Are runny eyes ALWAYS a sign of furthur health problems?

[georgie_f]

Hey everyone, me again :roll:

I went to a pet shop today, I'd seen some really gorgeous buns in there the week before and decided I wanted to go back for one. I wanted a male bun, just because in my experience, they're often friendlier to people, and they are cheaper to get neutered. They were blue furred bunnies, there were four full grown ones, one male and three females - one of which had a litter of four week old babies (presumably the pet shop had sexed that particular bun wrong! :roll: ). Anyhoo, the one male, who was in a hutch on his own, had runny eyes. I decided not to get him because I already have a dental bun and I don't really want to take on another that may have the same problem. Although, I'm not sure if it was his teeth causing it...

I just wondered if there were different types of runny eyes?! His eyes weren't sticky, just the fur in the corners looked wet. I got the females and the babies out of their hutches and gave them cuddles but there were a few cages stacked up at one end of the males hutch and I didn't think I'd better start rearranging the shop to look at his teeth! :lol: My dental bun has really thick goopy stuff that sticks her eyes shut when her teeth are bad (she also has blocked ducts so they're always fairly sticky). This buns eyes were no where near as bad.

I wonder if maybe he could have been irritated by his bedding, as he was on rather fine sawdust, but the other buns were on the same bedding and they were fine.

Can rabbits get runny eyes just on their own or are they always accompanied by teeth or tear duct issues?

If there's a chance it could be something as simple as his bedding, I think I might have to go back for him as he was beautiful.

 

[Jack's-Jane]

Runny eyes can be caused by various things including bacterial conjunctivitis, Dental Disease, allergies........

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...zgK#v=onepage&q=rabbit dacryocystitis&f=false

http://www.fecava.org/files/ejcap/EJCAP 17-3 p242-252 Rabbit and rodent ophthalmology.pdf.pdf

Warning-gory photos on this one
http://www.medirabbit.com/EN/Eye_diseases/Clinical/Eye_diseases.htm

Personally I would be reporting the Petshop to the RSPCA and the local council's Licencing Department rather than supporting them by buying their Rabbits.

The shop sounds awful

 

[georgie_f]

To be honest, the pet shop is a hole. I kind of feel for them though, the original manager was a really nice guy, he really knew how to care for the animals and built avairys for the birds and P@H style bunny runs for the rabbits and guinea pigs (keeping them seperate too!), but then they decided to build a new building right were the old one was. The small pets were all in the original building but have all been moved across the car park into the aquatic centre. It was only supposed to take 6 months to put the new building up (which is huuuuuge) but it's just entering the beginning of year three of building now as the manager who was overseeing it left for the mainland, and everything seems to have taken so much longer without him overseeing it. The pets are often overcrowded now too.

The new building is now built, I think it's just waiting for electrics and furnishings. I'm really hoping they'll use the avairys and bunny runs again when the new building opens. If they continue to keep them the way they are now, I will report them. I doubt anything would happen if I reported them now as they'd just tell whoever turned up that they're clearly in the process of refurbishing and making improvements. To be honest, there are much worse pet shops over here and nothing ever gets done about those....

Obviously, I don't want to fund a rubbish pet shop by buying a bunny but at the same time, I think if I did buy something, the money would go towards the new building which will be a ten fold improvment on where they are now! :roll:

Urghh, I dunno what to do. I keep seeing that buns face in my head! :lol:

 

[Sky-O]

Remember, if you bring a bunny home, ALWAYS thoroughly quarantine them, especially any showing health problems, because you have to protect those you already have and if you know he has a problem, and you don't know what, there is a chance of him passing something to any bunny you already have. So if you bring him home, keep him in strict quarantine.

 

[georgie_f]

I would do I even have a spare hutch ready for such occasions as new bunnies or random illnesses that require seperating.