Bunny has a white eye

Question
I just brought my bunny to the vet to have them check out his left eye. The other day when i woke up and fed him he had what looked like puss on the eyeball himself. It wasn't like that the day before.

The vet just told me it could have been a scratch or puncture that abcessed (sp?), and then ruptured the eyeball. They are now telling me we need to remove his eyeball. They sent me home with an estimate, antibiotic eye drops, and gave him a shot of penicillin.

The bunny is eating normal, and not acting as if he has any pain. He's also playing, just like he always has. What I want to know is, does this vet know what they're talking about? Does the eye HAVE to be removed? If is does not get removed, will he die?

Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Tanna,

If you are in doubt, then it would be a good idea to not only get a second opinion from a veterinarian who is expert in rabbit medicine:

www.rabbit.org/vets

but also to have a board-certified veterinary opthalmologist take a look at the eye to evaluate it.  The bunny may not *show* pain, but believe me--an eye injury like that is incredibly painful.  Rabbits are just very stoic, and they don't show illness or pain until they're on death's door.  The eye must NOT go untreated.

But it is possible--even if the eye cannot be saved--that it doesn't have to be removed if the infection can be successfully treated.  Worst case scenario *could* be that the eye will heal up with proper antibiotic treatment, and then just recede and become useless.  Enucleation (removal of the eye) might not be necessary, if proper pain management is used while the injury is resolving.  But that really will be up to a good rabbit vet and/or veterinary ophthalmologist to judge.

I would not proceed without getting opinions from qualified rabbit vet(s) and ophthalmologists.  But do it soon.  That eye does hurt, no matter what it seems.

I hope this helps.

Dana