Daisy has glaucoma!

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BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

This topic has 9sd replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 9 months ago by Marty .

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- 04/21/2016 at 2:42 PM
  Daisy
  Participant
  10 posts
  Hi everyone! My two year old holland lop, Daisy, was just diagnosed with glaucoma yesterday. Her eyes are very clouded over, but she still has her sight. The vet gave me some beta blocking eyedrops for her to take 3 times a day and we have a follow up appointment tomorrow to see if they are working.
  
  I was wondering if any of you have dealt with glaucoma with a bunny who is this young and who is still at a stage where they can see. Did you use eyedrops? Did they work? How soon did they seem to take effect? Any tips? I just want Daisy to be as happy and comfortable as possible and for her to be able to keep her eyesight.
  
  The vet said that the cloudiness should be gone withing 48 hours if the drops are working. Sofar I haven’t seen any signs of improvement, but she has only had two doses sofar.
  
  I would appreciate any information or experience any of you have! Thank you!!
- 04/21/2016 at 3:10 PM
  Gina.Jenny
  Participant
  2244 posts
  No experience of this, but healing vibes for (Daisy)
- 04/23/2016 at 1:13 AM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  BinkyBunny has experience with this. Her bunny Vivian had glaucoma. I’ll let her know about your questions and hopefully she can share her experiences when she has some time.
  Unfortunately, glaucoma is common in rabbits. From what I understand, treatment is limited to using drops (as you are doing) and regular checks of the intra-ocular pressure.
  
  How is Daisy doing? I don’t know if rabbits with glaucoma need to go on a pain medication also, or if the eye drops are enough to manage pain. It might vary case by case. Hopefully this is something BB will know the answer to.
- 04/24/2016 at 1:04 AM
  Daisy
  Participant
  10 posts
  Thank you so much for contacting her!
  Daisy is doing better sofar. She has been on eyedrops for about 5 days now. The pressure in one eye is back down in the normal range, but the other hasnt come down much yet. She isnt on any pain medication because when the pressure is down she is comfortable. She is taking antibiotic eyedrops for a corneal ulcer too. I am hoping that the drops continue to work long term! I’m not sure how I feel about eye removal.
- 04/25/2016 at 6:27 PM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Hi Daisy! Welcome to BinkyBunny. I am sorry your bunny has glaucoma. My bunny, Viv, had all kinds of eye issues, cataracts that made her blind, a slow healing ulcer, and glaucoma — and the glaucoma was the easiest to deal with.
  
  The first drops, Dorzolamide HCL – the generic for Trusopt, worked for a while and then they stopped working.
  
  We then tried Dorzolamide HCI Timolol – the generic for Cosopt, and they seemed to do the trick, but then when I went to a vet opthomologist (for an eye ulcer Viv had), The the vet recommended that I also take her off the Dorzolamide HCI Timolol (Cosopt) as it has some adverse affects on the heart, and at her age, it is not recommended. (she was older than 9). So the Optho Vet recommended that I go back to the original Dorzalamide HCL(trusopt) and just up it to 3 x a day. The vet had mentioned another med that might also work (can’t remember the name,) but she couldn’t use it at the time because it couldn’t be used while she was healing from the ulcer.
  
  But the Dorzalamide HCL(trusopt) 3 x day seemed to work just fine — keeping it between 19-24 (30 is where it is not so good and can be painful).
  
  What meds is your bunny on? How is she acting? How do her eyes look?
  
  After awhile I could begin to tell when the pressure was a bit too high as her eye would become just a bit bulgier than normal.
  
  Good Luck with everything and I hope the meds work for your bunny.
  
  Keep us updated!
- 05/06/2016 at 12:30 AM
  Daisy
  Participant
  10 posts
  Hi BB! Thanks for the reply!
  
  Daisy is on Dorzolamide HCI Timolol 3x per day. At her last follow up appointment, her pressures were in the normal range. Both eyes used to be very cloudy and bulgy but are clearing up and are back to a normal size now. She seems to be much happier and the vet has determined that she most likely hasn’t lost any vision! We have another appointment soon to decide what her long-term dose is going to be–it will most likely continue to be 3x per day.
  
  Did Viv stay on Dorzalamide long term? My main concern is that the medication will stop working eventually and we will have to consider eye removal. I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that! Daisy is only 2 years old and I’m hoping that she will still be able to live a long life with both of her eyes!
- 05/06/2016 at 11:41 PM
  jerseygirl
  Moderator
  22356 posts
  That’s great that you’ve seen these positive changes!
- 05/08/2016 at 3:45 AM
  BinkyBunny
  Moderator
  8776 posts
  Posted By Daisy on 5/06/2016 12:30 AM
  
  Hi BB! Thanks for the reply!
  
  Daisy is on Dorzolamide HCI Timolol 3x per day. …..
  
  Did Viv stay on Dorzalamide long term? My main concern is that the medication will stop working eventually and we will have to consider eye removal. I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that! Daisy is only 2 years old and I’m hoping that she will still be able to live a long life with both of her eyes!
  
  She ended up staying on Dorzalamide HCL (not HCI) and that did do the trick as well long-term. However, she was an elder bun and did pass away for other unrelated issues — (Floppy Bunny Syndrome). So I don’t know for how long the drops may have worked. It is not uncommon for the drops to stop working and then start another and then trade off. My vet ophthalmologist did say eye removal would be last resort as in her experience bunnies don’t do well with eye removal. (Though I know there are several successful stories of this).
  
  So don’t worry too much about what you can’t control at the moment. Some bunnies do just fine with the drops, (and with switching meds if needed). And all sounds like it’s going well so that’s great!
- 05/08/2016 at 6:42 AM
  Q8bunny
  Participant
  6345 posts
  ((((((healing vibes for little Daisy bun))))))
- 07/03/2017 at 8:07 PM
  Marty
  Participant
  3 posts
  I can’t speak for rabbits, (although my bun is having eye problems of his own with conjunctivitis) but my mom’s dog developed glaucoma a couple years ago and the eyedrops worked for him. Eyes look pretty normal now, and giving the drops has become easy now that he knows he’ll get a treat afterwords.
  
  Hope your bunny has some success with treatment.
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