blind rabbits....mixymatosisis??

[mooster 1]

Here in south Devon I've found three blind rabbits in the last two weeks.One sat in a hedge which I was ferreting and two last night running around in a country lane last night with eyes fully closed over.

I am fully aware that mixy causes blindness but the one in the hedge I managed to knock on the head and it had no other symptoms of mixy on it's body, appearing otherwise healthy.No sores,firm flesh,healthy pelt.

Two last night appeared fit and with good hearing when i stalked and squeaked them as well as loads of energy to run from my sofa softee Jack Russell!

I'm just wondering wether these rabbits have contracted the disease and have recovered apart from the blindness or have they become immune to the disease apart from the blindness.

Has anyone else found this to be the case? Any theories?

Cheers and happy new year to you all! Mooster

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

One sat in a hedge which I was ferreting and two last night running around in a country lane last night with eyes fully closed over.

 

 

:sick: No particular ideas myself, mate. Just curious; The one in the hedge? What were his eyes like then?

 

I mean; Are we talking swollen, puffy or otherwise inflamed / weepy / gunky looking eyes here? Or rabbits with something like cattaracts?

 

Did they look like possible myxi survivors? Or ....?

[john b 38]

According to R.M. Lockley's "The Private Life of the Rabbit":

 

'Observations on myxomatous rabbits suggest that the swelling of the eyelids and and ears which causes blindness and deafness also reduces sensitivity to pain, that it feels so little that its appetite remains unimpaired; and it is a fact that myxomatous rabbits will eat voraciously and even attempt to mate up to a few hours before death. Blindness however usually prevents their finding the path to the burrow ......'

 

So running away from your terrier is quite possible within the early stages, and I think the blindness is one of the early symptoms.

'The incubation period is about 5 days. The eyelids then begin to swell and the inflammation quickly spreads to the base of the ears, the forehead and the nose; at the same time the anal and genital region becomes swollen. .....the animal usually dies about the eleventh or twelfth day after it becomes infected.'

[mooster 1]

Thanks for that John.Well to answer the question then Ditch,it seems like the rabbits I have encountered lately are most likely to be in the early stages rather than recovering.I had not realised that death came so soon.Have always asumed the disease was long and lingering.As I said, the eyes appear merely closed over with no signs of swelling at all and no other symptoms.I can only asume that visual symptoms may vary somewhat.

Morbid subject I know,so aplogies.Have a good new year,off to me pit now.Mooster.