baby eye infection

Question
i have a few weeks old mini rex. i keep him in a hutch outside with a lot of other bunnies and let them out everyday. yesterday morning, i put him in the little play pen area with the 3 other baby bunnies like i always do, and he was fine. so later on, when i went to put him inside for the night, one of his eyes was shut. his other eye was fine. so i took him inside and washed it out with warm water and it seemed to be glued shut by a whitish thick discharge. his eyelids are swollen so he cant open it all the way. and the eye itself seems a little red. but the inside eyelids are pink, not red. all the other bunnies are fine. i was thinking he poked it on something and he would be fine by today but it was glued shut again. there doesn't seem to be any viable scratches or pokes. when i was washing him he wasn't squirming and he's doing normal bunny activities. hes eating and running around. he doesn't appear to be in any pain. i live in upstate NY so the closest trained rabbit vet is like 1 or 2 away so i don't want to bring him to the vet until i have to. is there and drops or over-the-counter medication i could buy at the pet store and could give him? does it sound like he scraped it and got an infection, or something he caught? are and of the other bunnies at risk? could he have caught it because of hygiene. its been raining for the past few days so could it be he's more susceptible? i'm just really worried for him and my other bunnies. he's separated just in case it is contagious.  

Answer
Dear Amanda,

The condition is very unlikely to be contagious; it does sound as if he was injured, and the eye does need the attention of a good veterinarian.  A vertebrate eye is a vertebrate eye, and a dog/cat vet *might* be able to deal with this if you cannot find a good rabbit vet where you are.  Still, please check the list here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

or check the local yellow pages for a vet who specializes in exotics.  If the eye has a corneal scratch, it not only is very painful (and the bunny in need of pain medication such as metacam), but also could get worse without treatment.  Antibiotic eye drops (prescription) and/or anti-fungal cream (don't get over the counter stuff without consulting a vet first, but we have used miconazole (Monistat) for this problem) are probably necessary to stop the infection and speed healing.

I hope you can get bunny to a good vet ASAP.  

Take care,

Dana