Forum

OUR FORUM IS UP BUT WE ARE STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF UPDATING AND FIXING THINGS.  SOME THINGS WILL LOOK WEIRD AND/OR NOT BE CORRECT. YOUR PATIENCE IS APPRECIATED.  We are not fully ready to answer questions in a timely manner as we are not officially open, but we will do our best. 

You may have received a 2-factor authentication (2FA) email from us on 4/21/2020. That was from us, but was premature as the login was not working at that time. 

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately! Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

What are we about?  Please read about our Forum Culture and check out the Rules

BUNNY 911 – If your rabbit hasn’t eaten or pooped in 12-24 hours, call a vet immediately!  Don’t have a vet? Check out VET RESOURCES 

The subject of intentional breeding or meat rabbits is prohibited. The answers provided on this board are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet.  It is your responsibility to assess the information being given and seek professional advice/second opinion from your veterinarian and/or qualified behaviorist.

BINKYBUNNY FORUMS

Forum DIET & CARE Weeping eye doesn’t seem to be improving despite two rounds of treatment :(

Viewing 9 reply threads
  • Author
    Messages

    • Lemonsoup
      Participant
      72 posts Send Private Message

        Teddy recently developed a weeping eye. Nothing else changed, diet the same, poo the same. And he was his usual sweet happy self. I waited a few days and took him to the vet. They checked if his tear duct was patent – it was. Checked his teeth (all looked good) and did a dye test in his eye (I forget why – but it was fine too). So they gave me drops for him. We did the course of drops but still weeping.

        So back for visit number two. This time they flushed the duct, and gave him a course of stronger drops and an oral antibiotic liquid. He’s great at having the drops administered (thank goodness, since there are five drops a day) – but the oral liquid was a nightmare. He’s goes crazy with a burrito – and bucked liked a bronco when I tried giving him the medication. I took him back to the vet to show how uncooperative he was being and to check if I was doing something wrong. Naturally he put on his best behaviour – happily went into a burrito for me and even opened his mouth for the syringe. I couldn’t believe it. Thankfully my daughter was also there to say “that’s not how it works at home” – our bunny is a cheeky little monster! Anyway, 7 days of oral liquid (twice a day) and 10 days of drops (five times a day) and the eye is still weeping. I clean it morning and night and some days it seems better than others but it’s still not cleared up. It’s a clear, slightly oily, sticky substance that is coming out. 

         I’m taking him back for another check up next week but in the meantime, I’m wondering if anyone else has had this experience. Did your vet find a solution? Did it clear up on it’s own? Or do some buns simply live with a weepy eye condition and have their slaves (us) keep the area clean?

        FYI – Teddy is an English Angora – and has a fairly long snout – so even the vet said that tear duct issues with him aren’t seen as common as seen in the smaller breeds of buns.


      • Timmeh
        Participant
        2 posts Send Private Message

          Sorry to hear about your bunnies weeping eye. My girlfriend and I had a lion head with a weepy eye. He had it all his life but it seemed to help the cleaner we kept his living quarters. He was probably around 6 years old when he got really sick and died. Apparently it was a symptom of the “snuffles”. A majority of rabbits have it to my understanding, some are just more prone to the infection than others. (I am not well informed on the technicalities, some others probably have better and more accurate descriptions for it) After that we keep a few things at the ready for future emergencies, such as emergency care blended hay and eye drops. I am pretty sure most medications that the vets give out for rabbits are dependent on its weight so I am not qualified to suggest any such thing as that or give advice on it. We went between a few different vets through his life though and we never got any real solutions. Just keep an eye on your bunny and his behavior and be more prepared to take care of him than we were if he starts getting lethargic and refuses to eat. We spent an entire day looking for a vet to take him on short notice and by the time we got him there he was terribly weak and hungry. I don’t mean to sound scary with this, but I hope it gives some insight and helps.


        • Vienna Blue in France
          Participant
          5317 posts Send Private Message

            HI Lemonsoup – how are you?
            Sorry I can’t help with your weepy eye, maybe someone else will.

            I don’t know where you are trying the burrito, but it often helps if elevated on a table or somewhere he is not used to going.
            I don’t need to warn you just to be careful he doesn’t jump off.. sneaky little furballs.


