Retrobulbar Abscess?

[BlackBetty]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone has experience with retrobulbar abscesses in bunnies.

My 6 year old Mini Rex has unilateral protrusion of her right eyeball...but it is not overly noticeable. It started about 2 weeks ago, and has gotten slightly worse since I first noticed it...but again, just anyone might not notice it at all. her third eyelid is starting to show a bit more now too. i was just wondering how fast this disease usually manifests...and how severe the protrusion is. Most pictures I've seen online show the eyeball hanging out of the head almost...and from what I've read, it usually gets bad within a couple days.

Will be taking her to the vet soon. Just wanted some input on this particular disease.

Thanks!
Black Betty

 

[tonyshuman]

It depends on the underlying cause. A bacterial abscess of the tooth roots can come about rather quickly (hours-days), but other things can cause eyes to protrude (called exopthalmos), such as tumors, which grow on the order of weeks-months.

 

[BlackBetty]

Thank you Tony...I'll be taking her in on Thursday. I'll update after her appointment.

 

[tonyshuman]

That's good. Unfortunately a lot of the pics people put online are the most obvious cases they've seen, and many of those occur with total neglect of the rabbit, or someone not paying very close attention to their rabbit. If you're going to write an article, you're going to use the pic that's the most obvious and disgusting so that it is very clear what the rabbit's problem was and to encourage people to get their animals treated sooner rather than later. I agree that a lot of the pics online for retrobulbular abscess are ridiculous and I can't imagine how the bunnies got that way. If you read journals published by vets, they will usually talk about treating several individuals but include pictures from the worst affected.

 

[BlackBetty]

I agree. I just took this photo of her...you can really see the difference.

 

[tonyshuman]

Oof, poor girl. That looks uncomfortable. Definitely not the worst, but it's good she'll be seen soon.

 

[BlackBetty]

Okay...here's the update. After seeing her regular vet, he suspected an abscess but wanted the eye to be ultrasounded, so we went to see an ophth specialist. He confirmed there was a mass behind the eye, but is was way back behind the eye. We started with antibiotics, vet said it could be 4-6 weeks before we saw results. That was last Thursday. Over the weekend, she got much worse, so I called again and we decided to do surgery. He went in under the eye in hopes that he might be able to access the abscess without reomving the eye, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. The eye was enucleated and he was then able to find the abscess way behind the eye. It was thickly encapsulated, so the antibiotics likely wouldn't have been able to penetrate it. Betty is recovering well, I think it was harder on me than her.

She is on Oxbow Critical Care as she lost a fair bit of weight over the last few weeks, but otherwise doing great.

 

[BlackBetty]

She is recovering well. Making lots of left turns.

Her good eye...

 

[HEM]

We are glad to hear that she is doing alright
Hopefully each day will get better and the poor girl will get used to everything
We wish her the best

 

[kmaben]

Awwww. My little bad rabbit had her right eye removed about two weeks ago. It was much harder on me than it was her. She's a bit more cautious now but bounced back in almost no time. Sorry it had to happen.
Nose bonks

 

[Geoff]

I am glad you got the abscess treated and sadly lost the eye in the process (a very common situation).... but don't forget the original cause of the abscess may still exist (frequently overgrown tooth roots from a diet lacking enough fiber or too many pellets and other non-hay/grass items). You may need to adress this still or another abscess may occur. Have a vet take some radiographs of the teeth to see if the roots look OK. It is possible some teeth may need to be pulled

 

[BlackBetty]

Thanks everyone. Regarding her diet, she hasn't had pellets in 5 years, she eats a variety of Oxbow hay free choice and limited veggies. We did radiograph her teeth, and did a thorough dental exam. Her teeth are in good shape. Vet also tried to locate a fistula from the abscess to a tooth root but was unsuccessful. She will remin on the antibiotics for some time and we will keep a close watch for future abscesses.

 

[tonyshuman]

It's too bad this had to be the solution, but it sounds like you and the vet handled it very well. Taking the abscess out, when very encapsulated, is often the best choice, especially if the area already has to be opened up to remove the eye. I'm sure she'll adapt with the one eye just fine. It looks a lot better than the one bunny I've seen immediately post-enucleation. Best wishes for the rest of her recovery

 

[BlackBetty]

Betty has developed some thick white discharge from the nostril on the side where she had the eye enucleated. She's still on Bicillin...will be calling the vet in the morning.

 

[tonyshuman]

Uh oh. Hope it's not back. You may have to add another antibiotic to the bicillin regimen, or change.