17 day old Baby Lion Head eye problems

[CCWelch]

I have 2-17 day old Lion Head babies and every morning and evening I have to clean their eyes with warm water and re open their eyes. I talked to a breeder today and she told me to use Terramycin. My question is how often should I be using this on babies this young? The packaging says 2-4 times daily. I am currently planning on only 2x daily because of their age.

They do not have any inversion of the eyelids or anything like that but each day they have heavy white stuff come out from around their eyes and lids.

The 3rd bunny of the litter does not have any eye problems at all.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

Normally I'd say to call a rabbit savvy vet and speak with them or schedule a visit.

 

[Sweetie]

I am not sure when baby rabbits get their teeth, but it sounds like teeth problems. But I am not sure. I would consult a rabbit savvy vet and get them in asap. I had to clean Prince's eyes every other day or so until I found out that his problem was because of his teeth. He had molar spurs. He hasn't had any problems with his eyes since then.

 

[amdfarm]

Sounds like nestbox eye, the same problem I had w/ a couple of my kits. I'm down to only treating one for it now and it's doing A LOT better. Keeping it open from day to day now w/out help.

I'm squeezing cucumber juice in her eye once or twice a day. Seems to be working very well. A breeder/friend told me about this. It doesn't hurt them and feels cool and soothing. They or mom clean off any extra off their faces. I usually end up w/ more on me than in the eye, as I never calculate where it's coming out of when I squeeze a slice. LOL

Good luck, hope it helps.

 

[Bassetluv]

I once had a young kit whose one eye didn't open. It remained closed and crusted over, so when she was about 12 days old I began treating it with a mild (warm) boric acid solution - boric acid dissolved in hot water, then let it cool. I bathed it 3 times a day for several days, and the eyelid came *unglued*, but still didn't look great...and her eye itself was extremely cloudy; filmed over. So I took her to my vet, who examined her eye and concluded that it appeared to be conjunctivitis, and that if it hadn't responded to treatment by now it never would. He also said that she would never be able to see from that eye. *He gave me antibiotic cream to treat her, and I took her home.

I took her home and treated it, but it didn't seem to really respond. But I kept up with the boric acid treatment long after the antibiotic treatment ended. The vet still was certain her eye wouldn't respond. However, about two weeks I later noticed that the crustiness had finally cleared up. Two weeks after that (guessing at the time frame here, this was over 30 years ago) her eye began to clear. So I took her back to the vet, who was stunned to learn that this was the same rabbit. He said that her eyelid was now fully healed, and she could in fact see from that eye.

All this to say, it was rather an old-fashioned treatment, but with persistence it paid off...she grew up to be a healthy bunny with perfect eyes.

Best of luck with your baby!

*Edited to add, as I forgot to write this when I posted.

 

[CCWelch]

It has already been determined it is not conjunctivitis and it isn't teeth. I am agreeing with "Nestbox eye" their eyes are nice and clean and bright when they are open, they are just crusted over. A little warm water and they are open but the terramycin is precautionary because of the white gunk.
Called the vet, she said the same thing and 2x per day.(Glad my vet is on duty at 7am.)If they are not improving in 3 days then I need to bring them in for an antibiotic shot.

 

[Maureen Las]

Was a culture and sensitivity done on the exudate to determine what antibiotic would be most appropriate. If it is a bacteria is causingthe problem you will need to administer antibiotics; I would see a vet
Who ruled out conjunctivitis? :?


http://www.mohrs.org/hrswebpg24.html

http://www.ontariorabbits.org/health/healthinfo11.html

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZqfOi4Tpr0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZqfOi4Tpr0[/ame]

 

[CCWelch]

I suppose I should have added that I worked as a Vet Tech for a number of years and know conjunctivitis in just about any small animal. I also should have added that these two little ones have an extremely long and thick hair coat and it covers their eyes. My vet sent her tech out(she lives less than a mile from me)to help me trim the hair back away from the babies eyes.
I am still to use the terramycin once daily and make sure they keep their eyes open. If I notice any more matting I need to trim back more hair and rinse with contact lens solution(the type you can put on your contacts and put in your own eyes) I am also to rinse their eyes with the solution daily before adding the terramycin.

I was told this is a common thing in Lionheads and other long hair breeds, though usually it occurs with only one in a litter. The reason the little black one does not have problems is because he did not put on a super thick long coat.