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Weepy Eyes

NicolaB18

Mama Doe
Hi, my little bun has Weepy eyes and was wondering if anyone knows of anyway to clear them up, as everything the vet has told me doesnt work! :(
 
A lot of weepy eyes stem from teeth problems. My Zeus had an x-ray the other day which confirmed what my vet had feared - Zeus' incisor roots were growing too long and interfering with his tear ducts causing an infection, this was the reason he had weepy eyes and eye infections over the last 6 months.

Zeus is going on a different set of antibiotics to clear up the infection then it looks like he will have to have extractions to cure the problem permanently.

Has your vet x-rayed your bunny's head - do they have much experience with rabbits?

Caz
 
Yeah have had lots of rabbits. no the vet hasnt taken an x-ray of his head. a while ago he said it could be that but has tryed lots of stuff first. so should i take my bun back and ask them to take an x-ray?
 
So they have treated lots of rabbits before then?

Just checking as I took my first rabbit to a vet who didn't have much experience with rabbits and they took ages to find out what was wrong but this guy I go to now is an exotic expert.

I would ask them to check for teeth problems and an x-ray is the best method - it can be expensive but they should be able to see right away if there are any root problems.

Caz
 
Ask your vet to have a look at the tear ducts first a little gental pressure can sumtimes make it clear to the vet if they are blocked.Failing that as i imagine the cost would not be a lot bifferent you could ask the vet to knock him out and have a good look at the back teeth and then if there is a problem it may be resolved while he is under. Bear in mind that if it does turn out to be the teeth it is going to meam more ongoing treatment in the future. val
 
its not his tear ducts, they have already tryed to clear them but sweeping still came back. so goin to try and see if they can x-ray his head
 
weepy eyes

Are his eyes looking like he is crying all the time ? This can mean his tooth roots are close to the tear duct and stopping the tears from draining away. If they are infected there would be a whitish/yellow discharge.
If its only 'tearing' try bathing the eye with cold tea twice a day on cotton wool and see if there is any improvement. it could be connected to an allergic reaction and excessve tears are produced, maybe from dust cigarette smoke,furniture polish of other aerosols. You can try a dilute saline solution as an alternative .
Lynne
 
The vet said he might of been allergic to sawbust, straw, hay.. etc so i took that stuff out his cage, but his eyes aint cleared up. and also have has his eyes drained but the sweepy eyes just came back next day. i wash his eyes 3 times a day and its work a little bit but not completly cleared. :(
 
Honestly I know how you feel!

I had been bathing Zeus' eye with salt water every day in combination with eye drops twice a day and oral antibiotic for six months before I went to see the head vet at my practice and he did the x-ray.

Zeus had a nasty eye infection which had cleared up using that treatment regime but his eyes just wouldn't stop weeping.

I have heard of rabbits allergic to hay - sometimes barley straw can be used as an alternative or ready-grass as obviously they need to have fibreous hay-like substance as the main component of their diet.

I found changing Zeus' bedding to compressed sawdust cat litter with a covering of hay and changing it very regularily helped to keep his eyes a bit clearer but it looks like the more drastic treatment is going to be necessary for him.

Let us know what happens with your bunny!!

Caz
 
Hi i'm new to the forum, my advice is get an X/Ray done to check the skull for infections which maybe caused by the front teeth, my rabbit has just had his teeth removed although the infection was causing a snotty nose rather than eye problems, it took us 5 months to get to the cause of his infection, our vet kept saying it was snuffles and the likley cause was dusty hay, drafts etc, in the end they admitted defeat and put me in touch with an exotic vet and he found the probem straight away just by doing an X/Ray which i just wish our origanal vet had done, i just hope not to much damage has been done and he'll shake the infection now his teeth have gone.
 
Out of curiosity Twiggy was the exotic vet in Andover? I used to live in Berkshire (Caversham) and I was referred to the one in Andover (Strathmore Vet Clinic) with my first rabbit. I go there all the time now with my current four! It helps I have moved to Hampshire as I am a bit closer now.

Caz
 
I may see you there! I have to go back and forth loads over the next few weeks while he works on Zeus - you will recognise me as I am the one usually lugging two carry cases with four rabbits :lol: !!

Occasionally poor Zeus has to go on a lead!

Caz

P.S. How is your bunny doing re the infection as this is exactly what is wrong with Zeus and the treatment he is going to have? I am worried about how Zeus will cope with no teeth and whether it will work!

