Sad Eyes

As some of you may know, Wednesday and Montoya recently had a second litter - also very unexpected! Wednesday was being treated for a UTI at the time, so we were concerned about the health of the babies, whether the antibiotics would affect them, milk production, etc. However, when the day arrived, we had seven wiggly babies! She completed her antibiotics, everyone was moved back into the colony and everything seemed right with the world.

But, as we have said before, while colony raising has it's benefits, it isn't all perfect. About the time the babies should have been opening their eye, four of them stayed glued shut. Investigation showed that they were, in fact, glued shut. While there was no sign of an actual infection, they all had terrible cases of morning eye gunk going on.

We spent several days keeping them all cleaned out, and slowly, they began to look better.

However, here is where colony raising can go badly. When you have seven, fast-moving babies who don't want to get their eyes looked at.... sometimes you can miss one.

This morning I found a little doe tucked into another box by her self. Initially she seemed fine, but I love bunny snuggles! - so I picked her up. And then I saw the eye she has been hiding...

The upside is, this is after the cleaning, so her eye was less swollen until it was poked at and prodded. So while it looks awful, it doesn't look as bad as it does in this picture.

The bad news is, when she can get her eye all the way open - which isn't for long - there is what looks to be a cataract on the inside of her eye, which means she likely has lost the vision on that side.

It's awful for a rabbit of such good stock and I feel terrible that she managed to hide this from me for two weeks. But, that is what prey animals do best - hide injuries. She otherwise seems to be fat and healthy, so hopefully the infection can be gotten under control and she will make someone a nice pet.

In the meantime, the rest are doing great! Now if they would just hold still long enough for gender checks...

As a side note: Because this was an unexpected litter, we did not take reservations on them. That means they are fair game for anyone looking for American Chinchilla babies!