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Hey guys, my name is Jacob and I’m new to this site. We just got our rabbit about a week ago; I was over at my sister’s house and she brought up how my aunt has a pet rabbit in a hutch in her backyard and she went out of town without making any arrangements for it, so it was going to be left outside by itself in the freezing cold. So I volunteered to bring it home with me to baby sit it for her, and long story short, my wife and I have decided to keep it, mainly because it was just being severely neglected to begin with. He’s finally starting to warm up to us, but we’ve noticed something weird going on with his left eye. It’s like the iris is losing it’s color. It seems to be spreading very slowly, and it isn’t spreading to the pupil, only around his actual iris. And I can’t find anything like it on the internet. Unfortunately, we won’t be able to afford to take him to the vet until after Christmas. So I’m just really hoping someone will have an idea of what might be going on. And it looks like his right eye might be starting to do the same thing, although I’m not 100% sure. Any help would be greatly appreciated cause I’m pretty worried about him. Thank you for your time.
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Thank you Wick for making the picture show. I think I have it fixed now.
What we have is marbling in the iris. This is relatively common in Dutch and Vienna marked rabbits. If you search for marbled eyes or heterochromia of the iris, you should find some pictures. The condition is harmless and it does seem to develop with age. So I wouldn’t be concerned if you have noticed it spreading a bit.
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Hi Jacob,
I have a dutch rabbit as well, aren’t they just the cutest little fancy fluffs?
I noticed in the picture that the little guy is standing on a wire-bottom cage. This can be quite bad for their feet and cause them to develop sore-hocks (blisters or sores on the bottom of their feet). Not to worry though, you can line the bottom of the cage with fleece blankets or some cheap towels from Walmart. The padding will keep his little toes and feet from having the uncomfortable wires pressing on them.
Rabbits can be taught to use a litter box, so if the reason you have a wire cage is because the litter is in the bottom, you can try to train little bunny to go in a box. Rabbits can use equine (horse) pine pellets as litter, and it is quite cheap. (Be sure not to use any pine or cedar SHAVINGS, as these are harmful to rabbits. compressed pine pellets are fine). Litter training will also allow him to be out of the cage more often, without you worrying about accidents.
Being a new bunny owner is very overwhelming, and it helps to have people who know rabbits to give advice. Feel free to post with more questions!
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