We have a 13 day old baby rabbit (we had 3 babies, but some horrible person stole 2 of them). He is very small but perfectly formed (the mum is a dwarf lop, so he may be just small like his mum). My worry is, his eyes are not open and showing no signs of opening. There is so much conflicting advice on the net about when eyes should be open. I bathed his eyes yesterday in lukewarm sterile water and will do it again today. Should I worry that his eyes aren't open? He makes no effort to move about at all and just stays curled up in a ball. He is happy to be handled, and the mother is quite happy with you handling him. The eyes don't seem to be crusty. He is well fed, lovely round tummy, has loads of fur, and as I said seems perfectly fine other than small.
Answers:
Don't take him to the vet. No need. Don't wash his eyes with water again. The ph is not the same as the eye and will irritate it.
Check your calendar again. Eyes open on the 11th day. Day thirteen comes and eyes are not open, no big deal. You can do something about it.
Take him in one hand and with the other hand (thumb on lower lid/forefinger on upper lid) pry the lids open. You'll know you're making progress when you begin to see black. Go ahead an open them. It won't hurt your baby. Now shmear each eye with a dab of plain, triple-action ointment like original Neosporin. That's it.
You can leave your baby alone after that. They may close again for a day but probably not and they'll reopen again in a day anyway.
His eyes should have opened by now. Take him to the vet ... he may need assistance getting them opened, and I don't recommend you do it. On occassion this does happen so don't get too concerned ... just take him in to see a vet who is familiar with rabbits.
If you absolutely cannot find a vet who is familiar with rabbits (I know it is sometimes hard), here is an excellent web site dealing with this issue:
http://www.thenaturetrail.com/kit-eyes.h...
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