Bloodshot eye & possible blindness

[Lemurs]

Hello, we adopted an alleged 3 year old 4 weeks ago who we were told had an untreated, hay poke scar on his eye ball. That's the photo, so it's a few weeks old. This was from an adoption centre and I wanted to do it because I know most people would reject him because of his "scar".

Today his good eye was cloudy. It looked a lot like hay poke which an older pig of ours had and we dealt with. The cloud is symmetrical to the marbled look on his bad eye.

However - the vet we saw today took photos and is sending them to their eye specialist. His bad "scarred" eye also looks a bit bloody and suggests pressure from behind the eyes. They did the hay poke/ulcer test and there could be new hay poke, but really we have a much bigger problem: his eye/eyes could rupture.

So please - have any of you had a pig with bloodshot, bulging eyes? A treatment is to remove one eye or maybe even both. I don't want to put him under anesthetic and wake up 100% blind. That is a living nightmare.

I think I've read on here of blind GPs, was that a gradual thing or a post-op?

He's had such a bad life, even living in a kids' nursery, and at the moment it feels the kind thing to do will be euthanasia. Like if your eye is bulging, that must be so painful. imagine the headaches.

We will get a vet call but in the meantime I'm weighing up options. He's such a sweet, polite boy and it was only this morning he had his first exploration of our upstairs. Having guinea pigs can be brutal.

 

[Lemurs]

PS to clarify: I think it would be 'good' eye removal. I think the bad eye is already blind.

We have the usual 4 times a day hay-poke eye drops and metacam. Cheers.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi

It is likely that the eye may already be blind but what your vet has to assess is how high the risk is of the infection flaring up, potentially deeper inside the eye, and how high the risk is of it causing more problems down the line or whether there is still a chance of healing.

If there is new bleeding and cloudiness (ulceration), this means that the injury/infection is still ongoing and that it may be potentially better to have the eye removed - that is for the specialist to decide after a thorough examination.

Sight is thankfully the weakest of the guinea pig senses (it is our strongest in humans, hence why loss of sight is much more difficult to cope with as humans). Piggies will compensate and will able to lead a perfectly normal life, whether they are one-eyed or blind on both eyes, like I had several times happen from growing cataracts.
What one-eyed piggies don't like, is being approached from their blind side. You want to get used to making sound/talk to them before you touch them.

If this helps you, this thread here tells the story of my Meleri's eye removal operation due to a strong cataract leaking protein deeper into the eye and causing an infection, as well as following her recovery post-op.
Please keep your fingers crossed for Meleri's eye removal operation!

Here are our pre- and post-operative tips: Tips For Post-operative Care

 

[Lemurs]

Thank you. We've had a call back and it's actually the white 'bad' eye they'd remove, as I guess behind that is the root of the problem. I've also been and collected more drops, 'Remend Biohance' so he's now on 8 drops per day.

The head vet wants to see him later in the week. To be honest I don't think we can go through with surgery. I think he's elderly, he's relatively frail, easy to pick up, he drags his legs a bit going in/out the hay boxes. He's never felt like a spry 3 year old.

This is a bad photo, you can see on our right, his left how his 'good' eye is looking pale then it's his right eye that today's looked a bit bloody.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you. We've had a call back and it's actually the white 'bad' eye they'd remove, as I guess behind that is the root of the problem. I've also been and collected more drops, 'Remend Biohance' so he's now on 8 drops per day.

The head vet wants to see him later in the week. To be honest I don't think we can go through with surgery. I think he's elderly, he's relatively frail, easy to pick up, he drags his legs a bit going in/out the hay boxes. He's never felt like a spry 3 year old.

This is a bad photo, you can see on our right, his left how his 'good' eye is looking pale then it's his right eye that today's looked a bit bloody.

With older piggies, cataracts or nuclear sclerosis (that is more even fogging up of the lens) can come into play as well; but the operation risk gets really high as you need to put pressure on the eyeball in order to remove it and that can stop the heart in frail piggies.

Usually you go for a very strong antibiotic if your vet feels it's worth giving him a change but a piggy is too frail for an enucleation op. I was lucky twice with oldies - one of which we didn't think we could save the eye and I was once unlucky with an old lady of mine who developed glaucoma due to an infection inside the eyeball that had not responded to zithromax. She sadly passed away right at the end of her op.

Since we cannot tell you what is going and what his chances are, all I can do is keeping my fingers very firmly crossed.

Caring for Older Piggies and Facing the End - A practical and supportive information collection

 

[Lemurs]

Thank you Wiebke. You're a star.

This is his old bad eye today - it's more bloody than blood shot.

You can also see a lot of grey fur which might be an old age thing. He's already completed his tricolour with brown, ginger and a white foot.

