eye problem in baby bunnies

Question
We have 4-H bunnies.  We breed are lionhead for the second time she had 4 babies one died before a week old.  The runt of the litter is about half the size of the other two. It appears to have fluid around the eye.  It reminds me of a kitten with sore eyes. It is only two weeks old.  The other two bunnies are fine with eyes open.  In the last litter we had a similar situation but didn't catch it till the bunny was about six weeks old we were able to drain infection and give amoxcillion we happened to have on hand and she is doing great, still smaller than siblings.  I'm just not sure what to do with one so young or why it seems to only effect the runts.  Any suggestions would be great.  Thank you.

Answer
Dear Bobbie,

The bunny who got amoxycillin is lucky to be alive, and it's probably only because he was a very young baby who had not yet developed his normal intestinal flora.  Amoxycillin is *DEADLY* to rabbits, and must NEVER be administered for any kind of illness.  This is a good way to kill your rabbits.  Please NEVER use any kind of medication on your rabbits without the supervision of an experienced rabbit vet, or you could be doing more harm than good, and could even do something fatal.  Just because a drug is safe for a human, dog or cat does NOT mean it's safe for a rabbit.

The baby with the swollen eye may have an eye infection, but without seeing it I cannot know for sure.  Please get him to an experienced rabbit vet for proper diagnosis and treatment with *rabbit safe* antibiotics.  DO NOT USE AMOXYCILLIN OR ANY OTHER ORAL PENICILLIN ON A RABBIT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.  (FYI, Frontline is also deadly to rabbits, though it is safe for dogs and cats.)

You can find a good rabbit vet here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Please also read:

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

for some extremely important information about breeding rabbits.

I hope this helps.

Dana