# otc to treat eye infection?



## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

I was given a very friendly young doe (mixed breed) with one eye clotted shut - they said 'she was born that way'. I think it's an infection that may be able to be cleared -and I'd like to treat her and clear it up before trying to breed.

My idea is to wash the eye with a clean, warm compress 2-3x a day and treat with an over the counter eye antiobiotic ointment if possible - a rx seems out of place for this free wee animal.

Can you recommend a better way to treat the suspected infection? What can I put in her eye to help clear & heal?

I suspect her eye never developed since it's been sealed up this whole time and am not expecting sight - just a freedom from infection. Can't breed her if she's infected.

thanks!
Cathy

(btw - my does are now interested in breeding!)


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Chamomile tea and honey!!!!! Just make a cup o' tea, a little stronger than you would drink it and add a teaspoon of honey. I use an old syringe..sans needle.. to squirt into the eye. You can also use as a compress and as a wipe for the eye. It will work wonders.
Both chamomile and honey are anti-everything.. microbial, fungal, and with antibiotic properties. I used it on myself when the chick tried to remove my eye and I cleared up DS's pink eye overnight almost. Chamomile tea and honey are on the homeopathic/natural remedy websites as great eye treatments.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Interesting, Chickenista! I took the liberty of quoting you in the Natural Remedies sticky thread... this is a valuable piece of information and I wouldn't want it to get buried. Any more natural remedies you could add to that thread?


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## Beaniemom (May 25, 2007)

Does it look all swollen and pus filled? I'm concerned the skin may have fused since she never had the eye opened.

I'd try the warm water and eye cream (You can get it at the feed store, I just can't remember what its called) I'd also check her over to be sure the infection hasn't spread, check her breathing, check for sneezing/snot too. I'd keep her quarintined from the rest of the rabbits until you can give her a clean bill of health.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

Beaniemom said:


> Does it look all swollen and pus filled? I'm concerned the skin may have fused since she never had the eye opened.
> 
> I'd try the warm water and eye cream (You can get it at the feed store, I just can't remember what its called) I'd also check her over to be sure the infection hasn't spread, check her breathing, check for sneezing/snot too. I'd keep her quarintined from the rest of the rabbits until you can give her a clean bill of health.


there is definitely yellow crusting where the lids meet. I don't think it fused - or if it did, it got ripped open 2 months ago when the kid's father delivered the rabbits and pulled it open. He was trying to make the point that the eye was naturally defective - but the ooze factor really kicked in the next day. At this point the ooze is minimal but still there.

She looks quite healthy except for the eye - eats well, is friendly, growing nicely. So healthy that I kinda forgot to do anything till now.... like the eye was normal. Now that I'm focusing on it clearly I should have treated it on arrival. (my apologies, little bunny).


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

chickenista said:


> Chamomile tea and honey!!!!! Just make a cup o' tea, a little stronger than you would drink it and add a teaspoon of honey. I use an old syringe..sans needle.. to squirt into the eye. You can also use as a compress and as a wipe for the eye. It will work wonders.
> Both chamomile and honey are anti-everything.. microbial, fungal, and with antibiotic properties. I used it on myself when the chick tried to remove my eye and I cleared up DS's pink eye overnight almost. Chamomile tea and honey are on the homeopathic/natural remedy websites as great eye treatments.


never heard of camomile for eyes! Was considering brewing up some good ole eyebright (aka boneset aka I can't remember the name of that irreplaceable herb that grows everywhere around here...). Used to treat my cat's eye with eyebright.


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

cathleenc said:


> never heard of camomile for eyes! Was considering brewing up some good ole eyebright (aka boneset aka I can't remember the name of that irreplaceable herb that grows everywhere around here...). Used to treat my cat's eye with eyebright.


There is a European plant called eyebright and there are plants called boneset, but I think there are two that use that common name. Can you look up your plant and post the botanical (Latin) name? We are trying to gather info on natural treatments for minor ailments as well as natural feed. With common names being so regional in many cases, it is dangerous to assume that everyone is talking about the same plant.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

MaggieJ said:


> There is a European plant called eyebright and there are plants called boneset, but I think there are two that use that common name. Can you look up your plant and post the botanical (Latin) name? We are trying to gather info on natural treatments for minor ailments as well as natural feed. With common names being so regional in many cases, it is dangerous to assume that everyone is talking about the same plant.



good call, Maggie, as I totally mangled the herb. It was Comfrey that I was thinking about! I really thought I used to make a tea for my cat's eye but maybe I was confused (it has been 28 yrs or so). And intead of boneset - another name for Comfrey is 'knitbone'. LOL.

_Comfrey is a perennial with large, alternate, dark-green hairy leaves and small, purple, bell-shaped flowers. The white mucilaginous root is black on the outside. Comfrey spreads quickly, and a new plant can be started by planting a piece of root. This is a good plant to have around to wrap on sprains, strains, torn ligaments, and cartilage. Its nickname is "knitbone," as it quickly heals wounds and prevents scarring after a wound is closed and free of infection. Note: for external use only._


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## MaggieJ (Feb 6, 2006)

Well, this illustrates perfectly why I push for the botanical names. Here we have three plants, all medicinals in one way or another. Excepts that follow are from http://www.botanical.com/

*Boneset*
Botanical: Eupatorium perfoliatum (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Compositae
---Part Used---Herb. 
---Habitat---Thoroughwort or Boneset is a very common and familiar plant in low meadows and damp ground in North America, extending from Nova Scotia to Florida. 

