Irritated eyes - Anything I can do to try and avoid a vets trip?

Every now and again, one or both of Mollies eyes seem to be a bit weepy and the fur around her eyes is wet...her eyes are clear, and whatevers coming out of her eyes isnt stained at all, and it never lasts more than a few days before it seems to rectify itself so I've never worried previously...It usually seems to happen when the weather changes, dont know if thats something to do with it, but anyway,


Since the vets have said shes starting to go blind, I've been paying particular attention to her eyes...the other week I said I think her eyes are a bit worse, she seemed a bit stressed and more grumpy than usual, but again, now the weathers warmer and shes having a gentle plod around the garden, she seems to ahve settled down again, however both eyes are irritated, and the discharge seems to be white?

I've had a quick look at her, the eyes themselves seem ok, a bit red around the edges, maybe a bit irritated but nothing drastically abnormal for her, its just the fur below her eyes has the tear stained sort of look, and on one eye in particular, its a bit gunky and white...shes not sneezing and its not a huge amount, but its noticeable...Im just wondering if theres anything I can do before making a vets appt? I.E anything I can bathe her eyes in and just see if it clears itself up like it usually does?

I dont think theres anything drastically wrong with her...and being a worrier im usually the first to have her whisked off to the vets...but In this heat, I dont want her getting all worked up and upset and overheated, just to be told, its ok to gently clean her up with warm water and leave her be? any ideas?

((Obviously if her eyes turn into a molten mess overnight or it doesnt show signs of improvement I will take her))

She needs to be examined by a Vet. By the sound of it she has some infection in her nasolacrimal ducts and this would require treatment with antibiotic eye drops. It is not something you can just treat at home. Left untreated the infection can progress and become a much more serious issue.

Has she had her teeth checked? This can be a sign of dental issues.

I would take her to the vet if I were you. One of my buns (Xena) has "poorly" eyes and always has. She tends to "squint" them and gets sleep in them quite often but most of the time they are ok, however the other day I noticed she had one completely closed and it was red around the outside. I took her to the vets for a check up and it turned out she had a small ulcer on her eye. The vet reckons this was from hay poking in her eye but I'm not sure myself, it's taking a while to heal up (with cream) but it is improving. I'm glad I took her because I nearly didn't, her eye seemed to improve quite dramatically throughout the day but I was still worried and it could have gotten a lot worse if I had left it.

In the mean time, Xena appreciated a tissue dipped in cooled boiled water being wiped over her sore eye. She even tooth purred at me while I was bathing it :lol: So you could do this just to ease any discomfort and remove any gunk until you take her to the vets.

If you don't believe it's something serious, maybe just a weeping eye (no colored discharge) try washing her eyes gently with chamomile tea on a cotton pad.
Boil the water and make a cup of chamomile tea, leave it to cool / luke warm and soak the cotton pad in it, then wipe over her eyes.
Obviously if the condition has been going on for a few days then a visit to the vets is recommended.

One of Dylan's eyes has been like this on three occasions. I took him to the vet when it first happened and was told he needed antibiotics, antibiotic eye drops and metacam and that once it cleared up it could recur.

I have antibiotic eye drops for my own eyes and keep baytril and metacam at home so I have treated Dylan without taking him back to the vet and within a few days his eye cleared up. If it didn't I would take him to the vet but he gets incredibly stressed and is an old bun so I try not to take him unless it is really essential.

When it was really bad the vet showed me how to press the side of his cheek which made the white discharge come to the corner of his eye and I could then gently bathe it. It's never been that bad since.

The antibiotic eye drops work much better for Dylan than they do for me

I'l ring up first thing in the morning and try and get her in...I hate taking her because she gets so upset - eyes pop out of her head, breathing ten to the dozen...and it takes her ages to settle down afterwards....ahh fingers crossed for her!

Good luck at the vets. I hope she doesn't get too stressed.

Thought I'd give you guys a quick update, never even made it to the vets today!

First thing I got up, rang the rspca and explained I probably wouldnt be coming for Wellington, then rang the vets, who couldnt get me in at my local branch (5mins away) until like 6pm, but their other branch about 20mins away had slots available that morning, so I just took an appt there and prepared myself mentally, for the joys of travelling 20mins with a very hacked off bunny, stamping and growling the whole way there...


Got outside to Mollie to find her casually laid out in the middle of the garage, nice as you like, with completely dry eyes!

Redness had gone, everything..looked completely normal apart from a few crusty bits which I've cleaned off for her...at this point I was thinking, i darent go get wellington today anyway, so I may as well cancel the vets appt for now, and see how she goes on, if she gets wet again I can always take a later appt at my branch...

Well the little so and sos had a great day, casually destroying my dads new potted plant display, rolling about in the borders and chilling out on the lawn with an ice cold apple. Shes still absolutely fine and I'm wondering if perhaps she just got some hay in her eye or sat in a draft for too long or something? Rang the vets again and she said not to bother bringing her in if shes been dry all day, if it was an infection it would have been wet in the morning and would have re-gunked up again as the day went on....


I'm sure the little mare did it on purpose I'm going to see how she is tommorow, give her till dinnertime and if shes still fine I'm going to go pick up Sir Wellington I think! Panic over!