Cleo - discharge from eye :(

Hey everyone,

Noticed this afternoon that Cleo who is 9/9 1/2 had some discharge coming out of her eye, milky white in colour. We gently cleaned it away with warm water with some salt dissolved in it. There was no sign of any more discharge until we fed her at 630pm so again we have cleaned it away and she's booked into the vets first thing tomorrow morning. She is eating without issue and she's her usual self.

I am however extremely worried; we have had quite possibly the worst 12 months or so - my father in law died in April 2020, Snowy one of our other rabbits died in May whilst she was undergoing an operation to have her eye removed as she had badly injured it and eyedrops etc weren't being effective, my dad died in June and then in January this year my mum and one of our other rabbits Harley passed away.

I'm so worried and maybe paranoid that we are going to lose Cleo as well especially as her eye seems to have discharge. Cleo is the same age that Snowy was when she died and Snowy also had an eye issue in her last days.

I know I'm probably over-reacting and winding myself up but I am just so worried especially with the way things have gone over the last 12 months.

I am so sorry for your losses and challenges. It is hard to think positive after all you have been through, yet I am sending lots of positive vibes for your bunny.

You have endured so much bereavement over the last year, it is no wonder you are terrified about what may be wrong with Cleo. But really, try not to overthink it all, rich coming from me , I know. I have a First Class Honours Degree in overthinking .

Cleo probably has a slight infection in the nasolacrimal duct ( tear duct) The Vet will check her eye, including using some Fluorescein Dye to check for any corneal abrasions and to see if the nasolacrimal duct is draining. If the Vet suspects the duct is blocked he/she can cannulate and flush it. This can be done whilst Bunny is awake if Bunny is calm. In some cases mild sedation may be needed. Worst case scenario would be that the duct cant be flushed due to the duct being permanently blocked due to tooth root elongation. In which case the eye will need daily bathing, a tiny bit of Vaseline applied where the discharge flows down the face to protect the skin and if active bacterial infection is present antibiotic eye ointment.

I have cared for numerous older Rabbits with chronic runny eyes. It never bothered them at all and as long as I kept on top of the daily eye care all was fine

Sending lots of vibes and hugs xx

So sorry, what an awful year for you to go through. Really hope the vet visit goes well for your girl. Sending you both lots of vibes xx

Big hugs xx Hope Chloe's visit goes well.

Thank you everyone.

From what I can remember of this morning's visit, the vet did flush the tear duct successfully, no signs that it was blocked however pressing just below the eye was causing discharge clear / milky white to come out and the vet said the tissue was quite thin.

The vet put some eye drops in and we are to continue to administer them 3 times a day, I believe it is called Tiacil(sp) but before administering them the vet has suggested just gently massaging the bottom of her eye and wiping away anything that comes out with a salt water solution. We are to do this for a few days and if there is no improvement or it gets worse then to take her back immediately but the vet is hopeful that it will clear up in a week as it does seem to be an infection but hopefully catching it early will mean it will all be ok. We are just very sensitive at the moment!

Hope the Tiacil helps. If it doesn't, I have found Isathal to be better for treating nasolacrimal duct infections, it seems to get into the ducts better than Tiacil.

Bit of an update.

Cleo's eye did improve so we gradually reduced the number of times she had the eye drops each day until we stopped completely. However within a couple of days the discharge was back so again we started with the eye drops and eased off gradually once it was improving but it just keeps coming back and we have run out of drops completely.

She's off to the vets this afternoon; we were going to take her sooner but she didn't seem to have any discharge for about a week / or whenever we were going to make the appointment but she had a little bit yesterday evening and we are out of drops.

Just really hoping she is going to be ok - it's been 12 months since our world got turned upside down - last April my father -in-law passed away, one of other buns Snowy passed away in May following surgery to have her eye removed as she had sustained an injury to it - she crashed when they attempted to wake her up, my dad passed away in June, another bun of ours Harley passed away in January - he went into stasis and despite having him at the emergency vets with fluids, syringe feeds, pain meds, oxygen tent he passed and my mum passed away in January due to COVID.

