Bunny holding one eye shut. Whats wrong?

Question
Hi!
Well, just yesterday my rabbit was fine look great as usual, but today, i checked on him in the morning, and i noticed one of his eyes were fully closed shut. His other eye was wide open. He acted his same ol' jolly self but i didn't hear him make any hurting noises so i'm confused. What do you thinks wrong?!    thanks !  

Answer
Dear Jayelle,

It might not have been anything you did, but the bunny may have somehow given himself a traumatic injury to his eye that needs to be examined and treated by a good rabbit vet, whom you can find here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If this is a corneal injury, it hurts! That's why he's holding his eye shut.  So please do ask the vet about pain management, perhaps including atropine drops to stop the intraocular muscles from cramping, as they tend to do when the eye is injured. Although many rabbits have an enzyme that inactivates atropine (atropinase), we've found that the drug usually helps, at least for an hour or so.

Other eye problems also could cause him to close it in pain, including glaucoma, uveitis, or other disorders.  The sooner you get him to a good vet, the sooner he can be treated to prevent further damage--which is always a strong possibility when eye injuries or pathological conditions are left untreated.

It's possible your vet may wish to refer you to a veterinary ophthalmologist for more precise diagnosis and treatment if this is something other than an injury.  So do be prepared for that.

In any case, it's off to the vet for treatment!

I hope this helps.

Dana