Weepy Eye - What do savvy vets typically do?

[DemiS]

:wave:

My old boy Elmo came back from boarding with a bad eye. Every day there's a bit of white discharge in the corner and the fur around it doesn't appear wet but it does become a bit crusty and matted despite me trying to clean and brush it. Luckily the skin isn't sore yet.

So far he's had a course of chloramphenicol antibiotic drops which did nothing, yesterday he had his tear ducts flushed whilst conscious and the vet said some white stuff did come out of his nose which suggests it's cleared some kind of blockage out, but to come back if it's not worked. I cleaned up the fur around his eye, got him looking pretty again and then later yesterday evening his eye and the fur around it looked the same if not slightly worse than before. I rang up again this morning to ask should I bring him back or should I give it a few more days, reception checked the notes and said bring him back in today, then the vet I saw (different from yesterday) seemed confused and said it was only done yesterday, it can take a few days to settle down :roll: . She gave me the option of just going back home and leaving it a few more days, trying some different antibiotic/steroid drops (because there was a tiny bit of inflammation) and going back in a few days, or sedate him and do another really good flush but she was reluctant to do that without trying the other options first. I asked if I did bring him back for sedation/flushing would they do an X-ray to check the roots of his teeth at the same time and she seemed to think that would be another separate step to take afterwards if the second flushing didn't work. In the end I took the drops so that the consultation wasn't a complete waste of time and money, I was told to come back in a few days but I'm unsure what to do next.

I've read online that especially in older rabbits the roots of the teeth are often the issue. Unless by some miracle the drops have completely fixed him I'm a bit reluctant to take him back in a few days for sedation and flushing, stress him out and pay god knows how much, only to likely have to take him back again a fourth time and put him under again for an X-ray and potentially teeth removing.

Can anyone who has been through this but with a rabbit savvy vet advise if this sounds right? I'm not sure at this point if I should insist on having the flushing and X-ray done together or alternatively go to a vet who I know is specialised in rabbits BUT she doesn't have any appointments available for a few weeks

 

[InspectorMorse]

I would give the eye drops a chance to address the inflammation and infection. Inflammation caused by the flushing can take a few days to settle.

In the meantime I’d make a provisional appointment with the Rabbit savvy Vet. I would not even think of tooth extraction, even if tooth root elongation were to be the issue. Molar tooth extraction is a major op in Rabbits, it’s very different from extracting a dogs molar tooth for example. Unless the Rabbit’s molar tooth is already very loose extraction can be extremely difficult. In older Rabbits it can result in the jaw being fractured. TRE is something that can be managed with regular monitoring of the molar crowns. If they get too long it can increase the rate of progression of TRE. Analgesia is often needed as the condition does progress.

A Rabbit Savvy Vet would do the skull radiographs and tear duct flushing under one GA. The radiographs will show the extent of TRE (if it is an issue) and if there is any sign of abscesses which can sometimes occur due to TRE. The Vet would also do any dental work required on the crowns of the teeth. I very much doubt that they would suggest extractions in your Rabbit’s case

 

[DemiS]

I would give the eye drops a chance to address the inflammation and infection. Inflammation caused by the flushing can take a few days to settle.

In the meantime I’d make a provisional appointment with the Rabbit savvy Vet. I would not even think of tooth extraction, even if tooth root elongation were to be the issue. Molar tooth extraction is a major op in Rabbits, it’s very different from extracting a dogs molar tooth for example. Unless the Rabbit’s molar tooth is already very loose extraction can be extremely difficult. In older Rabbits it can result in the jaw being fractured. TRE is something that can be managed with regular monitoring of the molar crowns. If they get too long it can increase the rate of progression of TRE. Analgesia is often needed as the condition does progress.

