Bun troubles

[Faerin]

Hey I posted on craigslist and was told that I should put something up on here just to see if there is anything else I can do.

I have two holland lops a male who's just over a year and a female that I just got not to long ago who I was told was 2 or 3. Anyways I'm trying to bond the two together since my male gets really lonely when I'm not around. The bonding had been going great up until yesterday when my male (Peter) decided to go check out the females (Babs) cage. She found out he was in there and had a fit and went at him with her claws.

Peter now has a split eyelid (outer) and it was bleeding a fair amount yesterday but it's stopped now. His poor eye is all swollen now and I got some "eye goop" out of it this morning with a soft wet rag. I dont think it was pus since the cut doesnt look to terrible other then the swelling. He's still grooming and eating and everything but I'm concerned about the swelling. I want to do everything I can to avoid infection and having to go to the vet since it stresses him out so much.

Is there anything I can do for him other then just keep my eye (no pun intended) on it and make sure it's clean? I'm keeping the two seperated for the time being since I don't want another episode like that to happen.

And on another note did this just screw up my bonding efforts since before this they were cuddling up together like they fell in love almost at first site?

I'll try to get some pictures taken to post on here when I get to a computer since I only have my phone at the moment.

 

[Maureen Las]

This requires a vet visit as fast as possible. it is very possible your bun has a scrached cornea and other injuries; if you are already getting pus you really need immediate care to get antibiotics, sterile eye wash, eye drops etc.
Most likely your vet will give you systemic meds in addition to the eye meds.

if you need a rabbit knowledeable vet let us know and we will attempt to help you find one.

I have a bunwho wasscratched in the eye by a female I was attempting to bond him with, he developed a severe corneal ulcer. has taken months to resolve it and even now it isn't 100%

Don't worry about the bonding process at this point; keep them close but separated. Focus on the eye issue at this point.
if you are waiting to see the vet you cancleanse the area with sterile eyewash that can be bought in a pharmacy in the contct lense section (normal saline)

 

[jordiwes]

Aha, based on your IP address, you appear to be in the Vancouver area. The best rabbit vet is Dr. Upjohn at Eagleridge Animal Hospital. Please see him as soon as possible.

Dr Hugh Upjohn
Eagle ridge Animal & Bird Hospital
604-464-3343

 

[aurora369]

Another good vet is Dr. Martinez.

Dr. Joseph Martinez
Green Cross Veterinary Housecall Services
(604) 731-9416
Email: [email protected]

Call and leave a message, and he should get back to you quickly if he doesn't answer right away.

He is very reasonably priced, and I have been taking my buns to him.

--Dawn

 

[tonyshuman]

Eye injuries can be bad, as others have mentioned, and the best thing is to get him to the vet. The eyelid may require stitches, and the eye probably requires some antibiotic drops/salve that are meant for the eye (available only by prescription, unfortunately). The vet will also want to check for a corneal ulcer. Until you can get him in to a vet (tomorrow, preferably), you can rinse out the eye with sterile saline solution for contacts (not contact solution, just sterile saline solution).

Re: bonding, it may or may not have ruined your chances. It depends a lot on whether or not these guys are both fixed. Hormones affect bonding hugely, so it's nearly impossible to bond bunnies that aren't fixed. However, bunnies that hated each other when intact can get along just fine after desexing. Obviously, this happened because Babs was defending her territory, and unspayed females do this a lot. With time (and many more supervised meetings in neutral territory once he's healed), she may come to accept him and let him in her territory. We have a very cage aggressive girl bun (Frida) who has her own little area (a pet tent from Ikea) that she defends with teeth and claws. Her boyfriend (Benjamin) gets to go in there, but we humans don't. She has accepted him into her space, even though she's very protective of it.

 

[jamesedwardwaller]

keep them seperated,and try a neutral site for-visitation with supervision,.sincerely james waller

 

[Faerin]

Thanks for all the advice.

Both buns are desexed so I think she was just being aggressive.

I have been using with outside or our bathroom or front hallway for their bunny dates so as soon as I get the go ahead from the vet I will continue to let them "date".

PS jordiwes peter looks almost identical to your pic

I contacted the vet and I'm going to try to make an appointment for tomorrow. They said I was going to have to phone back since they were so full but to keep an eye on it and make sure to keep it clean.

 

[Faerin]

Update

I phoned Dr Martinez and he told me to buy some antibiotic eye drops and put that on the cut and in his eye. He also said to come see him if it gets any worse and the drops arn't helping. Hopefully this will help.

 

[Maureen Las]

I didn't know that you could buy antibiotic eye drops without a script?

 

[Faerin]

Neither did I before today but I'm glad you can since I hate to see him all swollen and not be able to do anything.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

not that it's a rabbit, i use it on, but my mare(Arabian) has UVetis and THe vet jsut has me use 'CLear Eyes' to rinse her eye and then Terramycin antibiotic ointment when it flairs up to 'recalm' her eye and pull it back. She's mostly blind anyway but at least she's still alive and happy. Both the 'Clear Eyes' and the 'Terramycin' I buy over the counter at Walkers or Tractor Supply Company. I mean, they told me to buy it at one those places since buying it through them was at least $10 more for the Terramycin and $5 more for the clear eyes solution.
Again, Jazz is a horse, and this is a bunny but Same type of scenario. The Doc was more concerned that I was able to treat it as soon as it flaired up not wait until he got back out to do it himself. Also less stress on her, she's not male friendly (She was an abused/neglected case with males involved) and she's bonded to me, like your bunny is bonded to you, he may not take to others handling him quite as well- again don't know, i don't know the bun.

 

[tonyshuman]

Teramycin would be a good antibiotic for the eyes, and I didn't know it was available OTC.

 

[gentle giants]

tonyshuman wrote:

Teramycin would be a good antibiotic for the eyes, and I didn't know it was available OTC.

Yup, you can get it at feed and farm supply stores,just like you can injectible Pen-G. A lot of times it will be cheaper to get it at the store than at the vet's too.

 

[Faerin]

The vet told me to get polysporin eye drops or ointment. It seems to have helped Peter since he's not so swollen and red this morning. I'm going to put a bit more on today and then see how he looks.

Thanks again for all the advice and thanks so much for the names of the vets, especially Dr Joseph Martinez he has been a huge help.

 

[tonyshuman]

We have used the neosporin/polysporin opthalmic stuff before, but that was by prescription only.

 

[Faerin]

Update
Peter's eye looks much better the swelling has gone down so much it almost looks the same as his other eye. He's craving attention at the moment so we are going to sit outside and enjoy this nice weather.

Thanks again for everyones help.

 

[tonyshuman]

Great! How long will you continue to use the eye ointment?

 

[Faerin]

I'm going to do another few days just to make sure everything heals okay since I don't want to stop to early and possibly have an infection later on.

 

[tonyshuman]

That's good. I'd do 7 days at the least, maybe 14 at the most.

 

[Blaze_Amita]

I've got one baby that I've weaned them into my mini rex litter (Which I just weaned) that has a swollen eye(tort doe baby) so i'm starting treatment tomorrow on her eye.