Our Crazy Kindling And The Battle with Nest Box Eye - Breeding Bunnies
Breeding Bunnies is not complicated. Keep them clean, give them exercise and space to run around, give them food, hay, fresh water, something to chew on, and attention. Then let them do their thing. We generally do really well at this, but then something strange happened. We had a very funny kindling in our last litter which resulted in our doe getting a pretty severe eye infection, which is what prompted this post - see Nest Box Eye Treatment below.
I noticed that our Doe, Esme, was pulling fur from her dewlap, so I put the kindling box in her quarters as is standard for us. We give our rabbits a lot of freedom and they have a rather large warren to run around in together. When we anticipate a litter, we put mama in confinement so that we can control the environment and ensure health of the litter.
She pulled a fast one on me this time!! She dug a burrow right next to the burrow we constructed for them, but covered it during the day, so I had no idea it was there. I was looking for a sign of pending kits every day and saw none. I thought it was a false alarm, which has happened before and I let down my guard. Not Smart…
We left for a short vacation and when I came back I checked with mom if she saw any kits - nope. Then I went down to check on them that evening when we returned. I generally inspect the warren well - and I saw a tiny kit escaping out of a hole in the ground! It was already quite late, and dark so I guided her back in and didn’t do anything until the next day.
When I went down the next morning to check on this new development, I noticed that Esme had a huge - HUGE - infection in her eye, and the burrow was so deep I couldn’t see the kits. Naturally, I started panicking. The kit I saw the night before had it’s eyes barely open, so they were at least 9-10 days old already. This timeline makes sense based on when I saw her pulling fur from her dewlap.
Long story short, we busted open the mouth of the burrow and pulled out four live kits and two that didn’t make it, and put the survivors with mama in confinement. Now I am treating Mama for nest box eye - which before then I hadn’t even heard of in adult rabbits - but based on the progression of the infection, I fear her sight will not return in that eye. Now let’s get to the point here.
Nest Box Eye
Between 10-12 days after birth, newborn kits will begin to open their eyes. Once separated, the edges harden, eyelashes grow and the glands begin to function to lubricate the eyelids.
Causes:
Nest Box Eye usually affects one or two kits per nest or more (which is crazy high odds in nature) and usually in winter or early spring due to kits snuggling up for warmth in a dusty nest full of their own feces and urine. Dust can settle in the split of the still closed eyelids or under the opening eyelids and lead to irritation of the tissues in the eye. Mucus and tears are secreted and if these harden in the split of the eyelids, they will be unable to separate and remain shut. As dust coexists with the bacteria, the bacteria can also migrate in between the eyelids and cause infections of the eye structures. Staphylococci and streptococci bacteria are often responsible for these infections.
Id/Symptoms:
Visible indications of nest box eye are:
Eyelids pointing outwards because of inflammation
Swelling due to accumulation of pus in the eye cavity.
The presence of crusts or thick yellowish pus between the eyelids.
This is serious because bacteria can invade the cornea and lead to it becoming bluish and will lead to blindness.
Treatment:
Examine all kits in the litter between days 10-12 for opening of the eyelids. If they remain closed, gently separate them with gauze soaked in saline, virgin coconut oil, St. John’s Wort Oil starting at the outside end of the eye.
Rinse the eye with saline solution to remove mucus, debris and dust.
Repeat twice a day if necessary. Once should be enough.
In case of infection, rinse the eye and administer drops at regular intervals - we do every 4 hours or so.
If the surface of the cornea is damaged, scarring may lead to the formation of a whitish veil. It can be unsightly, but the rabbit will not have long term pain - merely the discomfort of not seeing well, or not at all, in that eye.
Prevention:
It is impossible to keep a rabbit nest bacteria free. The key is to keep it under control.
Use a kindling box that is not larger than the mama, and that has drainage at the bottom to allow urine and feces to pass through and keeps the soiled litter on the bottom away from the kits.
After the kindling, remove any remains of the birth and add fresh, non-dusty litter.
At 9 days after delivery, move the kits out of the nest and replace any soiled nesting material and replace them in a completely clean nest with good drainage.
Check for their eyes opening, and moniter the soiling in the nest at that time.
After their eyes are open, clean out the nest two or three times per week when temperatures are encouraging the kits to move around a lot (less if it is not too cold or temperatures are not fluctuating.) Remove soiled litter and replace with fresh. We try to keep the surface nest in tact if it is not soiled and remove the stuff at the bottom.
The best defense is keeping things clean, but know that kits will develop nest box eye in spite of all we can do. It happens to most of us, one time or another... which is why it's good to know simple ways of dealing with it.
References:
[1] Pragg, PhD, “Next box eyelids in young rabbits and winter temperatures” (http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Newborn/Shut_eyelids_en.html)
[2] Kruzer (2021) “Eye Problems in Rabbits” (https://www.thesprucepets.com/rabbit-eye-problems-1239333)
