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Tearing Bunny - Blocked Tear Ducts

22 9:46:25

Question
Hi,
My bunny is 4 years old, a holland lop, sterilized. I first noticed she started tearing on 16 Apr 2012 (give or take).. Brought her to the vet on 21 Apr and the vet did a flushing for her, prescribed her with Ciprofloxacin (Ciloxan) Eye Drops and Trimetoprim-Sulfa Syrup (Co-Trimexazole). I was to give her the administration twice a day for 2 weeks.. Vet also confirmed its a blocked tear duct, and nothing wrong with her teeth (although its a big too long) or ears. The tearing cleared immediately..

30 Apr, she started tearing again.. then stop for a few days, and then starts again.. I brought her to the vet on 9 May, and the vet said to stop the oral meds and continue the eye drops. She stops tearing.. and started again on 13 May, with thick white discharge. took her to the vet again on the 16 May, vet said there's an infection, her eye is quite red, tried to do flushing but cant as its too blocked.. prescribe me with Baytril (0.17ml) twice per day.. i also requested saline solution to bath her eyes (twice a day).

She still kept tearing til 19 May... seems to have cleared.. until 24 May, started tearing again.. and now, she seems to have been tearing on and off everyday.. today being the worse (with a bit of milky discharge visible).. and i'm still bathing her eyes with saline solution twice a day, cleaning the fur around her eyes to prevent the crusts from building and also putting warm compresses on her tear duct (just dip a cotton wool in warm water with a bit of salt, hold it there for around 10s - is this right?)

Am going to bring her to the vet tomorrow again.. at this point, i dont have any hope that she is going to recover.. its been a roller coaster of emotions for me, so relief and happy to see her stop tearing, and then the pain and anguished that it came back.. and happened so many times for the past 1 month..

I just dont know what else i can do? Is there any chance i can do something to stop the tearing? I am losing faith with the vet, and i cant keep up with the cost too. The only good thing is she is still eating and pooping as normal and her behavior is still the same. But it pained me whenever i look at her now..

Sorry to keep babbling, but i just have to let it out as there's nobody else to talk to abt this.. and thanks for listening/reading..

Answer
Dear Snowy,

Unfortunately, this may be a lifelong, chronic problem for your bunny.  Please see:

http://www.bio.miami.edu/hare/weepy.pdf

for an overview of all the conditions that can contribute to chronic epiphora (runny eyes).  

Holland Lops and other short-faced breeds are particularly prone to this disorder, and it's very often because the tear ducts are physically occluded or narrowed to begin with.  Any pathology added on will compound the problem.

We have several runny-eyed bunnies, and it's not a big deal if you can manage to give a gentle face wash once a day with a warm, damp washcloth.  But a permanent cure is very often just not in the stars.

Wish I could say otherwise, but I hope this helps.

Dana