Oh God another one- now adonia has runny eyes too!

Coincidence or something i've done. More likely something i've done. I'm trying to think what. I'm pretty sure lucy may have caught it from the nail clippers, then spread it to ama and lily. Now though adonia has it. Blaze and Patch were in the kitchen for a couple of days when giving there meds but penned off from her, so that she couldn't sneeze on them, see them etc, using sheeting on there pens.

I don't see how she has got this except through my hands. I have washed my hands before handling any bunny, but i've started using boots baby handwash as the antibacterial one that i normally do as it's been peeling off the skin on my hands. I did use latex gloves initially, but i stopped that recently.

I can't believe how this has spread- unless its ' coincidence. The only other thing i've changed is diet. I've changed it to more hay, less pellets and more veg. Can this effect eyes?

Oh well another vets trip for adonia- she hates it, poor girl. I am not looking forward to taking her at all, plus she is a pasturella bunny so i'm worried it will effect her condition more if she is ill with something else. Not a happy bunny mummy.

Is there anything that i'm missing here. I think maybe the less pellets have effected teeth wearing down and causing this maybe? But i've asked before about if pellets effect teeth growth, which i would think they do due to the chewing action, but everyone came back with a resounding no on that.

I'm just really worried now, diet is effecting them. I don't want this many bunnies suffering. I had just got this down to two poorly bunnies out of 14, now i have 6. I feel like i've got to be doing something wrong. Anyone know of any contagious eye infections other than pasturella. Could this really be something as simple as conjunctivitis spreading or does it sound more serious?

Thanks everyone,
Ambience xx

p.s Could this be a hay irritation? I've been putting alot more hay down lately as bedding.

Bit of a long shot, but I don't suppose the affected rabbits are related?

abbymarysmokey said:

Bit of a long shot, but I don't suppose the affected rabbits are related?

Click to expand...

Yes they are- except adonia- she is not related at all.

Ambience said:

Coincidence or something i've done. More likely something i've done. I'm trying to think what. I'm pretty sure lucy may have caught it from the nail clippers, then spread it to ama and lily. Now though adonia has it. Blaze and Patch were in the kitchen for a couple of days when giving there meds but penned off from her, so that she couldn't sneeze on them, see them etc, using sheeting on there pens.

I don't see how she has got this except through my hands. I have washed my hands before handling any bunny, but i've started using boots baby handwash as the antibacterial one that i normally do as it's been peeling off the skin on my hands. I did use latex gloves initially, but i stopped that recently.

I can't believe how this has spread- unless its ' coincidence. The only other thing i've changed is diet. I've changed it to more hay, less pellets and more veg. Can this effect eyes?

Oh well another vets trip for adonia- she hates it, poor girl. I am not looking forward to taking her at all, plus she is a pasturella bunny so i'm worried it will effect her condition more if she is ill with something else. Not a happy bunny mummy.

Is there anything that i'm missing here. I think maybe the less pellets have effected teeth wearing down and causing this maybe? But i've asked before about if pellets effect teeth growth, which i would think they do due to the chewing action, but everyone came back with a resounding no on that.

I'm just really worried now, diet is effecting them. I don't want this many bunnies suffering. I had just got this down to two poorly bunnies out of 14, now i have 6. I feel like i've got to be doing something wrong. Anyone know of any contagious eye infections other than pasturella. Could this really be something as simple as conjunctivitis spreading or does it sound more serious?

Thanks everyone,
Ambience xx

p.s Could this be a hay irritation? I've been putting alot more hay down lately as bedding.

Click to expand...

I'd say it could be either or something else. Certainly something allergy related could be affecting them all. The dry weather has made our bun's allergic eyes worse, until that wet few days.

Conjunctivitis is quite contagious yes and don't forget buns will cross contaminate themselves through grooming and mutual grooming. Pasturella is only really contagious if the buns are immunosuppressed. Many pasturella compromised buns are able to live with a bonded partner who never shows clinical signs.

I think a vet trip to look for any underlying cause or pathogen would be wise with all three affected. If there is just inflammation and no infection then it could well be allergy related.

Do any or all of them have dental disease btw? Ruling out tooth root elongation if the runny eye is not bilateral might be important.

Ambience said:

Yes they are- except adonia- she is not related at all.

Click to expand...

I wonder if the pasteurella has been passed on at birth? I think this is the most common form of transmission, but the symptoms may take years to show...or may never show at all.

Alternatively as prettylupin has said...it may be a genetic fault with teeth or something.

I would doubt it was hay TBH, the chances of multiple rabbits exhibiting the same problem from an external cause such as this would be minimal (in my opinion).

prettylupin said:

[/B]

I'd say it could be either or something else. Certainly something allergy related could be affecting them all. The dry weather has made our bun's allergic eyes worse, until that wet few days.

