Hi Fellow Bunny Lovers,I am fostering a very precious little 1.25yo buns called Bowie.
She has an eye that is in very bad shape… basically blind although I think she may still sees light thru it.
Her previous owner noticed a scratch on her eye when she was just a baby, it wasn’t taken care of, so proceeded to an inflamed eye and basically made mince meat of the contents of the eye ball (E cunniculi may have contributed here).
Regardless something needs to be done to sort the eye out. My dilemma is this: most vets seem to opt for enucleation which feels so drastic… removal of the eye ball, muscles, and sewing the lids shut to each other. The other choice is Intrasclerial Prosthesis which is making a small incision on the eye ball, removing the inner contents and inserting a prosthetic (plastic) ball. IP is obviously far less invasive although both procedures carry a high risk of haemorrhage.
This is my problem: I live in NYC and have taken buns to four vets (all buns specialists) and a veterinary opthomologist (does cats, dogs and exotics). Only the VetOptho performs the IP procedure. All four exotics generalists do enucleation and have no experience with the IP procedure. The foster organisations in surrounding area who have a lot of experience with all these vets are concerned that the Vet Otho mainly has experience performing this procedure on cats and dogs> They’ve only heard of one instance of a bunny and there were complications afterwards.
Does any body have any experience or information with the Instrascleral Prosthesis procedure on rabbits? Does anyone know any vets or opthos on the East Coast who successfully perform this procedure on rabbits?
Has anybody had experience with enucleation and any advice to offer?
I would love for Bowie to have as minimally invasive a procedure as possible but obviously not if the risks are too high.
Anybody have experience with non-operative, longterm management of luxated retinas, glaucoma etc ?
Both procedures are risky, so I am getting very nervous about it all, and want to be rock solid I am making the right decisions for her.
Any advice or even anecdotes are welcome!
Thats in advance for your time and thoughts here!
Kate (Bowie the sweetest cuddle puff at 1.25years)
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