Glaucoma caused by E. Cuniculi in 2 year old

[Waffle65]

Looking for any advice after receiving a terrible diagnosis. About a week ago my 2 year old lion head Phoebe seemed to be getting a cloudy eye. It looked like a white film was appearing over her right eye. Behavior-wise she has been totally normal, but I was obviously worried about what this was. The vet assured me it wasn’t a cataract, but looked like a buildup of eye fluid to her. They took eye pressure readings in both eyes while she was there (3 separate times for each eye), and they all came back within the 39-48 range for each eye (she said normal is around 20). She said typically healthy 2 year olds don’t just develop glaucoma like this, so she believes that e. cuniculi is the culprit here. Unfortunately she couldn’t tell me how much damage has already been done to her eyes or if she’s suffering from vision loss. She referred me to a fantastic eye doctor for Phoebe to see next week to get a better idea of what all is going on. In the meantime she was prescribed Dorzolamide HCL drops to try and get the eye pressure/inflammation down. We sent bloodwork out to see if she’s positive for e. cuniculi, which we will be getting back in a week. She said we can come up with a treatment plan to manage flare ups and try to keep I under control.

Obviously, I’m completely devastated by all of this. It was a lot to be diagnosed with all at once, especially when she seemed like a healthy 2 year old up until now. My worry is trying to get the e. cuniculi under control and keep future flare ups to a minimum. I’m also worried about the toll glaucoma eyedrops and e. cuniculi treatments will inevitably take on her kidneys and liver. She is awfully young to be looking at a lifetime of meds like this. Depending on the damage that’s been done to her eyes, is removal a better option than treatment if they seem too far gone? I’m not sure what the correlation between high pressure and speed of damage done is. The vet did tell me that the changes in her eyes appear very subtle from what she could tell now, so she feels like the odds are really good I was able to catch it very early on.

Any advice or words of encouragement moving forward would be much appreciated. Obviously I want to do whatever will keep her the most comfortable and living a long life as possible.

[Asriel and Bombur]

My Bombur was diagnosed back in February with EC and he was only 10 months old at the time. An EC diagnosis isn’t the end of the world. Bombur has been on 4 rounds of Oxibendazole since it started and he’s still a very happy and healthy bunny aside from the illness. The main thing with the drugs isn’t really kidney damage because EC itself causes kidney damage. Bombur’s kidneys are what is affected by the disease. There’s a variety of drugs that can be used and some can cause low white blood cell counts so it’s important to get the levels tested at 2 and 4 weeks of treatment. Honestly the best thing you can do is just continue to make sure she’s happy and comfortable. The thing about EC is it’s not always this dramatic thing and your girl may only even have one flareup in her entire life. EC is insidious that way. You really just never know. She could have several minor flare ups or just one or two major ones. It’s nothing you can really try to mitigate or attempt to control. Just keep her comfortable and make sure she’s never too stressed.

[kurottabun]

EC is very common in rabbits and if you do a quick search you’d realise that most bunnies have been treated for it at least once in their lifetime. The chances of bouncing back is very high when the bunny is young and if it’s discovered/treated before it’s too late and does irreversible damage.

Kurotta turned 1 year old in August and has already been on two rounds of Fenbendazole due to suspected EC. It was scary to see him lose half his weight within a few weeks as he’s a wee Netherland Dwarf – he dropped to a bony 400g and was 9 months old during the first bout. His second bout was just another three months later and he went on another round of medication for that.

Do note that EC tests are quite inaccurate and can come back negative even when the illness is present, so it’s safer to just go ahead with the treatment anyway. Phoebe is only 2 years old so the chances of recovery are very high Keep us updated!

[Waffle65]

Thank you both! I hope you’re right about her hopefully not having many more flare ups from this. Her bloodwork came back today, and her glucose levels are perfectly normal (which all about confirms the glaucoma is caused by E. cuniculi, but still waiting on the test for it to come back this week). The good news is this showed her kidneys and liver in perfect health and working great, so that’s a huge relief for me. She’s starting her eye drops for the pressure today (1 drop in each eye, twice a day), and she will be seen by the eye specialist in two weeks to make sure the pressure has come down. Will keep everyone updated with her progress! Phoebe is a tough little girl, I’m sure she won’t let any of this slow her down.

[LittlePuffyTail]

Sorry to hear this. I also had an EC bunny who developed severe cloudy eyes, which vet was never able to confirm 100% whether it was EC related or not. There was no pressure in his eyes when tested, however. He ended up losing his vision. He has since passed on at age 11. So while I don’t have any additional info for you, sometimes it helps to hear other’s have dealt with a similar situation.

I wouldn’t be overly upset. Bunnies can be very tough. My Bindi sure was.

Wishing you good luck at your optamologist appointment. Keep us posted.

[Waffle65]

After a few more weeks of tests and vet visits, I thought I’d give everyone an update on Phoebe. Her E. Cuniculi tests came back positive, so we’re doing a 28 day course of Panacur. We just got her white blood cell test back showing she’s doing well on the Panacur, so we will continue the treatment the rest of this month. Unfortunately, her eyes are not doing too well. She is being seen at an exotics-only vets office here in NYC, and after being checked out and consulting with all 3 vets in the office, we are really struggling to keep her eye pressure down. With the drops her left eye is doing well (today’s pressure reading was 26, so the high-end of normal). Her right eye is really struggling right now. We cannot seem to get the pressure down below 36-40, even with 3 drops per day. The eye is also quite cloudy. The vets feel the glaucoma in her right eye is extremely aggressive and fast-working, and the pressure will only continue to be more and more challenging to keep under control going forward. Next week we got her an appointment with an ophthalmologist (only 1 taking appointment in all of NYC, shocking!) to get another opinion and a better idea of the damage done to her eye. At this point, unless the ophthalmologist has a better treatment plan (which her vets sadly doubt will happen), we are looking at our best option being to remove the right eye and cut our losses. I cannot stand the thought of her eye being in pain constantly, and we feel that if removed, her quality of life would drastically improve. We are hopeful that we can keep the left eye pressure under control (especially if the ophthalmologist can tell us the best treatment plan for it), and she could successfully live with one eye. Obviously this is a sad outcome, but I’m trying to stay optimistic. Phoebe is a tough little girl, and I know she will not let only have one eye slow her down one bit.

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