Red, swollen, runny eye!!! Help!

[Mr.OliverJames]

Little Oliver, my 6-year-old Netherland Dwarf was fine all day except when I just went in his room to make sure he had enough hay and water and to pet him, I noticed his right eye was very red and swollen and runny. He seems done besides the appearance of his eye. I think maybe he got poked by a piece of hay. I will bring him to the vet tomorrow but it is already nine pm and I can't really afford the emergency visit fee. What should I do for him in the mean time?

Has anyone else ever had this happen??

 

[tonyshuman]

If you can get him to the vet tomorrow it should be ok unless the entire eye is swollen. Eye issues usually take time to become true emergencies. If he is in pain and won't eat, that's another story--not eating is always an emergency in rabbits. It doesn't sound like that's an issue here. For now, you can rinse the eye with sterile saline for contact lenses--not contact lens cleaner, but the solution used for heat disinfecting contacts. Enzyme cleaner for contact lenses can be irritating. You could also use artificial tears to soothe the eye. Another thing you could do is put a warm wet washcloth on the eye to try to clean up some of the runniness and make sure the fur isn't matted together with mucus. Other than those things, there's not a lot you can do without a vet and not a lot you need to do as long as he's relatively stable, the eye isn't protruding or grossly swollen compared to the other eye, and he's eating and drinking fine.

 

[ladysown]

use a warm tea bag instead of a cloth. Tea bags are soft and the astringents in it are cleansing/healing.