Rabbits Eye is Red

Question
My female dwarf rabbits eye has been red for the past couple of days.  (The actually eye ball itself not the area around the eye)  I am wondering what may have caused this and if I need to bring her to a vet.  I first noticed a few days ago she was keeping her eye closed and squinting however it did not seem to be hurting her as she let me look at it and wipe her eye with a damp cloth.  There was NOT any discharge coming from the eye and she had it fully opened again the next day. However it seems that the eye is still red.  I have looked closely at her eye ball and cannot see any scratches/ulcer or anything abnormal on the eye.  Again the eye doesnt seem to be hurting her and I am thinking she may have just poked her eye on something or irritated it somehow.  It doesnt seem too serious but I am prepared to take her to the vet if you think it is best.  Also I am wondering if I could use saline eye drops to try and rinse her eye incase there is something irritating it? I was thinking I could try to rinse her eye and if I didnt see any improvement I would bring her to the vet.  Thanks for any advise you have, I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question.

Answer
Dear Anne,

Since I cannot see her eye, I can't judge what is causing the redness.  It could be broken blood vessels in the sclera (white of the eye), or it could be vascularization forming at the edge of the iris, growing down to help heal a corneal abrasion or ulcer.  

I would recommend having a good rabbit vet take a look, just to be safe.  If she has a corneal ulcer, it may be difficult to see without staining the eye.  And if she does have one, various medications and pain management meds will make this heal faster and with less pain.

You can find a rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana