Eye infection

[Rainn]

Rain’s eye was having slight clear discharge for a day or two at first, and we figured we’d schedule a vet appointment for this weekend to check it out. Today it got much worse and there is thick white discharge at the tear duct. I’ve lightly wiped away some of it with a cotton pad but I didnt get much off because I wanted to be gentle. Discharge keeps coming back. I inserted a pic from the internet that matches her condition, couldn’t bring myself to take a pic of her like that. We’re just gonna walk into the vet clinic tomorrow morning as soon as it opens and hope they can look at her, but in the meanwhile what can I do to ease her? I searched up old binky bunny discussions about eye infections and found that people used gentamicin to treat similar problems so we bought those drops and gave her a small dose….I feel like that was a bad idea but I searched up as many pages as I could to confirm this antibiotic is safe for rabbits as long as its not given orally.

[Bam]

I’d try to rinse the eye with saline eye wash for humans. I have small single-dose plastic vials with saline, which are easy to use for the purpose of eye rinsing, plus of course very hygienic since you only use each vial once.  Wipe off the goo with clean and soft tissues/compresses, use several if you need to. Fucidine drops/ ointment is commonly used for rabbit eye infections. I have uced fucidine but never gentamicin, but gentamicin seems approved and safe for topical ophtalmic use in rabbits.

I think this is pretty much what you can do at home at this point.

An eye infection can come from an infection around a tooth root, it can be a symptom of a “rabbit cold” or it can be a local infection of the eye. If it’s about teeth or a rabbit cold, oral antibiotics should be prescribed and used in combo with eye drops. I’d also ask for an anti inflammatory painkiller to reduce pain and swelling.

Please keep us posted.

[Rainn]

Saline solution is a good idea, sounds like a much better general medicine than gentamicin. Thank you so much 🙏 It could be from a tooth infection, but could it also be from something getting in her eye? I was taking out hay one day for her and she shoved her face in my hand 😅 I think a piece got in her eye, I saw it there for a day or two before any discharge started but I figured that she would clean it out herself. And yes, I also gave her pain meds 👍

[LBJ10]

Generally, if a discharge is caused by eye irritation/injury, the discharge is clear. A thick white discharge suggests an infection of some sort. As Bam said, this could be from a URI, a localized infection in eye, or a tooth root infection. I suppose an injury to the eye or tear duct could become infected… but I imagine the eye itself would look red and irritated. I’m not sure though.

[Rainn]

We went to the vet and she said since she has no symptoms of teeth problems (she’s been eating her hay well ever since her stomach issues cleared up) it’s probably a rabbit cold, which she gave oral meds for as Bam suggested. She’s doing very well energy and appetite wise, and I’ve cleaned up her eye as well as I could (the vet herself didn’t mess with the crusted fur, just took away the discharge) but the right side of her face is kind of still a mess. The discharge comes back seconds after wiping it away, will it be harmful to her healing if her fur stays messy like that?

[LBJ10]

If it’s a losing battle, then I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just clean it as best as you can and the rest will resolve itself eventually. As the antibiotic takes effect, the discharge should decrease.

[Author]

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