          • Lemonsoup
            Participant
            72 posts Send Private Message

              Sorry to hear about your lion head Timmeh – they are such divine little rabbits, which for some reason don’t seem to be available here in Australia. I’ll look into ‘snuffles’ to see if any other symptoms relate to Teddy. Yes, I agree re the cleanliness of their space. I’m now changing his litter box daily (because he’s an angora – we have a litter guard on his box anyway so as not to get litter on him and we use wood pellets which don’t seem to throw dust). I clean the wool around his eye morning and night so he doesn’t develop any skin condition from the weeping. He seems to love the grooming. Usually falls asleep during it.

              And yes, all the medication has definitely been weight related. Teddy is currently 3.4kg – so he’s a big boy

              Our vets are great rabbit specialists but I’m actually taking him to another rabbit vet in February (which is over an hour away from me) in order to have a proper clip (since I can’t get some of his mats out and he’s not cooperating with letting me shear his belly and bottom). So it will be interesting as to what the other vet says if his eye is still weeping at this time.

              This morning was pretty good eye wise. No sticky wool around his eye and no obvious sign of wetness – but I know that can change hourly. Luckily I work from home and he’s in the office with me all day so I can keep him company and check on him. And I’m still doing five times a day drops at this point.


            • Lemonsoup
              Participant
              72 posts Send Private Message

                Hi Vienna Blue – apart from eye issue – we’re all good

                We have been trying the burrito on the floor as he’s a jumper. I tried to do it on the sofa one time too, but our little Houdini was outta there pronto. At the vet – he was just the perfect bunny. I did it on the floor and there was no issue at all. Clearly he knows when he’s at the vet and goes into best behaviour mode 


              • Muchelle
                Participant
                1141 posts Send Private Message

                  Hi, my bun suffers from chronic discharge from one eye because of the configuration of his molar roots. I sure hope it’s not that, but to make sure you can ask the vet about an x-ray of the skull.

                  I clean him several times a day by squeezing gently with my thumb from the lower end of his eye and upwards. At first he didn’t want me to do it, but I think now he understands I’m grooming his little face This gets the tears out all at once and so it reduces the stickiness to get in his fur. When he has very bad lacrimation, I wet around his eyes with a drop of olive oil and it really prevents the stuff from gunking up and making those sticky boogers that are super hard to get off his hair. I hope my experience can be of some help!


                • Lemonsoup
                  Participant
                  72 posts Send Private Message

                    Thanks Muchelle. Sorry to hear about your little bun’s eye issue. At this stage, the vet doesn’t think it’s his roots – but that will no doubt be the next stage (x-rays). The olive oil dab is a great suggestion. Yes, the sticky stuff is gruesome. Makes his eye area completely solid. I’ve trimmed the really solid parts and now that I’m cleaning him morning and night, we’ve not experienced any that can’t be removed with this cleaning regime. But the oil might feel nice on his skin  Thanks for the suggestion!


                  • Muchelle
                    Participant
                    1141 posts Send Private Message

                      If the hair is already matted (and if he lets you), you can wet your thumb and index tips into lukewarm hair and sort of roll the dirty hair in between them. By rolling the fur in your fingers, the moistened muck will be pushed out if it’s really bad you can use a liiittle bit of oil instead of water. It will make your fingers horribly sticky but it will save the fur!


                    • Lemonsoup
                      Participant
                      72 posts Send Private Message

                        I actually purchased some gauze from the pharmacy and I use single pieces dipped in hot water which enables me to get the wool between my fingers and the gauze and clean it really well. Thankfully he loves having it done – clearly sees it as a sign of grooming and he just totally snuggles in and virtually falls asleep. And at least this now ensures that I don’t need to cut any more wool from around his eye. He’s looking decidedly lop sided at present.


                      • Wick & Fable
                        Moderator
                        5771 posts Send Private Message

                          Jumping in randomly to add an anecdote: Wick is going through fungal treatment and I snip his fur when it gets too gummy or he grooms it excessively. He’s gone from looking like he has no chin to now having 3 “chins”, because his fur is growing back in, haha. His right side is worse than his left, so he too looks lopsided.

                          The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

                      Viewing 9 reply threads
                      • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

                      Forum DIET & CARE Weeping eye doesn’t seem to be improving despite two rounds of treatment :(