Eye health in baby mini lop

[marymac]

Yesterday, there was some dried gunk in the corner of Humperdink's (8 weeks) eyes. I used a wet Q-tip to clean it. This evening, he had some more, also dried. He is eating great, pooping up a storm, has no nasal issues from what I can tell, and is very playful. The eyes do not appear watery. I did some Googling, and saw a lot of references to using terramycin ointment in case he has an eye infection. Should I go ahead and order some, or should I look for other signs?

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

What kind of "dried gunk"? Rabbits do get little eye crusties like humans do sometimes. So if it's just a small eye crusty, that's okay. If he's getting them often, you could try rinsing his eye with a sterile saline solution (available in the contact area of the drug store) just to rinse out his eye.

Terramycin ointment is only needed when the eye is infected. You'll usually see that it looks red/irritated and there will be a lot of discharge.

 

[marymac]

Thank you so much! I have a serious case of "new mother" with this little guy. :wink

His eyes don't appear red or irritated, and I'm not seeing a lot of discharge, but he does have some small crusties again this morning. I will try the saline solution.

Your bunny is so cute!!!!!

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

It sounds like it may just be that he's getting dust or something in his eye then. A particular few of my rabbits like to tunnel through their hay or stick their head into their pellet dish, so they'll get the crusties more regularly than others. lol The saline solution is just kind of like water, except completely sterile. So it will rinse out his eye and hopefully get rid of any irritants.

 

[MiniLopHop]

One of my girl bunns and one of my cats gets the little crusties. The vet has checked and said it is the same as when people get "sleep" in their eyes. I just wipe them out each day because it bugs me. Just watch for red, watery, or goopy eyes that could be an infection.

 

[marymac]

I'm glad to know other bunnies get these too. He does like to stick his head in his dish.

All the buns on this thread seem to match.