Specialist Caring for a eye injury. Help!

[Mintynoir]

My Guinea pig Reggie got bit out of the blue by his companion yesterday. I rushed him to the vet and got him looked at immediately. The vet concluded that it was a punctured eyeball and part of the eyelid, gave me some antibiotics and pain meds. I'm supposed to wait and see if it heals before deciding on surgery. Obviously he is going to be blind, I've heard that thirty times and I don't care about having a pirate pig. I'm posting this because I need help. I don't know what to look for, what's normal or anything with an injury like this. If anyone has dealt with something like this or any care advice it helps immensely. He's got major light sensitivity and is absolutely terrified, and I'm traumatized because I ran into his vet covered in blood with him looking practically dead. He's still eating/drinking normally and hasn't been any less active. The eye at the moment is completely red and there's a build up or red/white fluid on the top eyelid.

 

[Wiebke]

My Guinea pig Reggie got bit out of the blue by his companion yesterday. I rushed him to the vet and got him looked at immediately. The vet concluded that it was a punctured eyeball and part of the eyelid, gave me some antibiotics and pain meds. I'm supposed to wait and see if it heals before deciding on surgery. Obviously he is going to be blind, I've heard that thirty times and I don't care about having a pirate pig. I'm posting this because I need help. I don't know what to look for, what's normal or anything with an injury like this. If anyone has dealt with something like this or any care advice it helps immensely. He's got major light sensitivity and is absolutely terrified, and I'm traumatized because I ran into his vet covered in blood with him looking practically dead. He's still eating/drinking normally and hasn't been any less active. The eye at the moment is completely red and there's a build up or red/white fluid on the top eyelid.

Hi and welcome

I am very sorry about the injury!

What medication have you been given and which frequency do you have to apply it? Could you please add a picture to give us any idea of what you are dealing with so we can help you most efficiently?

Eyesight is the weakest of all the guinea pig senses (while it is the strongest human sense). In that respect, guinea pigs cope much better with full or partial sight or loss of an eye. We have a number of members with one-eyed piggies after an eye removal or partially blind piggies from cataracts. Apart from not liking to be approached from their blind side, they lead a perfectly normal life after an adjustment period. Not to wrap blind guinea pigs in cotton wool is key to an enriched and a normal life.

 

[Merab]

So sorry to hear this.
It will take some time for everyone to calm down.
I can't add any advice but I did have a blind piggy (Merab, my avatar piggy) and her blindness didn't stop her from living a full life.
Offering support

 

[Nassala]

My piggie Sausage had eye issues leading to a heamorrhage and a permanently bulgy, cloudy eye. He had eye drops for a while but the pressure went down and he didn't need the eye removed. As soon as the pressure stopped there was absolutely no difference to him. He acted the same as always, showed no signs of being inconvenienced and was perfectly happy with sight in one eye instead of two. I think the humans tend to freak out and the piggies wonder what the fuss is about. Until his eye is healed just follow vet's instructions and keep weighing him to make sure he's still eating. Hope both you and pig are OK!

 

[alpacasqueak]

Think it depends on your vet, if youve got a good piggy savvy one it could be ok depending on the injury/meds.

With my Pedro the chin (a huge thread on here) my local vet told me to give meds (Baytril and metacam) and give him a few weeks. He had an abscess behind the eye.
Within 10 days I took him for an eye removal at a brilliant vet (Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic) as he was so unhappy. There was no way he was going to improve or feel comfortable with it still in. But could be completely different with Reggie.

The same as with piggies, chins eyesight's not great anyway so losing the eye wasn't a big deal.
I think it depends on how he copes with the eye in, if there's no infection etc.

Really hope he does well. My old piggy was called Reggie
Keep us updated, we can all help as much as we can, whatever you need to ask x

 

[Mintynoir]

Just got home and checked on him. It looks better than it did last night. He's on .4ml of Baytril and .13ml of Metacam once a day. The actual cut is pretty hidden and I didn't want to hurt him by moving is eyelid.

