Watery Eyes

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vjp300

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Hi,

Thanks is advance for reading and advising.

My dwarf house rabbit is I think a couple of years old and in the year I have had him has had no problems at all. A couple of weeks ago I noticed one eye had been watering and his cheek was wet. A quick google search indicated it could be severe so we went straight to the vet.

The vet put dye in both eyes to check the tear ducts and determined they were both functioning normally and determined the problem was trauma to the eye indicated by take up of the dye (which neither myself or the assistant could see).

Prescribed an antibiotic gel twice a day for a week.

A week later and there is no change. So after more google research I decide to keep going with the treatment.

Several days later and still no change and I'm suspecting the gel is hampering rather than healing so I stopped using it.

Nearly 2 weeks on and this morning poor Roger has 2 watery eyes! the previously healthy one is not as watery as the initial one and I am at a loss as what to do.

Both eyes look normal (no swelling, discoloration, or discharge apart from tearing wetting his cheeks). He is eating fine, carrots included so I don't think its a tooth issue. His nose is moist so I think his tear ducts are clear. As both eyes are now watery the initial issue can't have been trauma so I suspect an infection. But surely the antibiotics the vet subscribed should have sorted that?

Roger seems unaffected by his eyes and twice a day I dry his cheeks to avoid secondary issues setting in. As he seems fine I don't really want to go back to the vet to spend another large sum of money on getting another potential misdiagnosis.

Can anyone offer any help or experience as to what the problem could be?

Thanks!
 
Barry had a bout with watery eyes so I did some research and found that the powder *fines from pellets* in the bottom of his food dish may have been causing it. This can also appear if you have a lot of fines in his hay. I started cleaning his bowl out after every feeding and it corrected for him. He eats most of his hay from stuffed TP tubes now. That's not to say that this is what caused it. It might have even been a hair under the eyelid, but it did correct for him. Good luck!
 
That is super helpful - thanks! Roger has a gravity fed bin and the last time I filled it up was the end of a feed bag so there is some finer bits and dust at the bottom. I will empty it out tonight and refill with more whole pellet from the new bag and see if that helps! I really hope its that simple :)
 
Yay! I hope that's all it is. I read too that bunnies have really sensitive respiratory systems, so it might even have to do with the bedding he's on. Barry is free range and is uncaged in his own bedroom so I deduced that the fines for him were more likely. I hope all is well with your little Guy soon.
 
Update:

I cleared out his food bin and dried his cheeks really well last night so I would be able to see if there was a difference in the morning.

Both cheeks had markings of watery eyes this morning but maybe not as bad before.

I was slightly disappointed as I was hoping for a complete recovery overnight but I suspect it might take a few days for him to get back to normal if it was the dust from the feed.

I'll leave it over the weekend and reassess on Monday morning.

Thanks for your support :)
 
Our rabbit savvy vet gave us a prescription eye drop when that happened with one of our rabbits. She did check him for teeth problems and other issues. Also, one time he had a mild respiratory infection that was causing it. We didn't even know he was sick and had taken him in just because of a weeping eye. Hopefully they will figure out what is causing it or it will stop on it's own.
 
Thanks Doodlebugger.

Since clearing out his feeding bin and also changing the hay in his hidy box the eye that started watering second has cleared up on its own. The original watery eye is still watering slightly so I am inclined to think it was a problem caused by the dust from the feeder bin and should clear up on its own.

I heading back to the UK for Christmas and Roger will stay in my bf's capable hands with strict instructions to go to the vet should Roger change his eating or his eyes significantly worsen. I'm hoping that he'll be fully recovered once I return home :).
 

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