A Rabbit Savvy Vet would do the skull radiographs and tear duct flushing under one GA. The radiographs will show the extent of TRE (if it is an issue) and if there is any sign of abscesses which can sometimes occur due to TRE. The Vet would also do any dental work required on the crowns of the teeth. I very much doubt that they would suggest extractions in your Rabbit’s case

Thanks I was hoping you'd see this and reply I think seeing as he's eating fine and the skin isn't sore I will wait for the rabbit savvy vet and stop wasting my time at my current one as I'm always going to be second guessing what they're telling me

 

[nap91]

We are going through similar at the moment, one of my rabbits has had a weepy eye for the past few weeks. The first vet we saw a couple of weeks ago, who wasn't rabbit savvy at all, checked her spurs and said they were small but wouldn't be causing an issue (which from my experience even small ones can!) so sent us away with a course of eye drops. They didn't work, so we went back again today and saw a more experienced vet, who is going to burr her spurs down next week, as well as flush her tear ducts and take a skull X-ray whilst she's under GA. He's also doing a full blood test. He said that would give us an idea of what we're working with as it could potentially be root elongation. If none of that works, then it'll be another course of eye drops with a stronger antibiotic.

 

[keletkezes]

:wave: Chibbs went through this but with less gunk! She's 9, a lionhead, so totally expected. We had eye drops, did nothing in the long run, a conscious flush, worked a tiny bit but given a week to settle I think it was, then sedated flush with x-rays (contrast in the tear ducts IIRC): teeth fine but her tear duct is kinked and we guess now it's just got blocked with time. Second sedated flush wouldn't clear anything further, so she's just stuck with it now. I can get away with cleaning her up twice a week, she's not fully blocked all the time and Barrie's finally decided he can clean eyes as well (she's always done it). No fur loss anymore and no skin damage ven when I leave her a week, we've really lucked out but we'll see how it goes over winter.

Best of luck!

 

[MissSherwood89]

Are you me? :lol: Having an almost identical situation with Theo right now, he had his eye flushed for the second time just this afternoon. His eye is definitely looking better than it was a week ago, he's been having antibiotic drops and now we're going to try anti-inflammatory ones before another attempt at flushing in a week or two (couldn't seem to get anything out today). If we have no luck next time then we need to think about x-rays to look at his roots and probably a more thorough flush under GA. He had a dental about a month ago but when she checked his teeth she said they "ok but not perfect" so I suspect it's related.

 

[DemiS]

Just an update, we managed to get him in to see a really good rabbit vet a few weeks after I made this post. His xrays were clear, his teeth and nasolacrimal duct aren't the issue. She sent off some swabs to a lab and when the results came back she prescribed him some Exocin eye drops which the lab said the bacteria should be sensitive to. It got slightly better, then as soon as we stopped it came back, then we were advised to restart them for a full month and towards the end his eyes were worse than ever so I wondered if he was possibly reacting to the preservatives in the drops. Our vet said to swap back to chloramphenicol for a longer course and I got the ointment version to make sure there were no preservatives in and also with the hope that it would be longer lasting and maybe do a better job. We've managed to battle to get the ointment into his eyes for a month and again it's just getting worse and both eyes are weepy too. I'm going to make another appointment for him but I'm at a loss now, I don't want to keep stressing him out with treatments that don't work and soon me and my partner will be back at work full time and unable to give him any drops in the middle of the day. Luckily his skin doesn't appear irritated yet despite his eyes weeping for at least 5 months and he isn't squinting or pawing at his eyes. The eyeball and the skin inside don't even appear red, it's just the constant watering and white discharge. I found a very old study done on lab rabbits with conjunctivitis that showed that moving the rabbits hay from racks above them to the ground really improved a lot of their symptoms, and I do often find tiny bits of hay stuck to the discharge around his eyes so I need to experiment with ways of getting their hay lower to the ground without them being able to wee all over it

 

[InspectorMorse]

Has the Vet considered allergies being part of the problem ?

 

[DemiS]

Has the Vet considered allergies being part of the problem ?

It's not been mentioned yet, it's crossed my mind a few times but for about 4 months only one eye was affected and I've never seen him sneeze. I'll ask when we are next there, I suppose it might be easy to rule out with a short course of allergy medication. I'd also wondered if we might have to try oral antibiotics if the two antibiotic drops he should have responded to haven't worked.

 

[InspectorMorse]

Is a referral to an Opthalmic specialist Vet an option ? I think it’s something I would be wanting at this stage.