weepy eyes

[babybunsmum]

Baby has had weepy eyes, which i thought were in part due to her mass.  when i first took her to the vet on nov 9th for an exam she was prescribed baytril and ciloxan drops for them.  i gave her the prescribed doses for 10 days as noted.  then on nov 23rd we went in for her follow up (her surgery was on the 14th) and since her eyes were still weepy the vet recommended to continue baytril and drops,   saying it can help to pause for a few days and re-start treatment, and showed me how to help express her wee tear ducts.  she also recommended gently wiping around her eyes with a warm damp face cloth which baby seems to looove.  i will run out of baytril tomorrow and will then wait a few days to see if they ease up.

has anyone else had bunnies with runny eyes?  how did you treat it?  did you find out if there was a particluar cause?  i think i’ve read some where that it can be indicative of underlying health issues (maybe she’s not cancer-free… gulp) OR that it could be a chronic condition / allergy.

[Sarita]

Weepy eyes can be a number of things including dental problems. Has the vet checked her teeth? Sometimes it’s even the roots of the teeth growing close to the tear ducts and there’s not much you can do about that other than continue keeping the area clean.

Also could be a clogged tear duct which the vet can flush the tear ducts which it does sound like the vet did. I don’t know how you can really clean the tear ducts on your own though. My vets have used drops to numb the eyes and then a tool to actually flush the eye – not something I would or could do on my own. That canal is very narrow and delicate.

[babybunsmum]

thanks Sarita!  the vet did check her teeth during the physical exam and said everything looked good.  i forget if her teeth were mentioned when we reviewed the xrays tho.   maybe her xrays weren’t great for viewing her teeth.  i’d have remembered if a problem was mentioned for sure.  i’m wondering if its dust from hay or pellets thats irritating her eyes?

i was shown that if you place a finger on their cheek just under the eye and gently press upward that it helps express any discharge from the tear duct.  i suppose this is the less effective to-it-yourself version of what you’re mentioning?  when the vet showed me how, a couple of milky droplets apeared on her lower lid but i havent been successful at home with this yet.  not with milky droplets anyways.  maybe this is a good sign that its clearing up.

think i’ll keep up the face cloth routine and wait to see if there’s any changes.  i guess i was hoping having that mass removed would cure the eye problem too. 

[Gravehearted]

Eye weeping is sometimes caused by a bacterial infection – which the baytril should be helping combat. It sounds like the vet has already flushed it and that didn’t seem to help either.

And as both you and Sarita mentioned – it can be the symptom of other issues. I would definitely recommend having her look at Baby’s teeth, since often molar issues can lead to tearing like that. She may also check around near her eyes just to ensure there aren’t any lumps or tumors.

edited to add – it took me a while to click to post, so it sounds like your vet has already looked at her teeth.  I wonder if they can do a culture to see if it bacterial?

[Author]

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