Ive been to a vet, but Im still unsure.

Question
I took my rabbit to the vet today and found out that she is having a corneal ulcer. I'm not sure whether the vet is rabbit savvy enough, so I wanted to make sure if I can trust what she has prescribed to me.

My rabbit's eye is teary, the eyelids are swollen and red, and there is some white liquid which is inside the eye itself (the vet mentioned something about white blood cells?). Is this really an ulcer as the vet said it was?

The vet then prescribed some eye drops, which I would need to put every 2 hours or so, and some gel/ointment (OFTALMOLOSA CUSI GENTAMICIN), twice a day.

The vet didn't give any antibiotics because my rabbit was eating and drinking fine. Is that ok? And also, my rabbit seems to shut her eyes a lot and tilts her head a little to the side of the injured eye, so I'm guessing that she's in pain.

I have some Meloxicam and I'm wondering if I can use that for her pain? But the meloxicam is for dogs, so I'm not sure about the dosage.

I was also wondering if I could use normal saline to help clean the boogers off my bun's eye, or will that stop/worsen the healing process?

Thanks,
Hannah

Answer
Dear Hannah,

The treatment the vet prescribed sounds fine.  Both the gentocin drops (gentocin *is* an antibiotic) and the metacam are a good idea.

Ask the vet about atropine drops for pain.  These will temporarily paralyze the muscles inside the eye that can spasm when the eye is injured, and this can be very painful. Although some rabbits have an enzyme (atropinase) that destroys the atropine, it doesn't work instantly, and the atropine can provide good, instant relief from a lot of the pain associated with this while the cornea heals.

A little saline won't hurt to clean the eye, but warm it up so it doesn't hurt, and certainly do this *before* you apply the drops, so they don't get washed out when you flush the eye.  Consult the vet about any treatments.

Hope this helps.

Dana