Boneset was a favourite medicine of the North American Indians, who called it by a name that is equivalent to 'Ague-weed,' and it has always been a popular remedy in the United States, probably no plant in American domestic practice having more extensive and frequent use; it is also in use to some extent in regular practice, being official in the United States Pharmacopceia, though it is not included in the British Pharmacopoeia.

*Comfrey*
Botanical: Symphytum officinale (LINN.) 
Family: N.O. Boraginaceae
---Synonyms---Common Comfrey. Knitbone. Knitback. Consound. Blackwort. Bruisewort. Slippery Root. Boneset. Yalluc (Saxon). Gum Plant. Consolida. Ass Ear. 
---Parts Used---Root, leaves. 
---Habitat---A native of Europe and temperate Asia; is common throughout England on the banks of rivers and ditches, and in watery places generally. This well-known showy plant is a member of the Borage and Forget-me-not tribe, Boraginaceae. 

*Eyebright*
Botanical: Euphrasia officinalis (LINN.) 
Family: N.O. Scrophulariaceae
---Synonyms---Euphrasia. 
(French) Casse-lunette. 
(German) AugentrÃ¶st. 
---Part Used---Herb. 

The Eyebright is the only British species of a genus containing twenty species distributed over Europe, Northern and Western Asia and North America. 
---Description---It is an elegant little plant, 2 to 8 inches high, an annual, common on heaths and other dry pastures, especially on a chalky soil, and flowering from July to September, with deeply-cut leaves and numerous, small, white or purplish flowers variegated with yellow.

All very different and unrelated, as you can see!


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## gerald77 (Aug 2, 2007)

i use pet rx and then warm compresses. if that doesn't work then i go to the herbs.


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## liz08 (Dec 3, 2008)

chickenista said:


> Chamomile tea and honey!!!!! Just make a cup o' tea, a little stronger than you would drink it and add a teaspoon of honey. I use an old syringe..sans needle.. to squirt into the eye. You can also use as a compress and as a wipe for the eye. It will work wonders.
> Both chamomile and honey are anti-everything.. microbial, fungal, and with antibiotic properties. I used it on myself when the chick tried to remove my eye and I cleared up DS's pink eye overnight almost. Chamomile tea and honey are on the homeopathic/natural remedy websites as great eye treatments.


I love chamomile tea, and didn't realize it was a homeopathic remedy for eye treatments! When you used it to clear up pink eye, did you use it as a compress, or did your son drink it? Well, chamomile tea tastes great with a little honey, so I guess it doesn't get much better than that.


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## Somerhill (Dec 13, 2005)

Hi Cathy
What you are dealing with is called "nest eye". 

I've used the opthalmic ointments, and never had that much luck with them intreating rabbit eye infections. What I've found that works wonders is a drop of injectable penicillin in the eye. I got the idea from another rabbit list. 
Lisa


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## twohunnyz (Apr 27, 2006)

If it's that crusty you will definitely need to use the tea warm, on a pure cotton ball/pad, let it set for a little while to loosen everything, then gently wipe. You can also use colloidal silver to treat. We have used orange pekoe tea, too.

If it has been closed this long, unfortunately she is most likely blind in that eye. But it is still important to get rid of the debris and possible infection. Best wishes to bunny!


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## Jesse L (Nov 6, 2008)

Meaby try a paper towl soaked in tea, or salt water.

I know i am probably a little late, you probably already treated it but hey, thought I would post anyway.

Jesse


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Well I see the original thread is from 3-18-08 and now there's new posts. I want to know what ever happened to the bunny? Did you clear up her eye? Do you still have her? Did she ever get to have popples? Update for nosy me, Please.


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## cathleenc (Aug 16, 2007)

oh my, so strange to see this thread again - the bun in question moved on to 'high school disection' land in April, I think. The pro meat breeder I've bought from was offering $5 for any live rabbit - he had a large contract to fill for rabbits to be used for disection lessons in school. The breeder gassed all the rabbits, froze them, then sold them - so no vivisection involved.

I made the hard decision to clear all of my does that were not from meat breeding stock and get one more meat doe. Of the three that went, this doe had the blind and infected eye (I did get a rx from the vet and she was responding to it but I just did not want to chance infected kits), another had a litter of 2 kits - both dead, and the third had just lost a litter and was in the process of dying (infected womb/retained placenta/something along those lines). 

It was a hard decision but it worked out well! The meat breeder does do a great job of raising large, big litters.


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## BackfourtyMI. (Sep 3, 2007)

Thanks Cathleenc, I just had to know since someone brought the thread back to the for front. Better for you anyways, then like you say you don't have to worry about the infection.


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