For those not in the loop, Link was originally a companion but for a bun we sadly lost, then, after bonding him with Navi, she had to have a lump removed from her neck, the day or so in surgery and out of the house was enough to change Navi’s scent meaning as far as Link was concerned, we brought a complete stranger back, so he’s lost two bonded companions.
Now, we tried everything to get Link and Navi bonded again, everything from taking it as slow as possible, including cages side by side, then gentle time together in the neutral bathroom, to a slightly more aggressive ‘stress bonding’ of making sure there were things going on, like hoovering, or running a bath while they were out, and even placing them both in a larg-ish box and walking around the flat with it.
Navi responded well to it all, but not Link… He just continued to bite Navi’s nose while she was trying to snuggle
Anyway, the day we decided to call it quits and give them both a rest for a month or so, we noticed a slight change in Link’s behaviour… On closer inspection, we noticed his eye was somewhat inflamed…
Straight off to the vets we went.
After a log of hummming and ahhhing… And the vet sticking his nose in a number of textbooks, we concluded it was E Cuniculi.
Our vet actually did his thesis on E Cuniculi in the eye, but even so, had never seen a case caught so early.
So, we started the usual meds, Batrill, Panacure and Metacam for nearly two months. and a couple of blood tests to keep an eye on the level of E Cuniculi fighting antibodies in Link’s blood.
Well, a couple of months down the line, Link is doing well. He’s only on the Metacam for the time being, but we’re about to start another month of the Panacure.
He’s a happy bun, always running around our bedroom (Which he’s quarentined in for now, although, I think he’ll likely be a permenent addition to our bedroom and the girls can have the ‘bun room’).
And today, for the first time since Link fell ill, I’ve finally managed to get a couple of worthwhile photos of his eye while he was having his morning Metacam.
Links left, normal eye (To give a basis of comparison)
And his right eye at the moment.
He doesn’t have any of the usual masses in his eye that is normally associated with E Cuniculi, mainly because we caught it so early, but he does have a significant discolouring of the iris, and, when you get in really close, there are a couple of raised bits at the top of his iris, where the tell tale eruption would have been if we didn’t catch it in time.
Link’s still a very stubborn bun, grunting at you if you don’t get his morning pellets (which are medicated) to him in time, but, he also seems like a rather happy bun. Always running around the bed at high speeds in the early hours of the morning, and wandering around, investigating whoever is still sleeping in the bed. (Usually me and a cat or two)