rabbit with eye discharge and labored breathing

Question
hi,

4 days back, I noticed a milky white discharge around my rabbits right eye. I tried cleaning it and i noticed the area around it became slightly red. But the next day, it was all cleared up and he did not had such discharge anymore. However, there is still thread like, or rather very minimal discharge coming out from his eyes. I took him to the vet and on examination, he said my rabbit's nose is more damp than usual. He prescribe multivite and gave chloramphenicol eye drops. My rabbit eye discharge reduced. However, he is not as active as he use to be...After running for just a while, he will lie down. and sometimes, he just lie down and run around and lie down again. Should I be concern? There is no sneezing although sometimes I hear him make some sound like exhaling loudly. Please help. Thank you.

Answer
Dear Eve,

If your bunny is acting lethargic and "not himself," he may have more going on than a simple tear duct obstruction.  He could have an upper respiratory infection, or even pneumonia.  Eye drops will not be enough to cure this, and chloramphenicol might not be the right antibiotic for this particular infection.  Please read:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sneezing.html

and

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/culture.html

If you're not sure your vet is taking this seriously enough, or if s/he isn't familiar enough with rabbits to properly handle this, then find another vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

for a second opinion.  

Please also read this right away for emergency instructions:

www.bio.miami.edu/hare/sickbun.html

If your bunny is acting tired and having difficulty breathing, I would consider this an emergency and tell the new vet so that you can get him in for examination and treatment immediately.

Hope this helps.

Dana