Gunky eye

Hi all,

Last night when I checked my rabbits, one of them, Bluebell, had a little bit of 'milky' discharge at the corner of one eye.

I've checked her this morning and it's fine again.

I've done a bit of googling about possible causes, do you think she should see the vet anyway, or just if it happens again?

Can they sometimes just get a bit of gunk, like humans 'sleep dust'? (lol, what I've always called it anyway )

Thanks in advance.

TheThreeB's said:

Hi all,

Last night when I checked my rabbits, one of them, Bluebell, had a little bit of 'milky' discharge at the corner of one eye.

I've checked her this morning and it's fine again.

I've done a bit of googling about possible causes, do you think she should see the vet anyway, or just if it happens again?

Can they sometimes just get a bit of gunk, like humans 'sleep dust'? (lol, what I've always called it anyway )

Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

No, they don't usually get sleep that looks like what you've described.

It could be a bit of infection originating from the tear duct. Sometimes the partner rabbit (does Bluebell have a friend?) licks the discharge away and cleans up the eye

Often it's impossible to eradicate gunky eye, as it's often caused by elongated tooth roots. However, you can keep it clean by:

1. Getting the vet to flush the tear ducts regularly.

2. Swabbing with cotton wool dampened in cooled boiled water

3. Gently pressing on/massaging the area just under the eye where the tear duct exits to encourage the gunk out.

Hope that helps! x

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Yes she has two sisters with her, so it's likely then that one of them sorted it for her, this time.

I don't know how quickly tooth roots can grow, but they all had their teeth checked when they had their injections at the end of January. Or maybe the vet can't know just from looking and would need x-rays or something.

Will check her again in the morning, but it's been fine all day x

TheThreeB's said:

Hi, thanks for your reply.

Yes she has two sisters with her, so it's likely then that one of them sorted it for her, this time.

I don't know how quickly tooth roots can grow, but they all had their teeth checked when they had their injections at the end of January. Or maybe the vet can't know just from looking and would need x-rays or something.

Will check her again in the morning, but it's been fine all day x

Click to expand...

Yeah, you can't tell what the roots are like from looking at the crowns

Tooth roots can be visible on an X-ray, but even if you know they are elongated and pressing on the tear duct, there's nowt you can do about it. Aside flushing the tear duct itself.

How lovely three sisters together

It's always best to get these things checked.

A few years back we noticed Sparky's eye wasn't quite right and it turned out to be conjunctivitis which we treated with eyedrops

MightyMax said:

How lovely three sisters together

Click to expand...

Yes and all getting on so far! It's nice to think that of the 6 'babies', 3 got to stay together.

(Disclaimer: if I ever had more, I would definitely go to a rescue, I'm embarrassed that I didn't do that this time, I'm much more aware now)

Thanks Laura, we do need to register with a new vet, as we moved house recently, so I will mention it x

TheThreeB's said:

Yes and all getting on so far! It's nice to think that of the 6 'babies', 3 got to stay together.

(Disclaimer: if I ever had more, I would definitely go to a rescue, I'm embarrassed that I didn't do that this time, I'm much more aware now)

Thanks Laura, we do need to register with a new vet, as we moved house recently, so I will mention it x

Click to expand...

Sometimes they can get a tiny bit of gunk in the corner - usually with a bit of fluff mixed in. You might not notice on paired up buns as they groom each other. It's more greenish/brown rather than white though - that's more infection. I'd wipe it away and see if it comes back - if it does that's a vet job