Cataracts that develop quickly, particularly at such a young age, suggests something more complicated than a simple “eye problem”. This is actually a symptom of a parasite called E. cuniculi (or “EC”). Most rabbits are exposed to it when they are very young (usually from their mom). For many, there are no outward symptoms because their immune system keeps it in check. But for some bunnies, they will have EC episodes that crop up later in life. This can happen because stressful events and other factors can weaken the immune system.

Obviously, once the cataracts are formed, the damage is done. It’s unusual for someone to perform cataract surgery on a rabbit. What you need to do before anything else is have the EC (or “potential” EC) treated.

As for the long-term, you would be surprised at how well bunnies adapt to being partially or completely blind. We can certainly help you with ideas for making her life a little easier.

I do not have experience with eye-related issues, but I will give my thought that if you have a choice (which doesn’t impact quality of life negatively) to either have a surgery or not, it sounds like the vets you have been working with are not the best fit (with you mentioning they are mainly dog-cat experienced). The House Rabbit Society website (rabbit.org) has a list of rabbit-experienced vets by state on their website. In addition, if there is a local HRS chapter somewhere in your area, their website likely includes a list of rabbit-vets they use. If surgery is needed to help quality of life, I would suggest looking for a more experienced vet.

How many vets actually do cataract surgery on rabbits? I’m curious since I don’t think it’s a common surgery. From what I understand, they remove the lens and do not replace it. So the rabbit may not regain its sight. Anyway, it would have to be an exotics vet that specializes in that sort of thing. So I agree with Wick, if you went that route, then you would definitely need to find an appropriate vet.

I’ve heard that some spontaneous regeneration of the lens can occur. So you are correct, they may still have some vision. At the very least, they will be able to distinguish between light and dark, probably some shadows, etc.

EC is treated with Panacur (fenbendazole), which is a dewormer. It’s very inexpensive so a lot of vets will simply treat based on suspicion. Tests for EC are notorious for having false negatives.

Routine is extremely important with bunnies that cannot see very well. Keep the setup the same and do not move objects around. She will learn where things are located, so just making sure they aren’t moved is a huge help. Also stick to a routine of playtime, feeding time, etc simply because it makes bunnies feel more secure. They know when to expect something.

I have only had to deal with age-related cataracts, which develop very slowly as a rabbit gets older. I have found that rabbits with diminishing eyesight seem to take comfort in having a light on when it’s dark outside.

Hi I don’t want to alarm you but it could well be EC. I didn’t have a rabbit savvy vet and he treated my bunny’s cataract without finding the cause. Sadly it turned out to be EC. I now travel a lot further to see a rabbit specialist vet so that anything serious will be detected. I hope things turn out better for your bun.

Unfortunately if you’re in Australia I’m guessing a lot of vets really don’t treat rabbits so it might be hard to find a specialist. I’m not an expert on loss of sight but I want to reiterate what was said above that she would still be able to distinguish light and dark, shadows, movement. Rabbits don’t see the same way we do to begin with and I think their vision is much less focused and acute and more tuned to spot movement in any direction, so still distinguishing light and dark seems like less of an impairment than for a human although she’ll still need a lot of adjustment. Just from personal experience one of my rabbits got a bad scratch on his cornea and I can tell that even though it’s healed, the scratch was bad enough that his vision must be very poor in that eye but he doesn’t behave any differently than my other rabbits. Of course that’s different than cateracts but it makes me think she can still have a good quality of life!