Eye infection? U/D Probably blocked tear duct

I noticed yesterday when I got in from work, Thistle won't fully open his right eye....he does open it when a loud noise makes him jump or something so it's not like he can't but obviously something is irritating it. As it's saturday and sunday tomorrow, I can't call the vets till Monday. Anyone got any suggestions? I saw somewhere to bathe the eye, but I'm not sure what with? Salty boiled water? or is that a no no? There was some white gunge in it this morning, but there hasn't been any more at all today and he's fine with in himself.

I also thought he cld have maybe scratched it some how and I know we won't find out till we go to the vets, but I wondered if there's anything I can do in the mean time to help

This sound's like blocked tear ducts, inbetween his nose and eye massage towards the eye and see if anymore gunge is coming out of his eye.
Boil water and let sit till warm, or just use warm water and some cotton wool and gently bathe the eye. If it is blocked tear ducts he may need a visit to the vets to get the tear duct's flushed out.

Sending vibes for Thistle. Hope it clears up soon hun, give him a little cuddle from me x

Thanks, I'll give it a go !

And thank you Katie, I shall do...he's been getting lots of extra cuddles from me too (mostly cause Luna isn't a cuddle bun though >_<)

Tuckerbunnies wrote:This sound's like blocked tear ducts, inbetween his nose and eye massage towards the eye and see if anymore gunge is coming out of his eye.
Boil water and let sit till warm, or just use warm water and some cotton wool and gently bathe the eye. If it is blocked tear ducts he may need a visit to the vets to get the tear duct's flushed out.

Ahh yes, turns out this did work...he must have a blocked tear duct then. Poor lil guy, his eye looks quite sore and red on the white bit . One thing after another with that boy

If it's sore and red I think to be on the safe side I would take him to the vet's just in case he has an infection, she will flush out his tear ducts and no doubt put him on a course of antibiotics and this should clear it up nicely

Yeah I will defo be ringing them tomorrow to sort out an appointment ...glad it's not an infection as such I was worried Luna could get it if it was!

Lots of vibes on their way love and please keep us informed. I often have to bath my bunnie's eyes but it has never been anything serious, just like sleepy dust in the corner,

Hugs

Jo xx

Thank you Jo..unfortunately today it is looking worse...one corner is very cloudy and I'm worried it might be a scratch or an ulcer there ! Wish the vets were open at weekends darn it.

LilyGrace wrote:Thank you Jo..unfortunately today it is looking worse...one corner is very cloudy and I'm worried it might be a scratch or an ulcer there ! Wish the vets were open at weekends darn it.

Oh dear just keep bathing it till you can get him to the vet's it does sound like an infection but I can't tell without seeing the eye, please let us know how you go on at the vets xxx

Thanks, I would take a photo, but I don't want the flash to irritate his eye or anything. To describe it, theres a white scratch looking mark on his eye and then all round that it is clouded...then there's gunge in the corner. He has some odd marks in that eye anyway, which the vet said are nothing to worry about..it's just odd that this has happened in that same eye. I hope this isn't going to be an ongoing problem

LilyGrace wrote:Thanks, I would take a photo, but I don't want the flash to irritate his eye or anything. To describe it, theres a white scratch looking mark on his eye and then all round that it is clouded...then there's gunge in the corner. He has some odd marks in that eye anyway, which the vet said are nothing to worry about..it's just odd that this has happened in that same eye. I hope this isn't going to be an ongoing problem

He may have just scratched his eyeball and it is irritating him, sometimes they can get a little bit of hay in the eye and as it comes out it can scratch the eyeball , but you will know more when the vet has had a look, it may just need eye drops.
Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

The vet may just check his teeth as well in case it's a tooth problem as this can sometimes cause eye problems.

Yeah I read that, last time we went his teeth were perfect...so hoping it's not that! At least he is still eating and seems fairly happy

LilyGrace wrote:Yeah I read that, last time we went his teeth were perfect...so hoping it's not that! At least he is still eating and seems fairly happy

Well that's a good sign

Lots of vibes for Thistle x

I hope he is much beter today dear, have you managed to get an appointment at the vet yet?

Hugs

Jo xx

Thanks guys . Booked in tomorrow at 2:30...gonna bathe his eye again in a little while. It doesn't seem to have changed over night, so at least it hasn't got worse ^_^

LilyGrace wrote:Thanks guys . Booked in tomorrow at 2:30...gonna bathe his eye again in a little while. It doesn't seem to have changed over night, so at least it hasn't got worse ^_^

Oh glad it hasn't got worse

Felix had an ulcer on his eye in February. I noticed his eye looking quite red and sore and it was pussy when you pressed underneath onto the tear ducts.
The vet gave me Baytril to give him by syringe and I had to clean his eye out three times a day and put on an ABX cream. When the vet examined him and pressed there was huge amount of pus and I had to gently express it every day, which didn't hurt him but was disgusting. Eventually all the infection cleared up. It took about 14 days and he has been fine since.

I was going to say that the white mark sounds a lot like an ulcer to me as well, Fiver suffers with this on his right eye and needs a combination of topical chloramphenicol drops and oral Baytril to keep it under control.

His is caused by long term tear duct problems resulting from dental disease, and I often have to flush the discharge from his eye with sterile saline. For some reason it gets much worse in warm weather.

My vet gave me a bottle of sterile eye wash to squirt into his eye to clean it, then he had the ABX cream and Baytril by mouth. It worked a treat and the eye is completely healed.

His eye had a white spot on it and immediately below, there was a horizontal line which was red. That has completely gone and his eye is good again. He does suffer on that side with a permanently blocked tear duct, but she thinks that he got something in his eye like hay and that was what caused the ulcer.

Ah yes, sounds very similar to what Thistle looks like...there seems to be less gunk now though when I press down under his eye, most of the time nothing. Hopefully that is a good sign :/. When I looked up photos of eye ulcers in rabbits it did look like what he has...although searching things on google starts to turn me into a bit of a Rabbit hypochondriac!! Thanks for the info, I'll keep it in mind when I go to the vets

We all want to know how he got on love, I hope he is better today.

Hugs

Jo xx

Hai everyone! Just back from the vets...tear duct isn't blocked now, but he has a lot of ulcerations on his cornea. Also there may be something else wrong with his eye which will need treating with steriod eye drops, but we need to treat the ulcers first with Fucithalmic drops and a tiny bit of metacam. The eye itself looks so much better today anyway, he has it open fully all the time and it's a lot less red...but it's more about stopping it getting worse now I guess.

Oh bless him! Glad it looks better today x