Snowy has an eye infection of some sort...

[mouse_chalk]

We noticed on Friday evening that Snowy was holding her left eye closed, and that there was clear discharge coming from it- she'd been fine in the morning and during the day that I could remember. I tried to have a look at it but she shut it right up tight, so I bathed it with some cooled-down boiled water (lukewarm), just on the outside, and we watched it overnight. Yesterday it wasn't any better really and there was more discharge, so we called up the vets and they happened to have an afternoon appointment free, so we took her on down.

I'd totally forgotten until we were almost at the vets, but Snowy's had her tear ducts flushed before, and the left one (one that is affected) is..... can't think of the right word.... impermeable I think? Meaning that it doesn't go anywhere, and never has done. The vet put a stain in each eye, and in her good eye it all ran out of her eye via her tear duct, but on the other side it ran all down her face- leaving poor Snowy looking like we'd drawn on her with a yellow highlighter or something :shock: Anyway, the vet couldn't see any scratches or obvious damage besides a bit of redness and swelling of her upper eyelid, and being that it came on quite suddenly, thinks that she could have possibly knocked it on something, and irritated it a bit, or got a mild infection?

We have eye drops to give her once a day for the next week. I don't have them to hand at the moment but I think they are called Fucithalmic?

Her eye looks way better already today though- she's still a bit 'squinty' from it, but she's keeping it open most of the time now rather than shut, and I didn't notice nearly as much discharge from it this morning as there was yesterday/Friday.

I guess that knock on wood, this seems to be under control, but I thought I'd just post it here to get opinions and see what you guys thought! She's still acting perfectly normal- stuffing her face, and running about like a crazy bunny as usual, and she doesn't appear to be in any discomfort at all- although we do have Metacam at home if she needs it. Would Metacam normally be prescribed anyway as a precaution with something like this?

The vet also checked her teeth- she's had spurs before and I did wonder if they could be bothering her again and this causing the runny eye, but the spurs were on the opposite side, and although the vet said that they are just beginning to grow back pointy, they aren't anywhere near needing filing yet, and aren't causing any soreness etc (they were last done in March, and July before that).

Poor Snowy! I wonder if she stuck herself in the eye with a bit of hay or something- the bag we've had recently seems to be a lot drier and 'stick-ier' than previous bags- the buns seem to love it but I wonder if I should dump it and skip onto the next less-stick-y bag...

I don't have a picture right no- I did take one on Friday eve but my camera battery is dead, I'll try and upload one later...

 

[Maureen Las]

Usually when the rabbit is squinty and not able to open the eye well it is from an injury. I know this for afact whenI poked myself in the eye with a mascara wand and couldn't keep my eye open ; it was hurting and contunuously running...a scratched cornea
I believe thatI read this also in a Randy post.
I have had a rabbit with a cornealulcer and his eye ran and he also had an occluded tear ductand he needed to be treated with antibiotics ; he did not squint

As long as she is improving that is good
Are you absolutely sure that the vet studied the eye well under the dye to look for scratches , ulcers etc.

I need to be short we have 17 new rabbits at the shelter and i need to go almost daily as they are trying to alter them all quickly ..(too fast for me)

if you have the time Jen do a search for Randy's posts and see if you can find ones on eyes. His treatment of corneal ulcers is far more sophisticated then anything that i received here. in Wi
When i scratched my cornea Iwas givenI believe antibiotic salve and can't remember ifI wore a patch or not.

A long as she is improving she is probably receiving the correct treatment.

 

[JimD]

ray:

 

[tonyshuman]

I agree that improvement means it's being treated, but, I think it would be good to get a head x-ray to make sure the roots haven't grown up into her tear duct.

 

[mouse_chalk]

Thanks for the replies guys- sorry I haven't replied sooner but haven't been too well the past few days.

Snowy's eye as of yesterday looks completely normal again! It was looking lots better on Sunday night but even better last night and today. There has not been any discharge at all, she isn't 'squinting' with it and it looks absolutely fine. I still gave her the eyedrops last night- wasn't sure if it was a wise idea to stop the antibiotics mid-run, plus I guess I don't know if it's them making her eye better, or if she maybe just knocked it and it was a bit irritated, like Maureen said. The vet definitely looked at her eye closely, and other than it being a bit red (redder than usual since she is a REW, lol), she couldn't see any scratches or anything.

She had all her teeth fully checked out last year and all were fine, apart from slight molar spurs, but they are on the opposite side to the poorly eye. If she has any other eye issues though, I'll take her in and ask about x-rays.

Thanks again

 

[tonyshuman]

Sorry you haven't been well. I'm glad the eye seems better--you might consider getting the x-rays at her annual appt--they'll have to put her under anesthesia for it, so then they can do any other things they need to that are a bit invasive, like looking for spurs, doing a blood draw if needed, vaccinations, etc.