 

[Mintynoir]

So sorry to hear this.
It will take some time for everyone to calm down.
I can't add any advice but I did have a blind piggy (Merab, my avatar piggy) and her blindness didn't stop her from living a full life.
Offering support
[/QUOTE]
Thank you for the support merab. It still helps more than you know. I've had enough people telling me to just put him down if it doesn't heal because "a rodent isn't worth it".

 

[alpacasqueak]

Think the poor guy will need a lot more than 0.13 of metacam to help with the pain, that looks very painful
My 450g chin has 0.15mg twice a day but was on more at first (nearly double).

I've spent many many hundreds on my chinchilla with travelling, ops, meds and check ups. Don't listen to these idiots!
[QUOTE:Thank you for the support. It still helps more than you know. I've had enough people telling me to just put him down if it doesn't heal because "a rodent isn't worth it".
[/QUOTE]

 

[alpacasqueak]

Can you get to a good vet listed on here?

I use trains and taxis to get to mine, it's def worth it to get my pigs and chin well looked after xx

 

[Mintynoir]

Think the poor guy will need a lot more than 0.13 of metacam to help with the pain, that looks very painful
My 450g chin has 0.15mg twice a day but was on more at first (nearly double).

I've spent many many hundreds on my chinchilla with travelling, ops, meds and check ups. Don't listen to these idiots!
[QUOTE:Thank you for the support. It still helps more than you know. I've had enough people telling me to just put him down if it doesn't heal because "a rodent isn't worth it".

[/QUOTE]
He got weighed at the vet and it says he's 2.1lbs. Would it be OK to give him more?

 

[Mintynoir]

Can you get to a good vet listed on here?

I use trains and taxis to get to mine, it's def worth it to get my pigs and chin well looked after xx

I'm completely willing to travel. I live in Southern Illinois. I'll go look at the vet list now! Thank you!

 

[alpacasqueak]

He got weighed at the vet and it says he's 2.1lbs. Would it be OK to give him more?
[/QUOTE]
I'm not a vet so it's best to go back to a good one as I can't really tell you a dose on here, just my experience . But with most small rodents twice a day is normally the best for metacam/meds due to fast metabolisms.
My piggy Rupert is 950g and has been prescribed 0.25 twice a day in the past, my chin Poppy (500g) was on 0.3 twice a day when very ill.
It seems very low for such a bad injury, must be quite sore. Hope he's ok.

@Wiebke @furryfriends (TEAS) may be able to help more now they have a pic, eye injury does look quite bad. (thanks x)

 

[alpacasqueak]

(Sorry my phones playing up at the moment so quotes etc not working?! )

 

[Mintynoir]

He got weighed at the vet and it says he's 2.1lbs. Would it be OK to give him more?

I'm not a vet so it's best to go back to a good one as I can't really tell you a dose on here, just my experience . But with most small rodents twice a day is normally the best for metacam/meds due to fast metabolisms.
My piggy Rupert is 950g and has been prescribed 0.25 twice a day in the past, my chin Poppy (500g) was on 0.3 twice a day when very ill.
It seems very low for such a bad injury, must be quite sore. Hope he's ok.

@Wiebke @furryfriends (TEAS) may be able to help more now they have a pic, eye injury does look quite bad. (thanks x)
[/QUOTE]
Well he popcorned for treats for that's a good sign! I'm pretty sure his sight it completely gone on that side.

 

[alpacasqueak]

Hope he's feeling ok, it's great he's still eating. Yeah my Ped's completely gone on his left side but he's doing well and he doesn't care he can't see on that side! (after a long time healing, v long story!)
x

Gotta go now but I'll be back on later, hope he carries on munching x

 

[Wiebke]

He got weighed at the vet and it says he's 2.1lbs. Would it be OK to give him more?

I'm not a vet so it's best to go back to a good one as I can't really tell you a dose on here, just my experience . But with most small rodents twice a day is normally the best for metacam/meds due to fast metabolisms.
My piggy Rupert is 950g and has been prescribed 0.25 twice a day in the past, my chin Poppy (500g) was on 0.3 twice a day when very ill.
It seems very low for such a bad injury, must be quite sore. Hope he's ok.

