SECOND UPDATE! Eye trouble again – Is there anything different I can do?

[LBJ10]

I spoke on here before about Wooly’s eye. Well, it’s not really his eye, but his nictating membrane (third eyelid). He had somehow scratched it before, perhaps catching it with his claw while scratching his face. It was swollen and it was very stubborn about healing. The vet gave me a clear gel to put on it, hoping that if it was kept moist while healing he wouldn’t scratch it as much. Anyway, it started swelling up again last night. I’m not sure if he scratched it himself or if somehow Leopold did it (he has a tendancy to go for Wooly’s head while humping and he has stepped on his head). I had my husband hold him so I could put some of the gel in his eye. I guess he remembered it because he went psycho! He was grunting, jerking as hard as he could, and boxing me with his front paws. Granted, my husband is lousy at holding him down properly. I’m not sure what to do. It is practically impossible to get this stuff in his eye. I was thinking of calling the vet, but I’m not sure what they can do. Is there another product that they could give me or is that gel about it? Has anyone else had a problem like this? How did you “fix” it?

[littlemissflip]

I’ve had to give my bunny gentocin ophthalmic gel, and I’m still giving him daily eye drops. I used to be pretty good at sneaking it in during a prolonged nose-petting session. I’d rub his head and nose and get him all calm and relaxed, and then just quickly (and gently) pull open his eyelid and plop it in, and then go right back to petting him in the hopes that he’d barely notice the interruption.

Alas, after 6 months of this, he’s developed an uncanny ability to overpower my hands with his eyelid and squeeze his eye shut RIGHT before the eye drop lands in his eye. Frustrating…

But that’s all I can think of… try and relax him with a little petting session and then quickly sneek the gel in there…

Good luck! I hope Wooly’s eye clears up quickly.

[Deleted User]

try giving him eye lid grooms with very clean wet fingers, over his closed eye until he trust you and then use a q-tip with the gel on it to do the same motion on his eye

[LBJ10]

He doesn’t like to have his eye “groomed”. As sweet as Wooly is, that is the one thing that will get his little bunny buns in a bunch. I was hoping maybe there were some sort of drops, instead on the gel. Maybe if he didn’t see the drop coming, it would actually make it in there. The gel just gets smeared all over his fur…

[Monkeybun]

Oh trust me, they see the drops coming too.

[LBJ10]

We used some sort of drops with our chinchilla. It worked way better than the gel when it came to actually getting it in his eye. It was so long ago, I don’t remember what it was. Funny… I wonder what it is about small animals and a finger coming at their eye. =p I should clarify though that Wooly will allow me to go over his eyes if I have my whole hand cupped and I am stroking over his head. If I specifically try to touch his eye though, he gets upset. Even if I’m only trying to pick a stray booger out of the fur beneath his eye. I don’t know, maybe he was traumatized the first time around. After all, the vet did hold him down and put the gel in his eye.

[LBJ10]

Well I finally decided to give the drops a try. The situation just isn’t getting any better (it gets better and worse, but overall it isn’t getting better). I took Wooly in today and the vet gave me some steroid drops to use. Hopefully this will work better and it will be easier to sneak them into his eye. I said HOPEFULLY!!! Haha! We will see! Anyway, the vet said that if the problem doesn’t resolve itself then we may have to try to fix it surgically.

[LBJ10]

Okay, I just gave him his second dose! That was 1000% easier to do than that stupid gel! I just sneaked in there and got the drop in before he had a chance to jerk away. Now he’s out and about play, as if nothing happened.

[Kokaneeandkahlua]

Great!
Have you tried taking him to an unfamiliar place-like the ktichen counter or table? Often in a new place they cooperate (like at the vet office, when they are so compliant and calm lol)-so if he gets wise to your ways of drops-maybe an unfamiliar high surface would slow him down enough for you to get the drops in.

[LBJ10]

Oh that’s a good idea! I’ll have to try that! And yes, he was an absolute angel for the vet once I actually had him out and on the exam table. I don’t think the vet believed me that it was literally like pulling teeth getting that stupid gel in his eye.

[littlemissflip]

The drops we give our bunny are called flurbiprofen… his eye condition is slightly different, but when we first started treating the eye we were using a combination of the gentocin gel and the flurbiprofen drops, and now we’re just on the drops long-term.

I mention this because although the vetrinary ophthamologist wanted to prescribe steroidal drops for Captain Danger, my vet advised against this and prescribed the non-steroidal flurbiprofen instead. Apparently rabbits can have some bad side effects to steroid medication, so my vet only likes to use it as a “last resort”. Just something to consider (if you haven’t talked this over with your vet already).

Also, I mentioned above that my bunny has gotten very good about closing his eye just before the eyedrop lands. I’ve recently discovered that it doesn’t actually matter too much–if I can land the eye drop right on the slit of his closed eyelids, the drop kind of seeps in. If, however, the drop lands above or below the eyelid slit, it just rolls right off. So… if your bunny becomes stubborn about the eyedrops, know that keeping the eyelid open is less important than aiming the drop to land in the right spot! If that makes sense…

[LBJ10]

My vet doesn’t like to use steroids either, but they felt in was necessary in this case since it is his third eyelid and it is being so stubborn about healing. This is sort of the last resort before the last resort (surgery). Thanks for the tips on getting the drops in there. I think you’re right, the drop probably would still seep in there even if he was trying to keep his eye closed.

[littlemissflip]

Got it–makes sense. Good luck with your bun! Hope his eye heals up soon so he doesn’t need surgery!

[LBJ10]

That is what I am hoping for. The poor thing shouldn’t have to have part of his third eyelid removed. I think the vet is hoping that the steroid will cause the swelling to go down enough so that it isn’t exposed anymore and it will finally heal. The stupid thing would probably have healed by now if it wasn’t sticking out like that where it can be constantly scratched. If it works, he won’t need to have the steroid drops for very long anyway. I’m supposed to give the vet an update in a week.

[LBJ10]

It seems that his eye is looking better. I am cautious though because it has been getting better and worse for quite some time now. At this point it’s difficult to tell if it’s actually getting better because of the drops or if it is just cycling like it had been. But I guess it’s only been a couple days, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

[littlemissflip]

Glad to hear there are signs of improvement! Let’s hope he heals for good this time!

[LBJ10]

I wanted to ask about Wooly’s eye again. It has been doing quite well lately. I have stopped using the eye drops because the swelling has subsided. There is still a little sliver of third eyelid that peeks out. The vet said that it may never go completely back to normal since it appears that his third eyelid was torn. So if it continues to be a problem, we might still need to have that part removed. Right now though, it looks pretty good and I think I might know why. He’s been having sleepovers with Leopold lately. I’m wondering if Leopold has been helping Wooly take care of it. Do you think he is grooming the area, making it so Wooly doesn’t feel the urge to scratch anymore?

[Sarita]

It is very possible. I know sometime with pairs and one has an runny eye, the other bunny will groom the eye area and “keep it clean”. Glad Wooly’s eye is doing better.

[LBJ10]

Thanks! I hope that if this is what is going on that Leopold keeps it up. It seems to be helping.

[LBJ10]

Wow, I think I spoke too soon! I had a look at Wooly’s eye this morning and I can barely see anything! I think putting them together has been the best thing for him. I hope that it keeps looking this good and doesn’t flair up again. I guess only time will tell, but this does appear to be a good sign. Yay!

[BinkyBunny]

Rucy had chronic eye drainage due to a scarring on her tear duct (and sometimes tooth related), but for the most part it was never a problem because Jack kept her fur around her eyes clean.

[Author]

Messages