• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.
  • Please Note - Medical Advice

    Please keep in mind that posts on this forum are from members of the public sharing personal opinions. It is not a replacement for qualified medical advice from a veterinarian. Many illnesses share similar symptoms but require different treatments. A medical exam is necessary for an accurate diagnosis, without which appropriate treatment cannot be given.

    You should always consult your vet before following any suggestions for medication or treatment you have read about. The wrong treatment could make your rabbit worse or mean your vet is unable to give the correct treatment because of drug interactions. Even non prescription drugs can do harm if given inappropriately.

    We are very grateful to members who take time to answer other members questions, but please do be clear in your replies that you are sharing personal experience and not giving instructions on what must be done.

    Urgent Medical Advice: If you need, or think you might need, urgent medical advice you should contact a vet. If it is out of working hours phone your vet's normal number and there should be an answer phone message with instructions on what to do.

Blocked Tear Ducts

Janey

Warren Veteran
Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with my poorly bunny? This is my first time on here-I am trying everything as even my vet is at a loss.

A couple of weeks I noticed my rabbit had wet eyes. The vet diagnosed blocked tear ducts and since then has completed several ducts flushes, x-rays to check the teeth arn't causing the problem (they're not) and today he tried a further flushing under anaesthetic and tried to find out where the blockage is (to no avail). The ducts are so blocked that they are now not flushing at all and she has an abcess on each eye where there is now infection (despite being on baytril and having eye drops for the last two weeks).

If anyone has experienced anything even remotely similar and can offer any advice I would be very grateful as at the moment I have a very poorly bunny and nobody knows what to do to help.
 
Hello
Welcome to the forum:wave::wave:
Sorry I don't have too much advice for you, but I do have 1 rabbit with eye problems.
My Honey has elongated tooth roots and has one eye that has been particularly sore in the past.
I give her eye drops when it flares up and it helps, but I don't think it will ever be clear of problems. She was really bad when she was a house bunny, but now she is in the shed with Eric and Ernie, they keep it clean and it is much better.

I hope you can manage to sort out a treatment plan to make your bun more comfortable.

Someone else with more knowledge should hopefully come along soon xx:):)
 
Hello,

Thank you for your welcome and your response.

Yes, Poppy has had trouble with her teeth in the past but the vet dosn't think her roots are long enough to be causing the problem. I wish I could get another bunny to help her out cleaning her eyes but unfortunately I just don't have the room.

I've booked into see a specialist but they can't see her until Monday so just trying to keep her comfartable and eating until then-fingers crossed.x.x.
 
My foster buns have blocked tear ducts, and suffer with eye infections due to dodgy teeth. They have been on depocillin (an alternative and stronger antibiotic than Baytril) every other day for about 3 months now and have also been on 0.2ml of Metacam (pain killer) twice daily, and Chloromycetin eye gel twice a day. I clean their eyes once a day with cotton wool soaked in warm water. This has really done the trick for them and they have vastly improved.
 
there was another thread to do with similar thing if you can find I wrote on that.
My angel has same problem she has eye drops morn and night just to keep her eye from feeling gritty wont really do anything as her tear ducts have now shut down off all the flushing. Its been an on going problem for a bout 2 years but hers is all caused by her teeth. My vet was going to make a drain to run the gunge down the back of her throat but after x-rays it showed that this was no good and her teeth are so high rooted that she cant remove them we also were told never ever to flush her eye again as the next flush would prob kill her as it will burst her tear duct.
If you have a good rabbit vet they will prob offer x-rays to see how bad your buns duct is I can say its best thing I got I couldnt imagine her being awake when her duct burst.
Otherwise its dentals every 3 month which help a lot as you can see her eye getting gucked up then she has denatal by folowing week it calms down again.
you can read all her stuff on our page
 
Grim has blocked tear ducts due to his teeth. He had an abscess on his right eye which actually left scarring. If they're totally blocked by bone there's not much you can do, but if it's infection that's blocking them, flushing should have worked.

If it's a long term problem it's fairly easy to keep on top of. Try to keep the area around the eyes clean to stop the skin becoming irritated and treat the eyes with drops while there is an infection. Grim had baytril for his as well and that seemed to work fine. Then just make sure you always have a tube of eye drops/cream on hand if you ever spot the signs of infection.

Grim's eyes generally weep clear or white liquid which I clean off with a rag. I find cotton wool and paper towels get stuck to the goo. I also find washing them just seems to spread the sticky around as his fur's so think and does more harm that good. So I use my fingers and rub the fur between them. This breaks up all the dried on goo and then I use a fine toothed comb to carefully remove it all.

Sometimes he can got for weeks with no problem and I don't have to clean his eye, and other times it is every day. My friend's rabbit used to clean his eye, but when I adopted Samus she only seems to like cleaning his head, so it's still up to me to to it. :love:
 
Hi

Pom also has blocked tearducts - she was kept in very bad conditions when she was a kit, her eyes got very badly infected and they are now blocked with scar tissue. We have tried to flush them through on a number of occasions but to no avail and we have just concluded that it is a problem that we have to live with.

However, just like Jenova with Grimlock, it is just something that we manage on a day to day basis. We try to do as little as possible and just intervene when we need to - either by wiping her eyes and washing her fur if she gets sticky, or applying drops to her eyes if they start to look sore.

When we first got her we thought managing her blocked tearducts was going to be a challenge, but it really isn't. It's just a case of keeping an eye on things and helping her if she needs intervention. She is a very happy little girl and healthy in all other respects and I really don't think her blocked tearducts have a negative impact on her life.

Here she is:-

DSC02142.jpg
 
Hello Everyone,

Thank you so much for your advice and suggestions, it really helped me when I took Poppy to the vet for a second opinion today.

It was firstly suggested that the vet take her in for another duct flush (with a special solution) and then follow up with a different course of anti-biotics. However, I was reluctant to do this after the last flush (on Wednesday), as her eyes were so sore, the ducts wouldn't flush and she was so poorly for a couple of days I was questioning if it was all too much for her. So I have decided to just try a different antibiotics along with an anti-inflammatory and some fibreplex to balance her system (is this normal when antibiotics are given)? I am hoping this will help sort out any infection and then the flushing may work when I take her back in a month.

The vet also mentioned that that the infection could be Pasturella and wanted to swab for this (which I declined today) however, I thought with Pasturella they had a runny nose, sticky paws as a result and bad chest, Poppy has none of these, does anybody know if Pasturella is likely with weeping eyes the only symptom?

My vet has done several x-rays, although the molar teeth are quite long apparently it's very hard to tell if taking them out would help the situation and would only be done as a very last resort as it would involve taking 8 molars out. I think I would be very very unlikely to do this as it would obviously be a major operation and I think if at all possible managing the eyes as others have suggested would be the best option. Poppy is coming up to 3 and a half and although I realise she's not really old she's no 'Spring Chicken' either.

I just hope that putting her back on antibiotics won't make her poorly again. When I took her off the baytril for the weekend as suggested by the vet it was like I had my old bunny back, she was hopping around and being nosey again which she hasn't done for ages. Has anyone else ever had experiences of antibiotics making their bunny feel poorly?

I really am grateful for all the advice.....sorry for this long long post!!

And Pom looks gorgeous-her eyes (the one I can see), look fabulous, if Poppy's are ever that good again I will be very happy!!
 
Back
Top