We are all still dealing with all of this grief, especially with the one year anniversary of a lot of it and I just can't stop myself from thinking about what's going to happen to Cleo especially as Snowy had an eye issue that contributed to her passing away

I'm so sorry you've had all that to deal with. I lost a rabbit following eye removal surgery a week ago today, which was one month after having our other girl put to sleep. It's hard enough having to deal with one loss, never mind several. I hope Cleo's vet visit goes well and her eye can improve x

Best of luck xx

Thank you Liz47 and keletkezes.

The vet flushed her tear duct again and apparently quite a bit of gunk came out; the vet did say it was a little harder this time but she is of the view that this may be due to inflammation.

Teeth were checked and vet was happy with them and going forwards the vet has taken a culture of the gunk that was flushed out to see what bacteria we may be dealing with to have a more a targeted anti-biotic/eye drop.

The results from the culture will take 7-10 days so in the meantime she is on loxicom 0.66ml twice a day for the inflammation and eye drops Exocin (sp?) 3-4 times a day.

If the results from the culture don't yield anything then we will be looking at x-rays to see if it is a tooth root issue but i really hope that it isn't and that we don't have to put her under one or more GA.

Hope the treatment will help and that she wont require the Xrays x

Hi all,

Just an update. The culture test results are back and have shown no bacteria/signs of infection(my OH spoke to the vet so I think this is correct!).

The vet has asked us to continue with the eye drops and loxicom as well as sending photos of her eye to them - the vet who called with the results is rabbit savvy, however, it was different rabbit savvy vet who has seen her on the last two occasions and she isn't back in until Wednesday so they are going to review the photos together and decide on the best next steps. I am thinking that it will be X-rays to see if it is a tooth root issue, though she's only been on the loxicom for the last week and before that she had the discharge and was displaying no signs of pain. The vet only prescribed the loxicom to help with any inflammation.

I am feeling quite unnerved though as it is very deja vu - Snowy had an eye injury this time last year, had some treatment, we had to send photos of her eye then she went in for surgery to have the eye removed but unfortunately passed away when they tried to bring her round from the GA.

I'm just terrified the same thing is going to happen if Cleo needs to have X-rays - the superstitious part of me just can't help thinking it will happen all over again given the similarities which I know is irrational.

I understand your concerns after losing Snowy, but what happened was a rare adverse reaction to a GA. There is absolutely no reason to think it is inevitable that the same thing will happen again if Cleo were to require a GA. If you remain very anxious about it all then don’t have the X-ray done. Even if tooth root elongation is the cause there is no cure, just daily management of the symptoms.

I'm sorry you don't have any firm answers yet, and this is seemingly mirroring what happened to Snowy It must be really difficult. I hope the vets can find something together and it ceases to mirror Snowy's experience.

InspectorMorse said:

I understand your concerns after losing Snowy, but what happened was a rare adverse reaction to a GA. There is absolutely no reason to think it is inevitable that the same thing will happen again if Cleo were to require a GA. If you remain very anxious about it all then don’t have the X-ray done. Even if tooth root elongation is the cause there is no cure, just daily management of the symptoms.

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Could you explain what the daily management consists of please Jane?

tonibun said:

Could you explain what the daily management consists of please Jane?

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Bathing the eyes daily and applying a bit of barrier ointment where the discharge flows to protect the skin. If the Rabbit has a partner the partner often helps clean the weepy eyes. Regular dental checks to make sure the crowns of the teeth are not too long and obtaining antibiotic eye ointment if active bacterial infection occurs.

Hi everyone,

Some of you may have seen my other post regarding Sparky who we thought we were going to have to PTS today due to his arthritis and an issue with his eye; the former is being treated with some stronger painmeds and his eye seems to be an infection for which we have been given marcobyl (sp?).

Unfortunately this evening we saw that Cleo's eye has discharge again. The two bunnies don't live together and we wash our hands between each of them. So we are back to the vet tomorrow just wish we could catch a break and stop what feels like camping at the vets!

I hope the vets appointment goes well and that it’s nothing serious. Sending lots of vibes xx