watery eyes

[possum the bunny]

possum is my twelve year old bunny.  we have been very lucky and she has been in great health up until a few months ago.  i noticed one of her eyes was watering a lot (clear fluid, no puss, no gunk, and other than her cataracts and the wet area around her eye, everything looked normal).  possum did not seem to be bothered and there were no changes in her behavior.  a little internet research scared the crap out of me and i made an appointment for the earliest possible time i could with her vet.  (i live in a rural community and the local vet who knows rabbits is only here part time so it was a while before possum could be seen)  two days or so before the vet appointment, possum’s appetite lessened and she began crunching her teeth a lot and was obviously in pain.  When she saw the vet, she was having diarrhea and had completely stopped eating.  the vet took x-rays and did blood work and concluded that possum had a GI obstruction.  The intestinal problem and eye problem seemed to be completely unrelated.  after two vet visits, an abdominal xray, a head xray, iv fluids, drugs, and supplemental food, possum recovered.  She is slowly gaining weight and seems back to her old, happy self.  The vet did not find an abscess in her mouth and the head xray showed her teeth and jaw are fine.  The vet thought it could be some sort of infection.  i applied terramycin to the eye twice a day for about two weeks.  The watery eye never got better and now her other eye is watering as well.  I do not know what to do and cannot figure out what the problem is.  Her teeth are apparently fine.  I am very careful about her litter box and keep it very clean.  she lives in a four foot by four foot pen in my study that is completely open and well ventilated.  there have been no changes to her environment and no irritants that i can think of to which she is being exposed.  i maxed out my credit card with her vet visits and cannot afford to take her back to the vet.  any advice as to what the problem could be/what i can do?  if she has clogged tear ducts, is that emergent?  Like i said, she does not seem to be in pain but i do not want to ignore something that could be potentially serious but the vet could not find anything when we went before.  advice would be great!

[Sarita]

Elderly rabbits are subject to deterioration of bone mass and many times this causes their teeth to shift and sometimes their molar roots to grow long into their tear duct area and I suspect that is what is happening to Possum – I’m having the same issues with my rabbit Toffee and teary eyes and have had this issue with another rabbit in the past. All you can really do is try to gently clean the areas around her eyes and if it doesn’t bother her than don’t worry about it. It’s age related.

It’s great that Possum is living so well at her age :~) She’s so lucky to have a good and caring person slaving over her.

[possum the bunny]

thank you so much for your response!  i have read a little about teeth roots growing and causing problems.  is this something that would have shown up on the xray of her head?  the vet did not seem to think that the xray showed any cause for the problem.  not to question your suggestion, i am just trying to understand everything!

[Sarita]

I think on a regular x-ray it’s not as clear as a more specialized one at the dental vet. Also sometimes they do need a radiologist to see those finer details. That’s been the experience with my vet anyway. She had a radiologist look at one of my elder rabbit’s head x-ray and the radiologist saw things she didn’t. I also think sometimes it could be the particular angle that they take the x-ray as well as to what actually shows up.

This particular rabbit is about 10 years old and she is just now having terrible dental issues including the runny eye.

Maybe suggest that to your vet to see if the vet thinks it could be a possibility. It just may be something she did not consider at that point.

[possum the bunny]

thank you so much! this is very helpful! i am sorry that your bunny is also having problems.  i hope things improve for both of our bunnies!

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