baby lionhead bunnies that have not opened there eyes

Question
my rabit had a litter of baby loinhead bunnies nov. 01 and then she had another litter dec. 01 and there are two that have not opened there eyes and one that has not opened one eye. is it posible that they will be blind?

                                           chelsea

Answer
Hi Chelsea,

I would suspect that something is going on there.  It could be some type of infection.  It could be a genetic problem.  We do have a rabbit here in our sanctuary that has no eyes.  I would suggest finding a rabbit savvy vet in your area to examine the eyes and make sure there is no infection in there.  You might be referred to a specialist after the initial exam.  Without knowing exactly what is going on, it would be hard to say for sure but I would suspect that if the eyes have not opened by this time thre would be some type of ocular difficiency.

Rabbits with sight problems can live happy lives.  We have several here.  One is totally blind.  He came from a breeder we know.  It was just a genetic mistake with him since his litter mates were OK.  They adapt quite easily.  The only modification we do with husbandry is that we keep everything in the same place all the time so they can remember where things are.  I might also suggest that you give the doe a break for a while and not breed her.  Having litters that close together is quite taxing on the body.  Allow her time to recover between litters.  This may or may not be part of the problem here.

But to directly answer your question....if the eyes have not opened by now, I would suspect there would be at least some degree of blindness.

Randy