# Baby born without eyes



## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

One of our does had a litter a little over one month ago. All the kits grew fast but one. That one was always much smaller and didn't open it's eyes at the same time as the others. Today while I was out cleaning their colony cage I finally saw it outside the nesting area hopping around the outdoor run. I noticed it still didn't have it's eyes open. When I picked it up I noticed it had crust around it's eyelids. Used some saline and a cotton ball to wipe the crust away and pull it's eyelids opened. Inside wasn't eyeballs just some white milky paste. It never squirmed or anything like it was in pain. As soon as I let go of it's eyelid it closed again immediately. Other than being the "runt" of the litter it appears to be healthy. Had a nice round belly and hops around like normal. I am unsure what to do now. I really want to let it grow and see if it will do okay or will it just end up suffering not being able to find it's food or water. I put it next to it's water dish and it immediately drank some so I think it's other sences will help it. Has anyone ever had one born without eyes? If so, what did you do.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

that is a severe case of nest box eye. I would remove it from the cage, before it spreads to the rest of the litter.


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

Ok. Thank you squashnut. Never heard of that but am googling it now as wife gets bunny out of the cage.


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## scpankow (Mar 31, 2011)

Terramycin eye ointment and washes with Veterycin or sterile saline. It *may* still have eyes behind all the pus in there.


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

I feel horrible now. Wish we would have been more attentive and caught this sooner. Wife is treating him now with terramycin. We honestly thought he didn't have ay eyes. Now that she has wiped the goo away sure enough the eyes are in there. Will keep him in the house for the next week or so and see how he does.


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

start checking the eyes on the kits at 8-9 days and make sure their eyes open by day 12. You can put a wet tea bag on them to help them out. Also be sure to give them a clean scrubbed nest box starting at 10 days old. and as often as needed after that. Be sure the nest box material is not too dusty.

You can use a wet warm tea bag on any eyes that get an infection too.


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

Will do Squashnut. I really appreciate all the advice. Luckily we had some terramycin left over from one of our Dogs. The eye I took a photo of was the really bad one. The other is not as bad and is already open after warm water and saline. Looked up nest box eye and now know more. I think he will be ok. We will now be much more vigilant with the babies.


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## lonelyfarmgirl (Feb 6, 2005)

I actually did have a silver fox born with only one eye. I was sure it was an infection issue, but when I pried it open it was clean, simply no eye. I raised it and he went to the cull pen.


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