Conjunctivitis is quite contagious yes and don't forget buns will cross contaminate themselves through grooming and mutual grooming. Pasturella is only really contagious if the buns are immunosuppressed. Many pasturella compromised buns are able to live with a bonded partner who never shows clinical signs.

I think a vet trip to look for any underlying cause or pathogen would be wise with all three affected. If there is just inflammation and no infection then it could well be allergy related.

Click to expand...

It seems to be teeth problems when i go to the vets. I have had sunnys teeth drop out, blazes teeth burred. Patch has no teeth problems,but responds well to tiacil. Sunnys eye infection cleared up totally after tiacil and his teeth dropped out. Blaze has really runny eyes which does clear up, but not completely with med.

Ama lily and lucy have had no problem except now in the last 3-4 years. They have been fine. Now after using clippers that were used to my poorly buns, she has a slightly runny eye and this has passed to ama and lily.

Just after i've not been using antibacterial , it seems to have occured in adonia- i wonder if it's conjunctivitis that is passing through my hands- I haven't touched adonia's eyes though. So not sure.

Still at a loss, vets would be best. Think i'm going to get a prescription though as they are charging me four times the price what i can get it online.

It seems more inflamation with the girls- ama, lily and lucy- and also adonia- she has just been put on this animal dreams hay- i didn't think it was all that good quality compared to the last batch- i bought from a different vendor.

hmmm thinking .....

Ambience x

abbymarysmokey said:

I wonder if the pasteurella has been passed on at birth? I think this is the most common form of transmission, but the symptoms may take years to show...or may never show at all.

Alternatively as prettylupin has said...it may be a genetic fault with teeth or something.

I would doubt it was hay TBH, the chances of multiple rabbits exhibiting the same problem from an external cause such as this would be minimal (in my opinion).

Click to expand...

Adonia had pasturella and is about 4, but ama has been fine for about 4 years of her life, even though she was kept near adonia for quite some time.

The older ones Ama, lily her daughter and lucy her daughter haven't had any problems to date, but sunny ama's son has had his teeth drop out due to dental disease. Paws also ama's son has not had any issues with health at all.

Ama, lily and lucy have never had any problems until i changed there diet from high pellets to low pellets. I know the mix i give is high in vitamins, so perhaps it has lowered there immunity.

My rabbits have been pretty hardy up until now health wise.

Ambience x

Ambience said:

It seems to be teeth problems when i go to the vets. I have had sunnys teeth drop out, blazes teeth burred. Patch has no teeth problems,but responds well to tiacil. Sunnys eye infection cleared up totally after tiacil and his teeth dropped out. Blaze has really runny eyes which does clear up, but not completely with med.

Ama lily and lucy have had no problem except now in the last 3-4 years. They have been fine. Now after using clippers that were used to my poorly buns, she has a slightly runny eye and this has passed to ama and lily.

Just after i've not been using antibacterial , it seems to have occured in adonia- i wonder if it's conjunctivitis that is passing through my hands- I haven't touched adonia's eyes though. So not sure.

Still at a loss, vets would be best. Think i'm going to get a prescription though as they are charging me four times the price what i can get it online.

It seems more inflamation with the girls- ama, lily and lucy- and also adonia- she has just been put on this animal dreams hay- i didn't think it was all that good quality compared to the last batch- i bought from a different vendor.

hmmm thinking .....

Ambience x

Click to expand...

I'm a bit confused by the history of events but think you need to separate out in your mind which buns have only one eye infected.... could be dental related and which buns have both eyes watering - bilateral, as this is less likely to be tooth root elongation unless bun is very unlucky and has two tooth roots causing issues on either side.
You mention 'clipping' do you mean of the teeth? this is a high risk procedure for causing abnormal tooth root elongation so if symptoms have appeared since this was carried out then I would be suspicious of this being a contributory causative factor.

The only way to tell for sure is to have those buns with known or suspected dental issues Xray'd under a GA to check the tooth roots.

Tiacil can be quite effective I understand, especially as pathogens from the nose can travel up and invade the nasolacrimal duct. Do any of your runny eye buns have sneezing fits of nasal discharge?

Poppy's eye inflammation has no dental origin as far as we are aware, no discharge and nothing other than inflammed and swollen conjunctivas on both eyes - indicating it is allergy related in origin, her third eyelids tend to protrude a little more than they should also at times. This is why you need your vet to have a look - subtle changes and clinical signs that are more indicative of one type of disease than another that us owners often miss. Good luck at the vets, hope it's nothing too serious. x