Over the last month, Teddy occasionally had a runny left eye.  The tears were clear & when I examined his eye no obvious issue could be found.  I decided to monitor at that stage as the tears weren’t everyday & clear.

Looking at the photo above you wouldn’t think there was anything wrong with his eye.
Last week I noticed the tears had increased to everyday & were now turning milky.  This is a sign of infection. I had also noticed his bottom ‘lid’ looked like it had sagged & I could see tears sat on top of the sagged area.  It was time for Teddy to pay a visit to the vets.

Teddy had a thorough check at the vets, this included a good teeth check which Teddy did not like.  The reason for his teeth check was that sometimes if the teeth are growing uneven the roots can interfere with the tear duct causing it to have a kink & then the tears cannot drain away properly.  But Teddy looked fine although you can never be 100% sure as vets do not have x-ray vision & cannot see the roots only the crowns of the teeth.
After the checks it was looking like Teddy had an infected tear duct.  The reason why is not known, could be a bang to the head, potential teeth issues or some other issue. So for now Teddy’s eye will be treated with eye drops three times a week for two weeks. Teddy has no other symptoms.

Within two days of Teddy having his eye drops, the tears have stopped.  However, you cannot relax & think the problem is sorted.  Often with infections they can reoccur if you do not complete the treatment.  So Teddy will be having the full two week treatment to make sure the infection has gone.  Things I will need to look out for once the treatment has stopped is a reoccurrence & if that happens it could lead to tests.

Remember – always nip illness in the bud.  If I left Teddy any longer his tears would eventually have turned into puss as the infection grew worse.   You then end up with a longer battle, risk of infection spreading throughout the head, a lot more stress & a much bigger vet bill. Not worth it – deal with it & get it sorted for the rabbit’s sake.

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