce myself when I’m close because he gets weirded out when he hears noises and he doesn’t know what’s going on. I would think it would be the same with a bunny. You would want to take care that you don’t startle them and you would want to make sure they know where everything is so they aren’t lost.

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