clump of hair gone by rabbits eye

Question
I noticed this evening that our rabbit has a chunk of hair missing at his eye(from scratching maybe?)His eye itself doesn't appear red,but the skin where the hair was feels crusty....maybe dry puss? I'm not sure if soap could possibly have gotten in his eye when we bathed him and he was scratching it extremely or if there is somehing else going on that we should be concerned with. He is acting normal, but I'm worried. Please help! :(
Thank you so much,
Rachel

Answer
Dear Rachel,

Remember that I can't examine your bunny in person to be sure.  But from the sound of this, the most likely explanation is that your bunny's eye is running due to a blocked tear duct.  This can have several causes, including bacterial infection and molar root intrusion into the tear duct area of the skull.

This article will help explain the causes:

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

Apply warm, wet compresses to the eye to soften the tears dried onto the fur, and gently wash them off to prevent further burning of the skin.  Keep any irritated skin moist with a bit of calendular cream (available at most good health food stores) until you can get bun to the vet for examination.

You will need a good *rabbit* vet, and you can find one here:

www.rabbit.org/vets

Hope this helps.

Dana