In my case unfortunately my vet Mr Girling left Strathmore's half way through Zeus' treatment and Michelle O'Brian, although lovely, wasn't quite up to speed so I didn't get referred to Mr Chitty till later. I find Mr Chitty can be a bit rough with Zeus (even though he is a big rabbit he doesn't need to be man-handled) but he does know his stuff and I wish I had requested to have him check Zeus earlier!
 
Fudge was fine after having his teeth out, even after the long drive home which he hates, when we got home we let him straight out of the box and he did his usual sulking trick untill i reappeared with some dandelion leaves which he gulped down, not bad after just having 4 teeth removed, puts humans to shame.

The first couple of days i found it hard watching him try to eat his hay and dried grass but he manages really well now and it's only been a week, as for the veg, well he's great with that aswell but as you know you have to cut it up for him/her, Fudge even went into our female (Woody, yes strange name i know) cage today and nicked her carrot (whole) which upset him greatly when i had to remove it from him.

As for the infection, well the day before he had his teeth removed he was sneezing alot with a large amount of discharge, since the teeth have been removed we've had nothing at all, sadley though i've just got in from work and my misses mentioned he'd done a few this evening which is a bit upsetting after what the poor mites been through, he's on Septrin twice a day and has about 5 drops of Metacam, it's early days with all this so i keep telling myself not to get to disheartened, which is hard but it's only been a week and the infections not going to disappear over night, the main thing is he's happy with his life and manages well without teeth, although saying that he's now got a weeping eye which he got on returning from the vets.

As for Mr Chittys rough handling i wouldn't worry he's the expert, i did notice it a bit when i first saw him but then if you love your pets of course you are going to get a bit edgy when someone else handles them, if i thought in anyway Fudge was in pain when being handled i wouldn't have gone back to see him, i'm just so grateful that i'm seeing probably one of the best vets in the country. :D :D
 
Oh, i forgot to ask how did all your rabbits problems start?? And at what stage are you up to with the vets? Has your bun had this problem long? Keep in touch on this one as we may be able to learn from one another, we've been fighting this since September and it's been a nightmare, it hasn't hepled as i do shift work which means giving drugs at silly times usually 4 in the morning, but he's worth every minute of it.
 
It started with a weepy eye around Jan 04 but when they did the first x-ray it looked so mild they decided to treat with antibiotics (septrin) which actually gave him stasis and it took a while for things to get back to normal.

Then September time the weepy eyes started again and then within a week his eye had curled in on itself and was looking really swollen. We took him to the vets and he started treatment with antibiotic eye drops and orally which gradually decreased the swelling and his eyelid uncurled but this took until December to go down. About this time the stress caused him to get mites too and the problems exaggerated each other.

It wasn't until last month I finally took him to Mr Chitty as Michelle just didn't seem to know how to cure it completely. As it turns out we had been treating the symptoms and not the cause - I think Mr Chitty feels a bit guilty as Mr Girling left and I was referred to Michelle half way through the treatment and Mr Girling had suggested x-rays but Michelle didn't. So when Mr Chitty finally saw Zeus and x-rayed him he knew it could have been solved a whole lot earlier so I am getting discounted treatment (for the mites), as it is kind of the practice's fault it was miss-diagnosed for so long.

Zeus is on injectible penicillin once a week (which I am giving myself) because of my concerns over the stasis and I know he has been fine on injectible antibiotic, Mr C's first choice was septrin!

I have to take him back on Valentine's day when hopefully he will have reduced infection because of the antibiotic, his mites problem (which has come back) will have gone and he can be assesed for the operation.

So you are ahead of me in treatment which is comforting to know for myself that your rabbit is doing well :D !

When I was initially treating his eyes it was daily salt baths on his eyes and 5ml antibiotic and twice daily eye drops - poor Zeus was not amused and neither was I - I know how you feel - it has been a nightmare for me too - maybe we should start a support group for people who have to medicate their bunnies ;)!

Caz
 
Fudge is still doing ok at the moment, (i hate saying he's doing fine as i always find the following day he's not) still has weeping eye which seems to water when he's eating, when the teeth are removed keep an eye on his bum as Fudges is starting to get dirty, he dose clean it himself but not aswell as he use to, we've just cleaned his this morning which was fun bless him, i'm just glad i have the wife to help me, god nose how people manage on there own, i take it you've got help with yours.
 
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