eye infection (RIP)

[MidnightMadness]

My rabbit Midnight has had watery eyes for a while now. He is a mini lop and he's about eight years old. Recently his eyes have gotten swollen and puffy with a lot of redness around them. We took him to the vet and they gave us eye drops and antibiotics. It seems to have helped the eyes a little although they are still red. But we also noticed he isn't cleaning his bottom as well as he used to and he smells. We have been cleaning that recently and even put him in a little bath with some warm water to clean him off. Will he eventually go back to cleaning himself as he did before or will this be an ongoing thing? I also read that rabbits can become very nervous by being washed. Are we making him more nervous than he has to be? Should we just let him recover on his own? I just want my baby to feel better. Any suggestions?
Thanks.

 

[Flash Gordon]

are his actually eyeballs swollen or the skin around his eyes?

 

[MidnightMadness]

his actual eyeballs. The doctor told us it was some sort of infection but the swelling itself has gone down significantly with the antibiotics.

 

[Flash Gordon]

yikes...did he check for pressure behind the eyes.? like for glaucoma?..im in the middle of an eye prob with my bunny also ,so i totally understand ur worry.

what drops did he prescribe?

 

[MidnightMadness]

I don't think he checked for pressure behind the eyes but he did notice a sort of growth or cyst type thing in the eye itself. He wasn't to worried about it but he wanted to see him again in 2 weeks to check it.
The drops are called vetrachloracin. They're this weird goopy stuff that you put in the eye though so it's hard to get into their eyes. I'm afraid I'm hurting him when I do it sometimes.

 

[Flash Gordon]

a growth in BOTH eyes or just one?


when i put the ointment in my Flashies eyes i first get a clean soft washcloth and soak it with saline solution and lightly wipe around his eyes with it ..and gradually hell let me lightly go over his closed eye ..he ends up really enjoying this ...which is shocking cuz he is my jumpiest bunny i have....after he gets comfy with me wiping his eye i lift up his eyelid and just touch my clean finger with 1/4 " of ointment to the edge of his eye and it falls in..keep in mind im still rubbing his face a little bit ...i dont let go of his eyelid till it melts a little cuz it will just pop right back out of his eye...or i just hold onto him until it settles in his eye..then when i let him go i throw acouple oats out for him so he forgets about the eye for a min ...,cuz otherwise he will wipe it right back out and eat it...not good...

 

[MidnightMadness]

the growth is in the one eye but his eyes seem to be clearing lately. What seems to be his problem now is that he isn't cleaning his bottom anymore and smells. Also, we brought him upstairs in the living room to be with us as we always have and he peed on the floor right when he was set down. He never used to do that, in fact he used to be so good about that he would scratch on the door if he needed to go back to his cage. We love to have him upstairs but if he continues to pee on the floor that's not going to happen as often.

 

[Flash Gordon]

then obviously theres something wrong with him healthwise....if he doesnt norm do these things and now hes not cleaning himself then u need to take him to the vet..this is the warning signs that they give u to tell u they arent feeling well..poor bunny.i hope u take him to the vet ...

if hes always been a good bunny before then show him the respect that he showed u ..and take him to the vet so he can feel better and be apart of ur family again...u dont want him to be hurting or in pain do you?.hes part of ur family and hes telling u hes not feeling well.

 

[MidnightMadness]

thank you! we've taken him to the vet a couple weeks ago. they want to have another checkup with him next week. Hopefully they will be able to help him. We've been doing the best that we can and cleaning him. Hopefully the antibiotics are helping too.

 

[tonyshuman]

Is he getting oral or injected antibiotics?

 

[MidnightMadness]

Sorry to say Midnight passed this morning :'( We saw the vet a couple days ago and he said there was really nothing i could have done. He was breathing really badly I'm just sad that i was away when it happened. He's in a better place though. He was really suffering through the end. I probably would have had him put down had he not went himself. :'( I'll miss him so much! Thanks for trying to help

 

[minipudge18]

Sorry for your loss...