infected tear duct/swollen gland above eye

[girlzilla]

my bun bun had a lump come up on his eye yesterday. it's happened before but it disappeared after a day so i wasn't worried. but when it popped up again, i decided to take him to his vet.

turns out it's a blocked tear duct above his eye and it's gotten infected. rabbits have glands lining their upper and lower eyelids and one of his upper glands has somehow gotten infected and swollen up. the vet has given me anti-biotic eyedrops to administer once daily for 5 days to make the swelling go down, and then i have to take my bunny back to have the lump removed. apparently it's like a little squishy sack and the vet will give my bunny a local anesthetic and then make a tiny pinhole to squeeze the sack out of. apparently he has 3 other slightly swollen glands above the same eye but they are tiny in comparison and the eyedrops should clear those up without a problem.

my poor little bunny. he was SO brave and well behaved at the vets. as a reward i bought him a new grassy tunnel to chew on.

vet said it's very common in cats but quite rare in rabbits. at least, he doesn't see many so maybe most people don't notice them on their buns? has anyone else ever experienced swollen lumps/infected tear ducts/glands around their rabbits eyes?

 

[Michaela]

Sorry I can't help much, I've never had any experience with that. :?

There's a bit about it in the Library Eye thread here and in this article by Dana Krempels (Rabbit Expert).

I hope Ludo is ok! ray:

 

[tundrakatiebean]

Something Similar happened to one of my dogs. Henry had a problem with his tear glad, but the swelling never went down and they didn't remove it. They gave us teardrops for him too. It doesn't seem to bother him anymore. I haven't heard of that in rabbits though. :?

I hope everything goes well for ludo!

 

[girlzilla]

he will be ok, the vet said it's not fatal and it's not anything that requires serious surgery. i was just so relieved to find out that it wasn't serious! but i am looking forward to when he's all better and doesn't have the lump anymore.

 

[Ivory]

It's really common in younger animals like dogs and cats- as they're developing, one tear duct may not develop quickly enough, so they have runny eyes. I don't know about the frequency in rabbits, though. And if yours aren't young, removing the tear duct may very well be needed.