eye

Question
We have a rabbit that is about 4 months old and the other day we noticed a bump by her eye that had been bleeding.  We put her outside in an octagon cage so she can get some excersice and I thought she might have gottten poked by a stick or something.   We took her to the vet and she said it looked to be some kind of tumor??  I was just wondering how common something like this could be at such a young age and we should get a 2nd opinion before getting to much wrapped up into it..

Answer
Hi Jason,

well, tumors are something that can happen anywhere on a rabbit.  I wold say it's a little more uncommon in a younger rabbit, but it certainly does happen.  I wouldn't doubt that that's what it is.  That is what tumors are, excessive growth, and even you described it as a bump.  So I think the diagnosis by both of you pretty much confirms it.  

The thing you may want to get a second opinion on is what to do about it.  It depends on if it's malignant or not, it depends on what type it is (fast spreadind, slow spreading, or very slow/isolated).  Because it's bleeding that's normally a sign to take it out.  If the whole eye has to be taken out, rabbits can live without an eye (they can if both are gone) they will adapt okay.  We may have to adapt how we deal with them, namely trying to approach them from their sighted side, make sure they hear us coming well in advance, making a little extra noise sometimes so they are aware we're near, etc.

The thing to determine is if she's the vet you want to do anything about this.  You also need to know what I said above - basically what kind of tumor it is and treatment options, based on what kind of tumor it is.  Then you need to decide if this vet should be the vet to do the treatment.  You can always see if there are any House Rabbit Society recommended vets near you:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html

These are vets that work with rabbits regularly, understand rabbits and what pre and post-op things are important for rabbits, and have excellent success ratios (surgery losses).  Perhaps your vet may be one on the list and you don't know it!

But don't write off your little guy because of this.  Rabbits can get through this kind of thing, even if they lose a partial or whole sense.