Welcome Don
Glad you’ve come to BinkyBunny, I think you’ll find lots of great information and the people are super helpful! Good on you for seeking to learn about the best care for Valentine. Often these weeping eye problems are actually caused by teeth problems as the root and eye socket are very close together. Not sure why the hair loss around the eye though. It may be related or it could be something else like mites.

Your best bet it to get her seen by a rabbit vet. I understand you are having trouble finding one. If you are willing, you can post the general area where you live and I’m sure the other members will be able to find a rabbit vet near you. There’s a website that list rabbit savvy vets but I’m sorry, I cannot recall what it is! No fear, there will be someone more helpful along. Good Luck!

Welcome to Binky Bunny- you have come to the right place!

It sounds like she needs to see a vet- losing the hair around the eye is not normal and discharge from the eye even if it does not seem to bother the bunny is happening for a reason and if you find a good bunny vet maybe there is something that you will be able to do to heal and prevent this from happening again.

What country do you live in?  US? Aus? UK? and what area of the country?  There are some lists of recommended bunny vets- but if you give us some more location info we can point you towards those- and there might even be another member on Binky Bunny with a recommendation.

Julie

Is it possible that the fur is coming out due to excessive grooming of the leaky eye to keep it clean? I’ve never experienced that and am by no means medically qualified – so seeing a vet would definitely be a priority. I just thought it might be a possible cause. I leave in an area without a really great rabbit vet, so I empathize with having difficulty finding a qualified doc. Luckily I’m moving to a much more populated area this summer, so I just keep crossing my fingers that nothing big happens until I move (or preferably, ever) and until then I’m making do with the only “exotics” vet in my area. Hopefully you’ll get some good direction on where to find a good vet near you! If you don’t want to reveal your location to everyone, you can privately email one of the forum leaders using the links at the top of the page and they can help you privately.

One of the forum leaders is Canadian and a fountain of knowledge! I’m sure she’ll be along to help you out soon.

Hi and Welcome to Binkybunny!

I recommend you talk to Olga from Vancouver Rabbit Rescue, she will likely know the good rabbit vets in the area. Her email address is
vrra@vrra.org
She’s very kind and helpfull!

It sounds like he could have some dental problems – I agree with K&K – email Olga and she can recommend a vet in your area – you don’t need to be talking to 4-H’s or breeders or pet stores.

welcome here Don! like everyone else said, it sounds like she is overgrooming her eye to keep it clean and this is causing the fur loss. i agree that she is going to need to see a rabbit savvy vet for a check-up to get to the main source of the problem. the problem with 4-H, breeders and petstores is they all view rabbits as livestock and a way to make money, rather than a living, valued member of your family. it sounds like you care so much for Valentine, you’ll feel much better if you get a professional opinion and can help her feel better.

I doubt that is overgrooming though – in my experience leaky eyes are clogged tear ducts which could be from infection or dental problems so a vet is definitely needed.

she wouldn’t be overgrooming a leaky eye to keep it clean?

I think overgrooming is a characteristic of pairs not a single rabbit and I’m not certain a single rabbit could even overgroom the eye area – I don’t think it’s really physically possible since they cannot really reach the eye area with their tongue.

Oh goodstuff! Let us know if you have luck or need any more help finding a vet! {{ VIBES }}

Sounds like everyone has got your question covered so I’ll juts say WELCOME! Glad you could join.

What’d I say about the people here? They’re great!  Just to clarify, I don’t think anyone was refering to you actually over grooming Valentine, more that she’s over grooming herself.  As Sarita said, it’s more rabbits in pairs that can over groom each other in certain areas. I think it’s called barbering (???) Here’s a pic a member posted not long ago where one rabbit was over grooming other rabbits eye.

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Yeah – I know that I meant from self grooming – thanks for clarifying that jerseygirl. I know that her tongue couldn’t reach, but Noelle rubs her eyes with her paws a lot – so I thought that maybe too much rubbing would make the fur more likely to fall out too, especially if the area was already wet from the leaky eye? But it was mostly just a guess, so no offense taken that it’s an unlikely cause. :-p

Rucy has dental issues and a blocked tear duct and so I always have to keep a close eye on her eye. The constant stream/wetness from the tears can actually cause hairloss too. Jack does a great job of cleaning her eye up without overgrooming, but if he doesn’t get to it, I take a warm damp cloth first and get the salty tears up, then I use a dry soft cloth to dry it.

It will be good to have a rabbit savvy vet check her out because teeth issues can be painful, and/or can grow to be very painful and cause a whole nother issue. So it will be best to find out why this is happening.

Keep us updated. Sending out best wishes!