Not sure

Question
My rabbit, Callie, has been keeping one of her eyes half-open, only occasionally keeping it open for a short while. I checked under her eyelid, and the white part looks rather red. If it's helpful, she shares a hutch with her daughter. Lately, because of the weather, they've had to come inside and share a cage. The two often start playing rather roughly, sometimes banging into things. I'm not sure if she just scratched it up a little bit or if it's something serious. It just makes be a bit nervous because my former bunny, Esperanza, scratched his eye a bit and eventually had to be put down.

Thank you so much for your time!

Answer
Dear Sonya,

Whoever advised you to euthanize a rabbit because of an eye injury did neither you nor the rabbit any favors!  I've never heard of anything quite that drastic, nor have I heard of an eye that was so badly injured that the rabbit had to be put to sleep.  Before you do anything, be sure to find a good rabbit vet who actually knows more about rabbits than your last one did:

www.rabbit.org/vets

If your two rabbits are not spayed and are sharing a space, they could be fighting.  I don't need to tell you this is dangerous for both of them--especially in a small space where neither one can get away from the other, and they have no alternative but to fight (think:  Thunderdome).  This could very likely be the source of mama's eye injury.

First step is to get mama's eye treated by a good rabbit vet.  She may well have suffered a corneal injury that needs treatment.  Her squinting means that the injury is *painful* and that she needs analgesia to help while the eye is healing.  This won't happen without veterinary help.  Eye injuries MUST be treated, or they can get worse--and they can be *very* painful.

Good forms of analgesia for eye injuries include atropine drops (from the vet) and a combination of tramadol and metacam (also from the vet--don't try to do anything yourself, or you could do more harm than good!) orally.  

If possible, get a referral to a good veterinary ophthalmologist.  Eyes are best treated by a specialist, even though most vets seem to think they know enough about eyes to be practicing ophthalmology (Hint:  most don't).

Once the eye is being treated, it's vital that you have both bunnies spayed for their health and longevity, and to keep them from fighting.  Please see:

http://www.rabbit.org/faq/sections/spay-neuter.html

for complete information.

I hope this helps.

Dana

I hope this helps.