Can rabbits have pus in their eye/nose?

[5Bunnies1House]

Mopsy our rabbit, has sneezed a lot, and her eye was incredibly wet.

We went to the vet who flushed out her eye and nasal cavity (through some hole inside her bottom eyelid), called me in to show me how much “pus” came out of her nose… then gave me eye drops Tiacil solution and also Metacam for dogs vis mouth, which he assured me is safe for rabbits when in small doses

We went for a check up a week later and about the same amount of “pus” came out, he told me to continue with the drops.

But now that im googling around… nothing comes up when i check for pus in rabbits, nor did he do ANYTHING correctly to identify if my rabbit has snuffles or issues with her teeth?

Am I being crazy or are blogs using fancy words for pus and the vet just dumbed it down for me?

[Bam]

Rabbits can have a local infection in the tearduct itself, causing it to plug up, without any other health issue, so the approach your vet is taking is correct. Uncomplicated cases will resolve with the treatment your bun has been given. Repeat treatment is often needed. Some vets would combine the drops with oral antibiotics. Antibiotics policy varies greatly between vet clinics and areas/states/countries though. Some wont give oral antibiotics without a culture.

If this persists, more investigation will be needed. Tooth roots are probably what youd be looking at next.

https://www.vetstream.com/treat/lapis/freeform/eye-dacryocystitis

[5Bunnies1House]

I guess the vet didn’t really explain it well, and calling it pus made it seem a bit more deadly to me, unsure why.

We are financially unable to bring her back into the vets (as everything thus far cost us £200) so we will continue with the eye drops and keeping a very close eye on her. Been up all night listening in for a sneeze or to see if her attitude has changed.

Hopefully we can bring her in for a last visit when we get paid and its just a checkup.

 

thank you for the help!

[Bam]

Fingers crossed the drops will help now! If they don’t, maybe you could ask for a prescription for oral antibiotics, without having to take the bun to be seen? There are some oral antibiotics for rabbits that are not very pricey. You could ask and explain the money situation. Vets can often be  understanding, and they have seen him recently.

[LBJ10]

Bam is correct. The vet prescribed the right treatment given the information that had. Hopefully the eye drops will clear it up. If not, oral antibiotics are not very expensive. If the problem persists, then tooth root issues would be the next thing to explore.

[Author]

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