Dry eye in rabbit

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

Chris Milligan — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 22:24:17 GMT

are you sure it's dry eye and not the beginnings of some underlying dacrocystitis? I'd be checking teeth very carefully

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

dachsie_4 — Fri, 21 Jul 2017 19:11:10 GMT

Thank you for the replies. The eye actually looks much better with just being on metacam

kind regards

monika

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

Martin Atkinson — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 12:48:22 GMT

[quote user="TasosX"]f inflammation apparent consider a topical non steroid as well[/quote]I can't add a lot to this discussion but Acular drops as a topical NSAID may be useful, I use them a lot. I know the ulcer has a apparently healed but one ophthalmologist has suggested putting a blob of superglue on a rabbit corneal ulcer to give it protection while it heals.

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

TasosX — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 18:44:28 GMT

what about a culture - could be resistant strains or herpes? - also pannus after the ulcer? - an image would help/ if inflammation apparent consider a topical non steroid as well - voltarol?

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

dachsie_4 — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 09:08:42 GMT

This rabbit has a severely inflamed left eye which has had a long term ulcer in it, has been treated with the full range of eye drops available as has seen 5 different vets so far, I saw it on Saturday and ulcer has just healed, and I have not given any further eye drops as it already had isathal, remend corneal ulcer repair, lubrithal, clinagel..... It also has had metacam, but I feel it is still inflamed enough to need something more, if dry eye unliky in rabbit might be worth to just carry on with the metacam. The STT was 4mm so by what you are saying it is not dry eye.

Kind regards

Monika

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

Marie Kubiak — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 07:50:11 GMT

What symptoms are you seeing? I have never seen a case of dry eye in rabbits despite widespread use of potentiated sulphonamides! They have very different tear film and lacrimal glands, and autoimmune disease is almost never seen so it would be very rare but still potentially possible. Normal rabbits can have as low STT readings as 2mm so if dry eye is suspected then assessing tear osmolarity is recommended though I am not aware of this being done!

Mucoid discharge and exposure keratitis are very common symptoms independent of tear production issues but can mimic dry eye in appearance.

If tear replacement is needed then you would have to use products designed for domestic species but these are aqueous and rabbit tear film has a heavy lipid component. Rabbits also blink only a couple of times a minute so aqueous treatments may be insufficient for maintaining corneal integrity. Topical ciclosporin would be an option if dry eye can be confirmed but I would start at a cautious dose and titrate up if needed.

Marie

RE: Dry eye in rabbit

Chris Milligan — Mon, 03 Jul 2017 06:45:37 GMT

David Williams (ophthalmology extraordinaire) is the man to talk to about this sort of thing. Here's his website: http://davidlwilliams.org.uk/?page_id=64