@Wiebke @furryfriends (TEAS) may be able to help more now they have a pic, eye injury does look quite bad. (thanks x)
[/QUOTE]

Hi! You can give 0.25 ml of dog metacam twice daily; that is what all my piggies with major eye injuries were prescribed.

I would enquire for a stronger antibiotic.
My Nosgan was on chloramphenicol eye drops 3 times daily and artificial tear gel 6 times daily, 0.25 ml dog metacam twice daily and then was also put on on zithromax (azithromycin), an unlicensed and very strong antibiotic - but importantly, he has kept his eye and his sight has partially returned after he bashed it in really badly when running full tilt into a cage grid and it had shrunk to a third of its size two years ago. It was touch and go for several weeks.

Please get some artificial tear gel (lasts longer than drops if you can get it from a pharmacy officially for yourself for dry eyes overnight). It is vital to keep the eye hydrated (i.e. not as shrunk and crinkly as it is now). You always have to wait for at least half an hour after any antibiotic eye drops.

Here are is the Guinea Lynx list of recommended vets in Illinois: Veterinarians: Illinois - Guinea Lynx Records

 

[Mintynoir]

I'm not a vet so it's best to go back to a good one as I can't really tell you a dose on here, just my experience . But with most small rodents twice a day is normally the best for metacam/meds due to fast metabolisms.
My piggy Rupert is 950g and has been prescribed 0.25 twice a day in the past, my chin Poppy (500g) was on 0.3 twice a day when very ill.
It seems very low for such a bad injury, must be quite sore. Hope he's ok.

@Wiebke @furryfriends (TEAS) may be able to help more now they have a pic, eye injury does look quite bad. (thanks x)

Hi! You can give 0.25 ml of dog metacam twice daily; that is what all my piggies with major eye injuries were prescribed.

I would enquire for a stronger antibiotic.
My Nosgan was on chloramphenicol eye drops 3 times daily and artificial tear gel 6 times daily, 0.25 ml dog metacam twice daily and then was also put on on zithromax (azithromycin), an unlicensed and very strong antibiotic - but importantly, he has kept his eye and his sight has partially returned after he bashed it in really badly when running full tilt into a cage grid and it had shrunk to a third of its size two years ago. It was touch and go for several weeks.

Please get some artificial tear gel (lasts longer than drops if you can get it from a pharmacy officially for yourself for dry eyes overnight). It is vital to keep the eye hydrated (i.e. not as shrunk and crinkly as it is now). You always have to wait for at least half an hour after any antibiotic eye drops.

Here are is the Guinea Lynx list of recommended vets in Illinois: Veterinarians: Illinois - Guinea Lynx Records

Thank you so much for all that information! Would the Vetericyn Ophthalmic gel work or is that something different?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you so much for all that information! Would the Vetericyn Ophthalmic gel work or is that something different?

As far as I can see, it is simply artificial tear fluid in gel form. If in doubt, please ask your vet.

 

[Mintynoir]

My Guinea pig Reggie got bit out of the blue by his companion yesterday. I rushed him to the vet and got him looked at immediately. The vet concluded that it was a punctured eyeball and part of the eyelid, gave me some antibiotics and pain meds. I'm supposed to wait and see if it heals before deciding on surgery. Obviously he is going to be blind, I've heard that thirty times and I don't care about having a pirate pig. I'm posting this because I need help. I don't know what to look for, what's normal or anything with an injury like this. If anyone has dealt with something like this or any care advice it helps immensely. He's got major light sensitivity and is absolutely terrified, and I'm traumatized because I ran into his vet covered in blood with him looking practically dead. He's still eating/drinking normally and hasn't been any less active. The eye at the moment is completely red and there's a build up or red/white fluid on the top eyelid.

Wanted to give everyone an update on Reggie! We are doing so much better! Thank you everyone for the support!

 

[Merab]

So pleased to hear this.