So I think we are looking towards end of life care and comfort now. He's had a fun morning so far (no drops yet). GPs are actually real hard nuts in the way they hide pain.

 

[CTWC]

Morning I am so sorry you are both going through this not that it's much help but one of our boys had eye removal surgery and manages perfectly well. Have they said both eyes would need removing?

 

[Lemurs]

It would be the one eye I took the picture of today. That's been bad as long as we've known him.

He is so easy to pick up, he really feels like our last senior Larry when you could scoop him up for medication and he was light plus a tad floppy. I feel so damn bad for him.

 

[Lemurs]

His old-bad eye has continued to worsen. Yesterday it went from a crescent of blood to maybe 40% of his eye ball covered, and it's stood out like a frog's.

He must have been in pain for months or years to have his eye looking like this. He is booked for euthanasia at 6:30 today, he is eating and doing most things well but he's too old and we can't risk his eye coming out on its own. He's also stopped a couple of behaviour quirks where I think he's in more pain.

I'm working from home and he's getting extra treats whenever the girls aren't looking, and he's had a grass date with Susie (Cheryl is only 3 weeks post-spay).

The picture is indeed from his 'bad' side. He has stolen our hearts in the 30 short days we've had him.

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you Wiebke. You're a star.

This is his old bad eye today - it's more bloody than blood shot.

You can also see a lot of grey fur which might be an old age thing. He's already completed his tricolour with brown, ginger and a white foot.

So I think we are looking towards end of life care and comfort now. He's had a fun morning so far (no drops yet). GPs are actually real hard nuts in the way they hide pain.

Guinea pig colours and markings can actually change quite surprisingly over the course of a life.
Grey hairs are not a sign of age in guinea pigs; they are genetic.
Coat-colour-changes: Add-your-own

At least the eye is looking that bit better when you can distinguish between alarming and just bad. Is he on painkillers?

 

[CTWC]

What a heartbreaking position to be in
Looks like he is having a great day though and that's what matters to him

 

[Lemurs]

Hi Wiebke, we had to let him go.

It was never a hay-poke scar, there was something behind his eyes causing the fluid, blood and bulging. He'd been in pain for so long.

Because the adoption centre and their vet assured us it was old hay-poke, he only saw our vet on Monday when the other eye went cloudy - so that's when he got his first Metacam By 6pm yesterday the old 'bad' eye was maybe 45% blood under the surface.

Before we took him last night he was nuzzling/cleaning/grooming around Cheryl's ear and neck and it broke me even more. I've never seen any of our pigs do that.

The vet we saw last night also agreed he was well over 3 years old. To be honest he should have been put to sleep before we got him 31 days ago.

 

[CTWC]

Take some comfort in the fact that he is now pain free popcorning happily over The Rainbow Bridge you gave him love and safety in those 30 days and you showered him in love and treats before you had to say goodbye

 

[Wiebke]

Hi Wiebke, we had to let him go.

It was never a hay-poke scar, there was something behind his eyes causing the fluid, blood and bulging. He'd been in pain for so long.

Because the adoption centre and their vet assured us it was old hay-poke, he only saw our vet on Monday when the other eye went cloudy - so that's when he got his first Metacam By 6pm yesterday the old 'bad' eye was maybe 45% blood under the surface.

Before we took him last night he was nuzzling/cleaning/grooming around Cheryl's ear and neck and it broke me even more. I've never seen any of our pigs do that.

The vet we saw last night also agreed he was well over 3 years old. To be honest he should have been put to sleep before we got him 31 days ago.

HUGE HUGS

Poor boy - but you and Cheryl have given him something very, very precious: feeling loved, wanted and well cared for. That was obviously well worth hanging on that bit longer as he has clearly signalled to Cheryl.

Please be sad but don't feel bad: you have done the best you could under the circumstances. Whatever was going on in his eye was clearly of long standing and had never been treated before he came to you. It certainly didn't look like a normal infection or condition to me but something entrenched and well advanced that was beyond our standard advice.

Be kind with yourself. You have a right to be very angry and sad about these things happening and nobody doing anything about them because they are costing a lot of money; but you can also be proud of having made that crucial difference and having done the right thing by him.
It is always difficult when you find an animal too late so the only kindest thing you can do is to end their suffering instead of giving them the happy life they deserve. School pets are sadly some of the worst affected and worst neglected.
Sadly, there are far more pets than there are people with your kind of large heart and more people who cannot or can no longer afford even basic vet care, seeing how expensive it has got over the last few years, especially to see an exotics vet. It's always the pets who pay the price.

I am so very sorry but glad that you have been the one who has finally done right by him. Try to find solace in having given him both happiness and love as well freedom from pain and suffering.