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Blocked Tear Duct?

22 10:00:14

Question

Eye bulge
Hello,

I want to start off by telling you that i have a 4 year old holland lop female, who has been spayed.

About three weeks ago I noticed her left eye seemed to be protruding out a bit but i ignored it as she was eating and pooping just fine. However a few days later  i noticed a small white bulge in the inner corner of the same eye.  Again, it worried me but i didn't think much of it and i only saw it rarely. One night i was petting her and i noticed the white bulge got larger and it was slightly pink and would extend out into her eye more. It would come out for about 2 minutes and slowly go back, but it was increasing to about 6 times in a half hour. I called my rabbit savvy vet (who is listed on rabbits.org) and they told me to come in.

Now every year, on her wellness exam, she has work done on her molars (because it digs into her cheeks). the vet advised against removing it because its so large and would be too severe for her. But this year she didn't get it done because the doctor said it looked fine, and it wasnt bothering her.
So when i came in for her eyes I assumed it had something to do with that but the vet said it didn't and it still wasnt too much of a problem but worked on her molars anyways (after i insisted). She said almost once a week a person comes in with his or her rabbit with this inflamed looking eye and theres not much to do about it. She told me as long as my bunny can let it go in and out, its not a big deal, she seemed totally nonchalant about it. I told her maybe its an infection and she said no its not and to just leave it alone. She weighed my rabbit and said it could be fat because she gained half a pound in two months (at the last wellness exam). I was still iffy about it but was sent home.

Now I'm noticing that the white bulge is pink and comes in and out every 5 minutes on BOTH eyes. This is really starting to worry me because  even though she is jumping around, eating and pooping normally, it looks so scary. Sometimes it takes up half her eye. I am reluctant to go back to the vet just to be sent home again (my bunny doesnt do well on car trips).

I found a similar post:
http://en.allexperts.com/q/Rabbits-703/2008/12/rabbit-eye-problem-4.htm

but i was wondering will it get better on its own as per my vets advice, or do i need the antibiotics? So far its getting worse and my vet didnt know much about it. i am tempted to make an appt on monday but wanted to double check.

i apologize for the overload of information. its just that every time i see my rabbit with both eyes  bright pink it makes my stomach flip flop.

The attached picture is from a few days ago when it wasnt as large.

Thank you in advance!

Answer
Dear Monica,

I think you were wise to consider the possibility of a molar root abscess as the source of this problem, and it would not be a bad idea to have head radiographs done to check the state of her molar roots. But it worries me that she is now showing the bulging on both sides of her head, and that the protrusion is intermittent.  Does she seem to show the nictans (third eyelid; the pink thing in the corner of her eye) more when she's stressed?  What you describe doesn't like simple eye inflammation (and I'm surprised the vet would say there's nothing to be done about that!).  It sounds like something potentially more serious, and this needs to be checked.

I think it would also be a good idea to have chest and abdominal radiographs done on her.  This might sound odd, but a mass in the chest can cause intermittent obstruction of the descending blood vessels coming down from her head.  Because there is a large, flexible venous sinus directly behind the eyes in rabbits, any slight slowdown of blood flow from the head can cause the eyes to protrude.  The most common thoracic mass in rabbits seems to be thymoma, a cancer of the thymus gland.  

The good news is that if this is thymoma, there are treatments, and the other good news is that this type of cancer tends to stay localized and not spread.  But the bad news is that you might be facing radiation therapy. If this does turn out to be a thymoma, please read the following:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/thymomastory.html

and share this one (written by a rabbit expert vet) with your vet:

http://www.rabbit.org/health/thymoma.html

I hope this turns out to be nothing serious.  But it's best to do all the necessary diagnostics in case this is something treatable that's being caught early because of your vigilance!

I hope this helps.

Dana