BEW-related blindness? worried!!

[GalacticBunny]

Hey all.



I just brought home a 3 month old lionhead doe two days ago, and she seems to be a little... "off".Atfirst I couldn't put my finger on it, but the more that I think about it, I feel like she mightbe blind, or have some trouble seeing.She is very, very complacent; the breeder informed me that she was handled daily, therefore very tame, however, she just seems a little... too tame. It's at the point where I feel like I'm not getting a normal reaction from her. She allows me to pick her up, without running away or even flinching. I've had several baby bunnies in the past, and I've never encountered such complacency. I tried snapping my fingers in front of her (without touching her), and she did not seem at all phased. Now, she is a VM with blue eyes, I'm worried that this may have something do it. I have a BEW mini rex, who has perfectly normal vision, hearing, and over-all health, however the lionhead baby's eyes are not the same as my mini rex's. Wheremy mini-rex's eyes are a uniform, medium shade of blue throughout, the lionhead's eyes are marbled. Her right eye is split blue and brown, and her left is mainly blue, with some brown marbling at top. Also, one thing I noticed that seemed a little strange, is when I stroke her head, starting at the nose and going back over the ears, her skin seems, rather, well, loose. It pulls back and I can see the whites of her eyes.I will get a picture later today to show exactly what it looks like.



Please, please, if anyone can help or give me any advice whatsoever, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[Flashy]

To be honestm, she doesn't sound blind, because the chances are, if she was, she would not react well to being unexpectedly handled, or stroked, or anything. She would probbaly be a lot more nervous.

As far as I know, the only thing that BEWs are more prone to is epilespy, so that might be one to think about.

Having said that, I have two BEWS and their vienna marked cousin, and someone on here breeds from relatives of my two BEWs. Now, our BEWs are known for being INCREDIBLY dopey, so I wonder if maybe that is a BEW white, not just something more related to mine and their genetic line.

How is she in herself? Is she eating? Drinking? Pooing? Weeing? Able to move around?

 

[GalacticBunny]

Flashy- thanks for your response. I really hope she is well. I've watched her move around, urinate, and drink, and I've found poo in the cage. I have not seen her eat yet, which has worried me a little bit, however, most of her food seemed to be gone when I checked up on her this morning. She does seem a little on the thin side, not to mention she is very, very tiny for 3 months old. I have a feeling she was the runt of the litter. I'm going to continue to observe her, and think about making an appointment with my veterinarian. Hopefully, her mellow nature is not health related in anyway.

On a side note, it's funny you mention your BEW's are dopey! My bew mini- rex male is by far the most energetic, lively, spirited rabbit I've ever encountered! And, he is neutered!

 

[Sabine]

Oh, I didn't know BEW was associated with blindness too. I have an REW girlthat is certainly somewhat vision challenged and comes across a bit dopey. She also was the kind of bun who could be picked up at any time when she was younger. She never ran away and she was also tiny and really light for ages (at ten months she is a porker now)
My BEW seems not much different from the other rabbits. Are their also vision issues with blue eyes?

 

[tonyshuman]

I'm glad you're taking her in. I don't know if it's blindness, because blind bunnies usually startle quite easily if you go to pick them up. They don't know you're there until you're very close, so they get worried when out of the blue there's a hand there picking them up. You could try to observe her while she's out of the cage playing for some of the other signs, like moving slowly and feeling around with her whiskers.

I am more concerned that she may be ill. To me, she sounds lethargic and disinterested--bunnies should react to being picked up and snapped at, and the skin thing sounds like she may be dehydrated. I don't want to worry you too much, but these could be signs that something is wrong or she is in pain. Make sure to bring the vet a fecal sample, as GI parasites are very common (especially in rabbits that come from large groups, like a shelter or breeder situation), and she's about the right age for some of these things to be a problem. An important part of a vet assessment is the alertness and activity level of the animal, and lowered alertness and activity level can be a sign that something's wrong. Please let us know what the vet says.

 

[GalacticBunny]

Tonyshuman: Thank you for your quick and knowledgable response. It didn't even occur to me until now that perhaps she could be dehydrated or ill. I just gave her a dish of water, and she ran right over to it. Honest to goodness, she perked up almost immediatly after drinking some water. Upon closer inspection, I realized that her water bottle was not working properly. Even though I had watched her lap at the bottle, I have a feeling she was not getting much water at all. I feel absolutly horrible. If I had waited only a couple hours later, her fate could have been contingent upon my lack of attention to detail. I am going to continue to moniter her very closely for the next few days. As of now, she is hopping around and looking quite alert, however her skin still has that loose quality to it. I'm going to check her again in an hour or so.

On a side note, I have one other worry. My little girl has really thick wool on her face, and when she goes to drink from her water dish, her face gets sopping wet. Should I trim the hair around her muzzle? Also, it appeared that she was dunking her nose slightly under the water, and as she lifted her head up, she was making snorting/ sneezing, as she got water into her nose. Should I be worried about a risk of respiratory infection now?

 

[tonyshuman]

Whew, glad that helped! Some of those water bottles just don't work right and many bunnies prefer a dish. It is possible that she'll learn how to drink from the dish better with time. If not, the water bottle you were using could just be defective or didn't have the seal properly formed and if you get it fixed she will drink from the bottle instead.

 

[GalacticBunny]

Well, she is no longer lethargic. Quite perky actually, hopping around, sniffing and exporing. However, I did find some loose stool in her cage this evening... wasn't quite diarrhea, however, it wasn't completly normal either. Flipped her over and she had a little bit of the loose poo on her bum too. I'm confused, as she seems to have an appetite... I watched her eat plenty of timothy hay, as well as some pellets and drank more water. When I checked her later, I did not find anymore loose poo in the cage, and it looked like she cleaned herself up. I'm still worried though. Any advice?

 

[tonyshuman]

Was it cecals? At her age, she should be on unlimited alfalfa pellets, but this can lead to some messy poos at times. That may be more of a dietary issue. However, it could be an intestinal infection which would need vet care...