Lump on bunny and red eyes

[rosche]

Hello, I need advice, insight, or help for my bunny (4 month old doe).

Before (about 3-4 days prior to the lump), she limped on her front left feet and favor the right feet. I take her to a vet and the vet said that the limp was nothing and it was probably due to one of her attempt on escaping her cage, so I should just restrict her movement for a few days until she’s not limping again.

After her limp is cured, I notice that her right feet (the one she’s favoring before) is a little bit bigger. I thought it was because of the fur (and also the fact she’s getting bigger and furrier) so I didn’t pay any serious thought. Then it was getting more red (noticeable from between the fur) and her feet looks like it’s swollen.

However it doesn’t seem painful so I decided to wait a few days to see if it’s going to cure itself. However, 3 days ago, while checking her right feet, I notice that she got swollen red eye on her right eye. Her eyeball also had this dark color around her eye corner and also top of her eye on both eye.

When I brought her to the vet today, the dr. said the lump on right feet is scabies, the red eye perhaps is the result of getting scratched by her nail, and the dark color around her eyeball is bruises. He’s not a rabbit savvy dr. and there’s no rabbit savvy dr. around my city (I’ve checked through the web and also asking the dr. for recommendation). He gave her a shot for the scabies though, (one more in 10 days), and also eye drop perscription for the red eye.

I’m a bit afraid if it’s myxi but I don’t think she’s got a fever or a swollen genital (which I read are the common signs of the disease beside swollen red eyes). But I also don’t think that she got scratched by her nail or even somehow hit her eyes and got bruises on her eyeballs. And also, in my place, there’s a lot of mosquitos and stray cat (I left the rabbit cage outside the house), and i read mosquito bites could transfer diseases like myxi to rabbits.

Any insight to this? I may be a little bit over-worried over this. But this is my first time having bunny and I don’t want her to die because of something that I should be able to fix.

[RabbitPam]

Hi, it sounds like you do need to find a rabbit savvy vet. One more search suggestion (3 actually): first, look in the phone book and on the internet under Exotics veterinarians. That’s a general title referring to specialists with small animals. You may have better luck that way.
Next, go to the Forum list for Q&A and click the post about finding a vet. There are links to the House Rabbit Society’s list where you can search for the nearest location to your home in case there’s one listed by them.
Finally, see if there are any bird vets (avian) in your area via phone book or internet. Bird vets often are also trained in exotic animals – mine is – and list themselves as bird vets but can be very knowledgeable about bunnies.

I wouldn’t diagnose yourself, just do what has been told to you and try to get your bunny to a second opinion if you can. Also, if there’s a local vet school, they often see pets as a teaching aide.

[rosche]

thank you for the suggestions

yeah, i’d love to get 2nd opinion from a rabbit-savvy dr. I do plan to do what the dr. said though (here’s hoping it’s what the dr. said and nothing far too serious). So, I guess all I can do now is monitor her condition day-by-day (while hunting for bunny vets).

oh about the scabies, can it be passed from rabbit to human? i forgot to ask the dr. this and i read somewhere that some kind of illness could be passed between human and rabbit. from some search there are people that said scabies could be passed on, but others said that human will only have reaction to the mites (but not getting scabies). i’m planning to disinfect everything in the house in case the mites come from inside the house, though.

[Roberta]

What country/city are you in Rosche.?.. No specifics just general locality.

[Sarita]

Is your rabbit inside now?

Yes, where are you located generally? In some places myxi is not prevalant.

[rosche]

yes, my rabbit inside now. her right foot’s still a little bloody because the scabies got cleaned away by the vet, and there’s too much construction dust outside, so to minimize infection i put her inside.

ah, i see. i hope tropic nation does not have myxi although it’s around the time for the aedes mosquitos to blossom…
but i don’t think rabbits could get dengue fever…

i’m in Asia (Indonesia). and seeking vet here who are rabbit savvy or knowledgeable about any other animals besides dogs and cats is hard (even more in smaller city). most of the time i have to rely on forum like this or googling to help me diagnose what’s wrong with my pets.

[Sarita]

It sounds like she would be best inside permanently if you can do that. I cannot say for certain if it is a problem in Indonesia but it is better to be safe than sorry so keeping her inside would definitely minimize the risks.

Dengue fever – just reading on wikipedia that rabbits can be carriers if infected…but there appear to be different forms of this fever.

[rosche]

yeah, i’m considering that option. at least until i’m sure that the outside environment is good enough for her.

thanks for the suggestion, Sarita

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