matter fur under eye

I hope I am not repeating this post which I thought I had posted this morning but which I cannot find

I would be grateful please for some advice concerning my rabbit. She has a blocked tear duct which because of her advanced age ( About nine years ) she cannot have it flushed out because of the increased risk of the anaesthetic. She has recently had eye drops for an eye infection which has cleared up. However discharge from her eye is causing the fur under her eye to become very matted. Also some fur has fallen out near her eye and not grown back, the matted fur is lower down . I was told to wipe round her eye with warm water every other day. The problem is this does nothing to remove the matting even though I bathe this area twice each day. Any suggestions how I can get rid of the matting and prevent discharge from her eye clogging up her fur. Our vet doesn't seem to take a lot of notice of this but I am worried in case it is pulling on her skin or coursing discomfort of any sort. This morning her fur was thickly encrusted with discharge which has solidified. Warm water helped a bit to loosen it but her fur is still very matted.

She also has a respiratory infection that is proving difficult to cure and she is presently on antibiotics. So she is having a rough time, so any advice will be much appreciated thank you

Hi :wave:
I hope your bunny recovers from the respiratory infection soon. Is she distressed by the matted fur? My bunny Fred also gets discharge from his eyes and the fur gets matted. It sounds like Fred's may not be as much as your bunny has but it doesn't really bother him so I tend to leave it as long as it's not infection-related because he hates me wiping it off and puts up such a fight. Sorry if that's not helpful!

Jolysium said:

Hi :wave:
I hope your bunny recovers from the respiratory infection soon. Is she distressed by the matted fur? My bunny Fred also gets discharge from his eyes and the fur gets matted. It sounds like Fred's may not be as much as your bunny has but it doesn't really bother him so I tend to leave it as long as it's not infection-related because he hates me wiping it off and puts up such a fight. Sorry if that's not helpful!

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Hi Jolysium,

Thanks for your comment which has been very reassuring. Perhaps I do no need to worry as it may not be bothering her. While she seems not to mind my wiping it off it must be stressful for her to keep being picked up and having all sorts of unpleasant things like the antibiotics medications and wiping her eyes. It does seem to build up so much if not wiped but she does not seem bothered by her matted fur. Again thank you for your reply