bunny eye licking?

[Annie Fann]

my bunnies groom each other alot, but particularly seem to like licking each other’s eyes? especially Nova.  There doesn’t seem to be anything wrong with her eye, altho there actually was a hair in it once and he was just trying to be helpful.  I was able to remove it without a problem.  But he does lick Luna’s eyes alot when he grooms her. Is this normal? He’s not going to give her an eye infection is he?

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[Beka27]

Luna is the white one right?  i love her coloring… she’s very pretty and unique.  i’m not sure about the eye-licking thing tho…

[Sarita]

Seems like eye-licking is a pretty common rabbit grooming rabbit thing from what I’ve seen and heard. In many ways it can be helpful in keeping a rabbit who has eye problems or dental problems (watery eye) clean by grooming that area. I’m not sure about infection – I’ve never heard that before.

[Veronica Vigilant]

I can’t remember where I heard this- maybe from the shelter where I got my buns- but I heard that rabbits appreciate a gentle “eye cleaning” basically just wiping away the sleepy eye crustiness- (normal discharge, not excessive discharge associated with being sick). I know my mini lop seems to like it when I wipe away anything at the corner of her eyes and I’ve noticed my second rabbit licks her eyes too when he’s grooming her.

[Scarlet_Rose]

Eye licking from my understanding is just part of rabbit grooming protocol. But then I have noticed my Bonsai when he grooms Daffodil will concentrate intentedly on her eyes, I know she has allergies but I also suspect it is because there is a ring of drak grey fur surrounding them as opposed to the rest of the area which is white, possibly making him think that they are dirty with smut rather than just dark from the natural coloring of the fur.

[MooBunnay]

My buns are just the same – Kramer will focus extremely intently on Juli’s eyes, and she is a hotot, I never even thought about the fact that he might think her eyes are dirty because of the dark coloring….we always just thought Kramer was a bit whacko (well, he is a bit of a weirdo hence the name Kramer). It is quite normal for this to happen. For my single buns I often have to help them get the sleep or loose furs away from their eyes. If anyone has a single bun, make sure to help them keep the area around their eyes clean. Over break, we noticed that Henri was being unusually quite and just sitting in his litterbox, when we finally got him out, we saw a little ball of fur and such had gotten into his eye and he couldn’t get it out, once we removed it he look sooo much happier and ran all around his cage.

[Gravehearted]

Yep, Viktor intently grooms Pandora’s eyes too. You are right that sometimes overgrooming of one area can indicate a health issue. But my guess is he’s just trying to make sure he does a proper job grooming his bunny love

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

OOHHh cute picture of eye grooming!! I think my girlies like the eye groom too! You would think a wiggly bunny wouldn’t like you touching their eyes, but if I ever try to move a peice of hay or hair from Kokanee’s eyes, she ‘assumes the position’ (head down, “groom me!!”) immediately

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