pussy eye

Question
My rabbit is about 2 years old, I noticed this afternoon that he is developing some puss in one of his eyes. I took a Q-tip to clean out and a few hours later it returned. He is squinting the one eye a bit but other than that he seems to be fine. Can I use eye drops for allergy eyes like i would for myself in the same instance?

Answer
Hi,

this isn't allergy eyes, it's an infection somewhere.  He needs to be seen by a good rabbit vet.  Infections in their head (or anywhere else) do not go away on their own, because rabbit pus is very thick (as opposed to runny like ours) and because of that it is difficult for their immune systems to get through that thick pus and wipe it out.  They always need antibiotics to continually hamer and shrink the pus areas down and wipe them out.  Infections in the head need to be treated quickly and as a serious thing because the pressures of the infection against delicate structures in the head can damage nerves or balance centers, can put too much pressure on nerves and cause paralysis or blindness.  And of course, pain because of pressure in small spaces.

Please get him in to a good rabbit vet as soon as possible.  Take a q-tip along with you in a clean plastic baggie that you have cleaned his eye off with, so that you can give this to the vet and ask they do a culture and sensitivity test to figure out what bacteria(s) are causing the infection, and determine what antibiotics will work best against it.

If you need to find a good rabbit vet (not all are, rabbit vets give better care, faster, which gets bunny better faster and saves you money) go here:

www.rabbit.org/vets/vets.html