Potential Eye Problems? (swaying/scanning)

[Haley]

Im posting this for Kathy (username Evey) because I was just over to her house to meet her new bunny Lana. Lana is a baby lionhead who was purchased from a pet store and then returned bc the owners thought she was blind. Kathy took her home because she couldnt stand to see a special needs bunny marked 50% off at the pet store.

She took Lana to the vet for a checkup of her eyes and the vet said they looked normal. I looked at her myself and her eyes are clear and she is alert and active.

She does this thing though, which I was comparing to an animated yardreindeer (the kind that light up ) where the body stays still but the head moves slowly from side to side.

Ive been looking around online and found some sites that mentioned that rabbits with red eyes or those whose eyes glow red might do this because they process light differently. Then I rememberd Kathy's pics of Lana where her eyes appeared red.

Is there any truth to this where it could just be her processing light differently? Or is this a sign of something more serious. Id love to hear if anyone else has ever heard of or experienced this. Kathy said she will try to get a video of her doing this..

Haley

 

[TinysMom]

I'm guessing that she's scanning.....I have a ton of rabbits that do it because they carry the ruby/red eyed white gene or they have the ruby/red eyes.

Peg

 

[NZminilops]

Yep, definetly some truth to the swaying thing. BunBun used to do it all the time (siamese sable colouring) and the mother in laws rabbit Buddy does it severely. He's a blue point with very ruby eyes. It looks so weird when they do it!

BunBuns sister does it too, she's a REW.

 

[CorkysMom]

Yup, some of my sable points do that more than others, dunno why...I had one litter out of the same breeding, none of them did it, another litter, 2 of them do. It does have to do w/ the REW gene. I know it freaked me out at first, but its not unusual for them to do so.

Nothing wrong with her because of it either.

 

[mouse_chalk]

The pics might just make her eyes appear red because of the flash, I know my camera does it for all of my buns until I correct it on my laptop... (Sorry if you already knew this!)

But I have a REW, Snowy,and she does the scanning/swaying thing all the time... Bo B Bunny sent me a link to some articles that explain about this, but I can't remember where it is now... it's perfectly normal though in a bun that has sight problems, where they can see some shadows etc but not everything- I think...

 

[mouse_chalk]

Oh, and Snowy also does this alot less in her cage now, where she's familiar with where everything is. She mainly does it now outside her cage, where she's not as sure, and when she's scared, or finds some new territory and isn't sure how safe it is...

 

[naturestee]

Huh, didn't know other colors could have similar problems from the same REW gene. It's hard to tell in photos, but in real life what do her eyes look like?

Oberon (REW New Zealand) scans, but he does a small, fast movement. One of the REW buns at the shelter scans long and slow, like the lighted reindeer.

They can still see, but they have trouble focusing. Oberon sometimes spooks at random stuff, probably because of it. He doesn't like black stuff, like my hubby wearing all black if he just sees him out of the corner of his eye.

 

[Haley]

mouse_chalk wrote:

The pics might just make her eyes appear red because of the flash, I know my camera does it for all of my buns until I correct it on my laptop... (Sorry if you already knew this!)

lol, yeah I knew this, but some bunnies Ive noticed their eyes appear more red- or they always appear red where others dont. I can take photos of Max and Basil all day and Max's eyes are almost always red and Basil's never are. Weird.

Edit to mention that Lana's eyes are normal in person. I was just wondering if there is something in some bunnies that, like I said, makes their eyes more susceptible to light and possibly to the flash of a camera?

 

[mouse_chalk]

Lol, I feel silly now for pointing out something so obvious! I'll blame my painkillers...:embarrassed:

I know what you mean though- Chalk's eyes nearly always come up red, while Mouse's hardly ever do, unless the light's bouncing off them. I don't know if it has anything to do with the colour of their eyes- Chalk's are black, whilst Mouse has brown eyes? Barney's always come up red, and he has black eyes too... :?

 

[mouse_chalk]

Haley wrote:

mouse_chalk wrote:

The pics might just make her eyes appear red because of the flash, I know my camera does it for all of my buns until I correct it on my laptop... (Sorry if you already knew this!)

lol, yeah I knew this, but some bunnies Ive noticed their eyes appear more red- or they always appear red where others dont. I can take photos of Max and Basil all day and Max's eyes are almost always red and Basil's never are. Weird.

Edit to mention that Lana's eyes are normal in person. I was just wondering if there is something in some bunnies that, like I said, makes their eyes more susceptible to light and possibly to the flash of a camera?

Lol, we cross posted. I dunno, depending on the colour of your buns eyes, it might prove/disprove my loose theory that buns with pigment (i.e brown) in their eyes are less susceptible to red-eye from a camera?

 

[pamnock]

naturestee wrote:

Huh, didn't know other colors could have similar problems from the same REW gene. It's hard to tell in photos, but in real life what do her eyes look like?

Oberon (REW New Zealand) scans, but he does a small, fast movement. One of the REW buns at the shelter scans long and slow, like the lighted reindeer.

They can still see, but they have trouble focusing. Oberon sometimes spooks at random stuff, probably because of it. He doesn't like black stuff, like my hubby wearing all black if he just sees him out of the corner of his eye.

Any of the genes that reduce pigment in the eye can result in the rabbit scanning.

Pam

 

[Evey]

thanks for the great replies

In person, her eyes are very light brown, but they do seem to be a tad red when you look at them on an angle...if that makes any sense! Scanning was my first guess, but I didn't know that bunnies without red eyescould doit too.

I don't know if I should start another thread about this, but Lana also "snores" when she's resting. It actually sounds more like wheezing, hence she's on Baytril, but I don't think she really has an URI now. Is it possible for bunnies to snore while they sleep? I'm really worried about this as well...