Gunk in eye

[Sweetie]

Hi there everyone,I have a couplequestions to ask. Prince, my Netherland Dwarf, has gunk in his right eye about every couple days or so. I would clean it out, but then after a couple days or so it would be back. Sweetie does not have this problem. They are in different cages.

Is it normal for rabbits to have gunk in their eyes every couple of days or so? Also what can I do about this?

 

[Maureen Las]

Do you mean pus? or crusty brown type stuff

 

[Maureen Las]

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=12017&forum_id=10

 

[Sweetie]

It is like the sleep, that looks like pus, that we get in the morning when we wake up in the morning. I cleaned his eye like twice. Once a couple or so days ago, and then again today.

 

[Maureen Las]

I don't think that it is normal ; does anything with the eye look red ?

 

[Sweetie]

No! The eye looks normal. But there looks like there are some hair or scratches in his eye.

 

[Sweetie]

Now I am getting really concerned.

 

[Sweetie]

Well I saw some hair outside of the eye, loose hair, and I wiped that away. Now his eye looks clear.

I am not really sure what is going on, but like I said I am getting really concerned. He isn't letting me hold him for very long like he used to.

 

[tonyshuman]

Getting a bit of fur in there and having it get mucusy and wet is normal. However, some redness in the eye or scratches on the cornea is bad.

 

[Sweetie]

I will keep an eye on it and if it gets any worse, even a little bit, I will take him to the vet! The eye looks okay now, but I will keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get any worse!

Thank you for your help!

 

[Maureen Las]

What looked like a scratch could have been a hair across his eye

 

[Sweetie]

His eye does look better though right now. I am still going to keep an eye on it though just in case! Thank you for your help!

 

[tonyshuman]

Frida gets this a lot. The bf took her and Benjamin in to the vet yesterday for annuals/have a look at possible mites on Frida (apparently it's just dry skin, no mites present in the scraping) and she gave him opthalmic neosporin (which is different from normal neosporin) to put in her eye. I guess it could be an eye infection if there's a lot of it. Just keep an eye on it and if it doesn't improve after a few weeks, or if it gets worse, you may want to take him in.

 

[BrandonB]

This is normal on Netherland dwarfs due to how small their heads are. I went through this with my netherland dwarf Gizmo. Because the head is so small the tear ducts get clogged. This could be caused by debris or due to teeth problems. What I suggest is to bring your rabbit to a savvy vet. Have them drain the tear ducts and take a culture. The problem is that if it gets too backed up it will get into the inner ear thus may causing head tilt and propable passing of the bun. The vet will be able to tell by the culture what you are dealing with if due to bacteria. Hopefully it is not the "P" bacteria.

 

[HoneyPot]

Rabbits clean each other's eyes when they're in pairs. My single bun doesn't have anyone to clean his eyes, so I do it for him.

It's just like the crust you get when you wake up in the morning right? All my buns get this and when I pet them, I just clean it. Pull any caught fur or gunk from the corner. They love it when I do it (lots of teeth chattering and closed eyes)- it's part of me grooming them.

If the eye is runny and watery and looks red or swollen, then contact the vet. If it's just little eye crusties, I wouldn't worry about it - just clean it up for him if he misses it when he washes his face.

_______
Nadia

 

[Sweetie]

Thank you for the advice! I will definitely keep an eye on it! I will contact the vet if it gets worse!