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Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Eye discharge?

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    • Kirsty
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        Hello everyone. A lot has been going on at my house, causing a lot of stress for my boyfriend and me. Someone is supposed to be moving in and there are a lot of bad things about it that I won’t talk about, but our bunny has been affected too. He has had to move into another room because of this and I know it has caused him stress too. We haven’t been able to let him out to play for a week because we’ve been extremely busy and trying to figure everything out.

        The room he has to be in is not set up for him to run around in and I don’t think he’d feel safe because he lived in the same room since he was a baby. Hopefully we will get this figured out soon. I am going to let him out to play tomorrow in a safer place and hope he doesn’t get too scared. He’s always been pretty relaxed and besides not liking being held, is really friendly and sweet. He has been acting a little weird though as to be expected from being moved into a new place. He has been hiding in his box and he never did that before.

        The past couple of days he seems to have been settling down and has still been eating normally and getting excited over treats and carrots. We are spending as much time with him as possible. He is acting normal now for the most part.

        The thing I am most concerned about at the moment is something I just noticed a few minutes ago. Both of his eyes seem to have a little discharge. His eyes don’t look red, but there is a little bit of noticeable wetness in the corners. I read a little bit about possible causes and it looks like I might have to take him to the vet. Do any of you have any experience with this? I am going to call the vet tomorrow and tell them about it. The best vet clinic I know of that specializes in rabbits is a 45 minute to an hour drive away. It is where I took him to be neutered. There is a closer vet I brought him to before, but they aren’t as knowledgeable. I might call there first so I won’t have to make him sit in the car for a long time. He never seemed to mind car rides, but I want to avoid it as much as possible if I can. Could stress have something to do with this? Is there anything I should do in the meantime? Like I said, his eyes don’t look red or infected, but I don’t know for sure.  

        Edit: I just thought of something else. The person who is supposed to move in has extreme OCD and sprayed Lysol all over the house upstairs… (This whole situation is crazy!!) We kept our bunny in a (Lysol-free) room downstairs with the door closed and aired it out (there is a big sliding door in the room leading outside so we opened it and left the screen door closed for fresh air). The room was far away from the “cleaning”. I remember the vet telling me not to use scented things around him (because his blood tests showed he could be allergic?) and the smell of Lysol was so strong that even we couldn’t stand it! This is terrible. I don’t know if that could have affected him at all since the room was blocked off from everything. It still makes me worry.

        His cage has also been fairly close to an air conditioner vent. I blocked it off to make sure it isn’t blowing directly towards him. It’s still been pretty hot here so I know he wasn’t freezing or anything. He also has shelter from his box.
        I’m also concerned that dust could have gotten in his eyes somehow. Maybe that could have irritated them a little.

        I just want the best for him especially during this whole mess.
         Any advice is appreciated!
        Thank you!!


      • lorree
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        206 posts Send Private Message

          Hey there
          I don’t know anything about Lysol but I’m glad u tried to keep it away from ur bunny, it is possible that chemicals in the air or even dust could irritate his eyes. Sometimes even a tiny bit of hay cause cause irritation.
          I don’t think the stress would directly affect his eyes but it may have lowered his immune system and allowed for the irritation or infection to occur.

          Good to keep the air conditioner from directly blowing on him as their nose and eyes are sensitive. Just make sure he’s never hot cos rabbits over heat easily and can deal with cold better than the heat.

          My rabbit is currently battling a eye infection herself and she has a white discharge coming from her eyes. I noticed her sitting in the corner looking sad often and squinting her eyes.
          She is currently on “tricin” which is an antibiotic eye ointment from the vet. I have also used “chloramphenicol”.
          If it is an infection, just be aware that she will ingest some of the ointment by wiping her eyes and you need to make sure your vet knows that some antibiotics are not rabbit safe

          Keep an eye out for any nasal discharge as well as that could be a sign of a respiratory problem

          As for what you can do in the meantime, if u have chamomile tea you can make some,add some honey and let it cool as try squirting some in his eyes, it is pain relieving and soothing and antibacterial. I notice some improvement when I do this to my rabbit. Also u can use the warm tea bags as a warm compress and hold them on his eyes for about 10 minutes. You can also make a warm compress with just warm water as well, I soak cotton wool balls in warm water and hold them on my rabbits eyes and she loves it.
          I believe others use saline mixtures for eyes as well.

          I hope it’s just a small irritation that he has
          Best of luck to you


        • lorree
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            Sorry for posting twice, but I had another thought I thought would be helpful to u, in regards to stress.

            If u have access to fresh pesticide free chamomile u can feed some to your rabbit for it’s calming benefits and also Rosemary has a antidepressant quality that may help ease his stress, but only use small amounts of the Rosemary, like about 10cm every second day until the stress is gone, just cos it’s more of a snack food.


          • Kirsty
            Participant
            61 posts Send Private Message

              Thank you so much!

              Things have still been super busy at my house and I haven’t gotten to take him to the vet or come back on here to see any replies.. I feel so horrible!

               I do have some chamomile tea and honey that I will try and will look into the other suggestions as well. (and of course, the vet!!)

              I got some of the dried stuff off his eyes when I first noticed it and he seemed fine, One eye seems okay now, but the other one seems to have some discharge still. I got a picture this time:

               

               

              It looks it has been watering a lot or something. He is running around the room right now and acting very happy and hyper. The only thing wrong seems to be his eye/eyes. His nose seems a tiny bit wet but I don’t know if it’s actually abnormal nasal discharge or if it’s supposed to be that way. There is nothing dry or crusty on his nose.


            • Kirsty
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              61 posts Send Private Message

                Also, I’m sorry about your bunny’s eye infection!! I hope she gets better soon!!


              • lorree
                Participant
                206 posts Send Private Message

                  It looks like what my rabbit has. Which she is still being treated for. And my vet has said it will take some time, although they have improved a lot. but if there is crusty bits it could also be conjunctivitis, which can build up and close the eyes. So keeping them clear of any excess is important. And be careful as I think conjunctivitis can even be transferred to humans.

                  The remedies will help her to deal with it but ultimately if it hasn’t cleared up yet then u’ll need to get her to the vet. It doesn’t look bad right now but may get worse if not treated.

                  I have recently been advised to get my rabbits teeth checked at the vet too as teeth problems can cause eye problems. So when u go to the vet get them to check his teeth too.

                  Often with infections one eye may be worse than the other, it may have been that one eye was infected first then from him cleaning them the other got infected

                  Glad to hear there’s no other symptoms that’s a great sign. Eye problems may take a while to fix, but at least it’s nothing life threatening.
                  I hope your “friend” is not still spraying lysol everywhere too

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              Forum HOUSE RABBIT Q & A Eye discharge?