One runny eye

Sorry - I have also put this in care section, hoping for any help/advice

Hi there.

Stew has one runny eye. I noticed it a few weeks ago and it was runny off and on for about 3 weeks. I settled on taking him to the vet last weekend but in the morning his eye was absolutely dry and remained so for the next 9 days. This evening I noticed it was wet around the fur again and I removed some white stringy discharge from the corner of his eye. Throughout the period, going right back to when I first noticed the wet fur a few weeks ago, I treated his eye with cooled boiled water on a swab, just gently bathing and wiping which he has seemed to like.

Obviously, I'm concerned and know that I need to get him to a vet this time. I will do this tomorrow. But I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts about the symptoms I've described. My initial thought was myxomatosis, but following research into the disease I discounted it for a number of reasons: watery, clear discharge from one eye only; no lumps, bumps, breathing difficulties; no loss of appetite; no change in behaviour whatsoever.

I began to wonder if he was sitting under the water bottle, or sitting in a draught so moved things around etc. As I say, the symptoms cleared up completely for a week, but they're back today and the discharge is watery with some white gunk (which I bathed away). He appears to squinting slightly too, but the eye springs wide when he's on alert!

Sorry to go on. As I'm sure you'll understand, I'm extremely concerned and just wanted to give the full facts in case anyone has any thoughts on what might be happening to my beautiful bunny.

Thanks for reading

Hi.

This could be a number of things.

It could be a tear duct infection where the duct becomes inflamed or blocked and so doesn't drain correctly. There could also be a foreign body in the eye (like a hay seed). Is the eye reddened at all?

It could be an eye poke or scratch but may not be visible - the vets will put a flourescent dye in it to check with a special light.

It could also be tooth problems. If the tooth roots are growing into the tear duct it can block the duct (and can be bi on unilateral) The duct doesn't work properly and the tears, or if infected, the discharge will sit in the corner of the eye or worse, run down the face making the face sore too.

This can be made worse by stress, increased breathing or heartrate whereby the fluid runs more.

I have had one of my bunnies this week who has always been an amazing hay eater and I wondered if she had gotten a tooth root issue, but it turned out to be a granuloma in the duct that filled made a backflow out of the corner of the eye. She had to have it removed and the wound laid open to drain. It seems to have done the trick.

So, basically it could be lots of things and only your bunny knowledgable vet can really help I'm afraid.

Does your bunny eat lots of hay? How are the teeth? How old?

Update

Stew is on the mend, thanks for your comments. He saw a vet and has a tear duct infection as predicted. He's having to get his tear duct flushed every day for seven days and I have antibiotic eye drops to administer twice daily. Stew is not impressed, but his eye is already so much better.



P.S. Thank God for Pet Plan...:shock:

Glad you've gotten to the bottom of things. Hope Stew is back to normal really quickly.