Runny eyes...

[Runestonez]

Location- Ontario, Canada

Description:
-Sex- Female
-Color- Black
-Breed- Double-Mane Lionhead
-Weight- approx. 2.5 lbs.

- Age- 4.5 years old

- spayed? - yes

- are the bunny's poops and pees normal?yes
- When did they last use their litterbox? few minutes ago
- Any unusual behavior? no

Medical History :

- has she been to the vet or been sick before? Resistant pasturella from6 months - 1year of age, nothing recently.

Diet:

- what does your bunny eat? -Martins LessActive (free feed), unlimited veg, unlimited hay.
- when and what did she eat last? tonight (see above)

Movement:

- Any unusual movements?no
- Is she hopping normally? yes

- Are there any plants, chocolate or other substances within reach? no, she is in a bunny safe room.

- Has the rabbit been outdoors? no, never.

I noticed yesterday that both Peppers and Tucker each had a wet eye each...
They live in side by side cages...Tucker has a bonded female mate...Peppy lives alone.

It looks like it might be a bit puffy but no disclouration on rim of the eye. The only way you tell there was something wrong was because the longish fur around her eye was matted like she had been over groomed. It was quite wet.

Since she is a wooly lionhead I trim the fur around her eyes regularly to keep it from irritating her and that was done 2 weeks ago...so the fur shouldn't be bugging her...the wetness is almost clear...it turns whitish/greyish as it dries and becomes thicker. Tuckers fur is much shorter...so he shouldn't have a problem at all with fur.

Normally seeing this wouldn't bother me...but having two rabbits in side by side cages who rarely interact both having one eye affected is too much to be coincidence...so I am calling the vet tomorrow to book Peppy in(since hers is worse and more obvious)

We have had the house closed up for winter since October...and no one has shown any signs of irritation or allergies...

Any ideas what may be causing this? Or what it could be?

Thanks
Danielle

 

[Maureen Las]

The only thing that immediately comes to my mind is conjuncticitis ; this is just a guess and I thought of it only because it is highly contagious if it is bacterial conjunctivitis.

I would do a lot of handwashing between rabbits although at this point would not separate the pair
it is great to get to the vet as quick as you have planned althoughI would guess that what you are seeing is just the beginning of something.

Idon't knowof eye problems that are common for lionheads and have never needed to trim fur. You may want to pm Tinysmom and ask her if there are any specific eye problems that are common in this breed.

 

[Runestonez]

Hey!

I was wondering if it could be conjunctivitis...but without any swelling or anything I was stumped...I now it isn't irritation from ammonia or anything...why can't these little buggers come with a handy dandy owners manual?!:grumpy:

I'll PM Tinysmom and see what advise she has to offer!

Thanks!
Danielle

 

[tonyshuman]

What about a different type of hay that they both have? It could be clogging tear ducts or causing watery eyes due to allergies. I have heard that shorter-faced bunnies are more prone to clogged tear ducts because there is just generally less space in there, and lionheads are like that, a bit, right?

 

[Runestonez]

Yes...some lionheads do have shorter faces...but none of our have had issues yet...and two bunns at the same time in different cages? Too coincidental for me!

In this bunnyroom I have 3 lionheads, 2 nethies and a Brittania Petite cross...we have been using the same bale of hay since August with no issues...and Peppy isn't the type of bunn to root around in her hay...she is dainty-unless she is trying to kill a cat.

Nothing has changed since our return form India at the beginning of August...we keep the bunns on a very strict schedule...we have the same bag of food, same bale of hay, same everything.

Since these two rabbits have cages beside one another and have the same issues...but do not socialize...it is a worry. I phoned the vet this morning...so we are taking her in tonight at 8:30...so I guess we'll see! Poor baby!

Danielle

 

[Runestonez]

I just finished bathng everybodies eyes...

Peppy had white gunk on her eyeball...so I used a Q-tip and pulled it out...I think she may have had fur trapped under her eyelid. It would be so nice if that is all it is...

Portia has been grooming Tuckers eye and his looks much better this morning...Portia had fur in her eye this morning and I had to clean it out as well...

It would be a simple fix if it were just fur!

 

[tonyshuman]

My bf's nethie Frida gets furry-mucousy gunk on her eyes from time to time. The vet said to remove it with a q-tip soaked in sterile saline (for contacts) and gave us opthalmic neosporin to apply. It could be the same thing with your guys.

 

[Runestonez]

<fingers crossed>i hope i hope i hope.

We are taking Peppy in tonight anyway...we found out today that our rabbit vet will be off until after Christmas...so just in case we are going to have him check her eye anyway...better safe than sorry!

It looks much better today though...she is one of the bunns my hubby watches carefully...she is a bit aggressive sometimes (OK alot of the time) but she was so happy after I washed her eye this morning I got purrs and kisses! Truly a once in a lifetime occurance! Poor thing...it must have really been bugging her!

 

[Runestonez]

So we took all the runny eyed rabbits to the vet...
Our appointment was called early due to hazardous road conditions...I darned near put the van in a ditch trying to avoid an ermine that scooted out across the road on the way to the vet. Everything here is black ice covered in snow...grrr:grumpy:

So he looked at their eyes and can't decide what it is...white discharge but otherwise nothing of note...so we are doing 14 days of eye drops to see how things go...funny enough the bunnies don't seem to care about eyedrops...of all the meds I have had to give over the years...I like eye drops...piece of cake!:biggrin2:

Danielle

 

[tonyshuman]

Interesting... so does the vet think that it's an eye infection? What is the eye drop?

 

[Runestonez]

It is called Gentocin 5ml...so we are going to try them for 14 days...if we don't see an improvement we will go back in to see what else can be done. He knows how we keep our kids housed and he is stumped as to how they would come in contact with this...he thinks it is more bacterial than viral...so I guess we'll see what happens.

And watch all the other kids like a freakin hawk!

 

[tonyshuman]

The bacteria that causes most eye infections is pasturella, which is present at a low level in all healthy rabbits. If something caused a stress on their immune system, the pasturella can go from an small group to a larger one (stress makes the immune system less able to fight it off), and cause an active infection. It's most likely that something stressed them all out and only these two were stressed enough to get an active infection. There's also the possibility of an airborne bacteria.

 

[Sweetie]

My Netherland Dwarf Prince gets these gunks in his eyes, but not really bad. Maybe every other day or once a week or every other week. I have a lionhead mix, she is single mane and she has only had gunk in her eyes(just one eye) once.

It could be an eye infection starting. Glad you were able to get your rabbits in to see the vet. I hope they feel better soon!

 

[Runestonez]

Tonyshuman- Peppers had a rampant resistant pasturella infection when we rescued her as a baby. When she gets stressed she still gets the runny white crusty booger nose...but she is acting fine which is why it wasn't one of the first things to come to mind. Even the slightest stress sets off her nose...but other than the eye she looks perfectly normal. They seem to be feeling better this morning so hopefully we can clear this up fast!

Sweetie- allour runny eyed bunnies are lionheads...I've noticed that Peppy gets crusty eyes when her woolies get too long since she has a fuzzy face...so we'vestartedtrimming them to keep them in check...never had this kind of problem with their eyes before...poor babies...hopefully they start feeling better soon!

 

[Sweetie]

Ok! I hope they get better soon too! Poor little babies! May your bunnies have a full recovery!