Why rabbits can watery eyes and how to treat at home
Rabbit diseases are not only about digestive disorders or infections. The organs of vision can also be affected by diseases. For example, you may notice that an animal has tears flowing from its eyes. This happens for a variety of reasons. Let's consider why the eyes of a rabbit can water, what diseases can lead to this, how to treat at home and prevent violations.
Factors that could cause
Lacrimation can be caused by eye trauma, blockages, or infections. The rabbit can injure the eye by stalks of grass or straw that get into the eyes while absorbing food. Weed and dust get in for the same reason - the hay that is given to the animals turns out to be dusty. Dust gets into the nose, throat and eyes of animals.
Colds are another cause of watery eyes. But in this case, not external factors are to blame, but internal ones. Those animals that live in a cold room with drafts catch a cold. In winter, the eyes of rabbits are watery from the cold wind. With lacrimation, the eyes of rabbits swell, turn red, hair falls out around the eyelids.
Diseases that cause tears in rabbits
Tears in a rabbit provokes not one disease, but several eye pathologies. There may be other reasons as well.
Conjunctivitis
Inflammation can occur due to mechanical injury, infection, or drafts. Conjunctivitis can cause aggressive substances to enter the mucous membrane, for example, when processing cells. You need to treat it at home with antibiotics. A veterinarian should diagnose and select treatment.
Keratitis
Inflammation of the cornea may be due to conjunctivitis. Either infection or mechanical injury becomes the cause. In addition to tears, cloudy secretions and mucus flow from the rabbit's eyes. It is important to start treating keratitis immediately, as complications can be serious. You can not count on folk remedies, rinse the rabbit's eyes with infusions. Antibiotics are used for treatment.
The consequence of untreated keratitis can be a thorn, which severely restricts the rabbit's view. In severe cases, the animal can go blind.
Teeth being cut
Rabbits' teeth grow constantly, and you need to grind the incisors on the food. If grinding is not enough, the tooth grows back quickly, it can bend and touch the lacrimal canal.To exclude this cause, you need to examine the gums and teeth of the rabbit. If inflammation, redness, swelling are noticeable, and the animal often gnaws at the cage, you need to take action. You need to show your rabbit to the vet because gum problems can arise for a variety of reasons, and not just because the teeth are not grinded.
The rabbits' diet needs to be reviewed. Increase the proportion of solid feed, for example, dry peas and corn have an effect. For the same purpose, you can feed the animals branches, put pieces of boards in the cage.
Clogged tear duct
The rabbit's eyes are watery due to the ingress of dust and caustic substances, if the rabbits are kept indoors, the litter is not changed, because it is dusty and dirty. Especially if this happens all the time. If the reason that the eyes are watering is dust, and nothing else, you can rinse your eyes with warm boiled water or herbal decoction of chamomile or calendula, tea infusion brewed without sugar. If such measures do not help, and the eyes begin to water again, then the reason is different.
Avitaminosis or food intolerance
If the rabbit has watery eyes, and he himself is depressed, then the reason may be an unbalanced diet, in which there are few nutrients and a surplus of others. The animal moves a little, does not eat. Allergies can also cause tearing.
First, you need to review the rabbit's diet and adjust. Most likely, you will need to give him more greens, vitamin feed, products containing mineral elements.
It is important to give your rabbit a variety of foods. If the animal eats monotonously, vitamin deficiency cannot be avoided.
With allergies in a rabbit, not only eyes are watery, but a runny nose is also noted. The animal rubs its muzzle with its paws, sneezes. To eliminate allergies, the animal is left on a diet, and the foods that the animal ate are alternately excluded from the diet. So by elimination, you can find out which plant, vegetable or fruit is causing the allergic reaction.
Prevention
Drugs that can treat rabbit eyes that are watery can be purchased freely at the vet or human drug store. These are antibiotic ointments or drops. They are applied to small cotton swabs, the eyes are wetted from the outer corner to the inner corner. The frequency of processing is 3 or more times a day. Treatment can take up to 2 weeks. To avoid animals with watery eyes on the farm, you need to keep the cages clean. Change the bedding and feed leftovers, especially twigs, ventilate the room if the rabbits do not live outdoors. Minimize the likelihood of drafts.
Feed the rabbits with soft hay without sharp stalks. Use soft straw. Correctly compose the diet so that animals do not lack mineral elements and vitamins. If necessary, solder rabbits with vitamin preparations.
In order not to miss the problem and find it on time, you need to inspect the rabbits at least once a week. While the disease is at its initial stage, it is not difficult to cure it. If your rabbit has watery eyes, you should look for the cause. Most often this is an infection that has developed at the site of microtrauma. But the reason may be different. To begin treatment, you need to determine what caused the violation. If you cannot do this on your own, you need to contact your veterinarian.
