Wheezing and watery eyes

Question
One of my rabbits has water eyes, he has had one watery eye for a long time as he got very sick and nearly died.  He is a hardly little mini lop and he came back fine but his eye has always been watery.  We have given him eye ointment in it all the time.  Recently his other eye started to be a little watery and red (from the scratching) and I'm a little concerned.  He is our little baby and we have had him from 6 weeks old.  He is now 3 1/2.  We also have 2 other rabbits that we rescued from the park.  We have had them for about 18 months.  Last week one of the rabbits died - he was ok in the morning and then I went to feed him and he was gone.  We don't know how old he was but think he must have been older than our one so we are ok with that as its one of those things.  Yesterday we noticed that our little fellow was wheezing.  I had picked him up in the morning and he wasn't but when my partner picked him up in the evening he was.  Its been quite warm so its not from being cold.  He is ok today but he is a little bit fragile so I'm a bit concerned.  Is the best thing to take him to the vet to have a check?

Answer
Hi!

It sounds like you might need to go to the Vet. All of your rabbits sound like they have pasteurella or possibly bordetella. Both are very prevalent, and deadly, diseases. I'm not certain, though.

If you don't have the money for a vet, you can try a round of Tetracycline. It's a broad spectrum anti-biotic that you can get at Tractor Supply, and see if there is any improvement in 10 days. If you do that, do give them some yogurt drops so that the live cultures in the yogurt keeps their digestive system in check.

(And if you go to the vet, and he/she gives any antibiotic, do give them yogurt drops. It's a step that is often forgotten)

Is there anything in the watery eyes? Such as white or yellow mucous?

What were your rabbit's symptoms when he was sick? How long ago was that?

With the holidays, has there been any new stressors in your home? Loud sounds, more people, etc? Both of the above diseases can lay dormant until their immune systems are compromised and then take hold.

The warm weather may even be such the stressor to reactivate the illness.

Let me know what happens! You can contact me at any time at kjhorn@gmail.com

Best wishes,
Karen