watery eyes?

[BenNme]

For the pastcouple of days my rabbit has had watery eyes. Just barely out of theordinary, but there is still a little excess water in there, both eyes.They are not leaking, it is only inside the eye.

Does anyone have any idea of what thiscould be from? nothing has changed for him, same feed, shavings,everything is the same except for the fact that the temperaturessuddeny shot up from the high seventees to the lower nineties. could itbe the heat? that there is dust in the hay that he is eating?(althoughi dont see any dust), pollen in the air? anyone have any ideas?

Thank You! ...Kim and thebunch :bunnydance::bunnydance::bunnydance:

 

[Pipp]

Lots of good info here:

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=14567&forum_id=10

 

[BenNme]

thanks pip... Ben's eye looks NOTHING like theeye on those pictures! oh my gosh, those really scared me, his is justlike, you can hardly tell a difference between his normal amount andthis amount, just verrryyy slightly more than usuall, and i can problyonly tell because i know him so well... any more ideas on what it couldbe?

 

[JimD]

Our Benji has allergies that make his eyes run.

A few things that we identified as primers were:

Dusty hay and/or pellets. (We now sift all of his food)
Running the vacuum in their room. (I wrap a sheet around his cage when we vac)
Open windows...pollen?mold,spores? (Not much I can do...and he LOVES the window open)

Sometimes it's only one eye. I think the tear duct must get irritatedand a little inflamed and then he starts fussing with it. When it's badhe'll even groom the fur away from around his eye(s).
We treat him with saline flushes and warm compresses when it flares up, and it usually clears up in a couple of days.

He's been to the vet to check out if the ducts need flushing ...and shethinks not. She's checked his eyes for cuts /scratches....they're fine.
She's cultured it...and it comes up ok.
About the only thing really irritated is the bunnie.

If his eyes are just a little watery, I wouldn't worry too much. Ifthey're running, I would suggest a vet visit to check it out.

The sudden rise in heat could be a factor, but I couldn't answer that.Maybe one of the other members has some input. Hydration maybe??Release of allergens in the air??

~Jim

 

[BenNme]

thank you JimD! i bet it was something in theair. ( he is an outdoor bunny) do you suggest that i wash his eye outwith a salene solution? if so, how do you go about doing that?

 

[naturestee]

If you wrap him in a towel, you could gentlyhold his upper eyelid open and slowly squirt a little saline solutionin (the type made for human eyes/contacts, never make saline solutionat home!).

Although if he doesn't seem bothered and his eye and the insides of hiseyelids don't look irritated, it might be best to just leave it alone.

Oh, and my Loki has issues with dust, primarily in one eye.Pellet dust and hay dust are the biggies. I've had his tearducts flushed which helped some. The last time I was in I wasgiven an ointment for his eye just in case, although the eye didn'tlook infected or inflamed at all. It did the trick, betterthan the flushes did, so I'm guessing that his tear duct got irritatedand then got a minor secondary infection.

 

[JimD]

From the HRS site:

"An occasional weepy eye is probably just a clogged tear duct. Themore the ducts are flushed, the more likely they are to develop scartissue, making the already narrow channel even tighter. Besides tryingto flush the duct, the veterinarian may also give you some antibioticointment. Clogged tear ducts are a breeding ground for infections.

The weepy eye could also be the result of an upper molar problemimpinging on the duct. Checking molars thoroughly can require sedation,which is more risky in an older rabbit. Discuss this with yourveterinarian."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Scar tissue?? Maybe that's why my vet hesitated to flush the ducts.

Benji gives me a hard time about rinsing his eye(s) with saline. It'sgotten to the point where he knows what going to happen as soon as Iopen the cage with the saline in my hand. He usually runs to thecorner, turns around, and goes into the "lock-down" postion. I don'tfight him anymore...I just hold his head steady and squirt the salineover his eye and let it run down and through it. I use gause pads tocatch the excess so it doesn't make too much of a mess.

 

[BenNme]

oh, okay, thanks... i will probably watch it fora couple more days, then maybe i will try the salen. thanks againeveryone! i will give an update soon!

 

[m.e.]

How is Ben doing?

 

[BenNme]

thank you for the concern... his eye cleared upa couple of days ago... i think that my hay was a little dusty, so istarted shaking it out before i gave it to him, and that seemed to dothe trick! thanks everyone!