One eye closed

[Bunny Bride]

Just started this afternoon, my 2 year old rabbit has one eye completely closed and for the most part is not opening it. He will occasionally open it halfway, but close it again within seconds. Other than this he seems totally normal—eating fine, no teeth grinding. The other eye looks completely normal and in the closed eye I don’t notice any obvious sign of problems. Like no tears or discharge of any kind and no obvious redness. Any idea what could be going on? If it doesn’t improve I will have to take him to the vet on Monday which I hate to do unless absolutely necessary because he has gotten vet visit induced stasis before. So of course I am hoping this will just clear up ASAP. The only possibilities I’ve thought of so far is that he loves burrowing his entire head into his hay box to eat the pieces at the bottom. So possibly he scratched his eye on the hay or even the hay dust irritated him. Also he “washes” his face a lot so maybe he scratched himself with his nail. I see no debris in the eye, but it’s difficult to tell because he barely opens it. All advice is appreciated.

[Wick & Fable]

Thinking about it from a survival stand point, a rabbit wouldn’t close its eye unless it was to relieve some pain/discomfort. Vision is really important, so if your rabbit is insisting on it being closed, I think this does require a vet visit. Something that causes your rabbit to keep an eye shut, whether it’s a nail scratch or hay in the eye, is best assessed by a rabbit vet to see if the damage needs treatment. I can imagine even “minor” causes of eye discomfort (hay piece) can cause damage that requires veterinary treatment.

Rabbits can have stray pieces of hay irritate an eye, be in an eye, and there are also eye conditions that come from the inside (not necessarily caused by outside stimulation) and those may not be apparent from the outside, but inside, your rabbit may be feeling inner pressure or pain.

Best wishes to you and your bun that it’s nothing serious.

The answers provided in this discussion are for general guideline purposes only. The information is not intended to diagnose or treat your pet. Seek the advice of your veterinarian or a qualified behaviorist.

[Doodler]

I have to agree with Wick. I can understand why you want to avoid it considering his past history but a vet visit sounds in order.

Hay can get stuck deep under their eye lid and cause this to happen or it could be just a simple irritation. You can try and see if you see anything but I’d be hesitant messing with it too much. You can try a sterile saline solution to see if that helps wash anything that could be there irritating it. I would make sure you are rinsing gently because if it is hay you can’t see you don’t want it to go further behind the eye.

If you can’t see anything and a rinse doesn’t help then a vet visit is really the only option. There are definitely a lot of things it could be.

Good luck with him!

[LBJ10]

Is his eyelid swollen at all? I agree with the others about the vet. But in the meantime, you could try a warm compress.

[Bunny Bride]

Ok thanks everyone, I am going to call and see if I can get him in with the exotics vet on Monday. I do not notice any swelling. He opens the eye intermittently and I am noticing the skin around the bottom might be slightly pink compared to his other eye. I tried a warm compress, but he wouldn’t sit still for long. I will update and let you know what I find out. Doodle says thanks for the well wishes!

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