Eye bulging / swollen

[Fluffbabies]

So this is Leia who has a hard lump beside her eye. Simon at Cat and Rabbit took a scraping and it came back as being a cancerous tumour. He said they wouldn’t attempt to operate on it due to its location and because he believes it is deep rooted into tissue as opposed to being close to the surface. Therefore we are treating Leia with metacam and treating her as end of life. Simon has said it’s impossible to give her a prognosis as we do not know where or how much the cancer has spread. Our local vet believes due to location, it may interfere with her eating before anything more systemic and then we’d be looking at pts.

Around the same time as we discovered the lump, we noticed Leia’s eye beginning to droop and the inner bit looking a bit swollen. In fact I think we noticed this before the lump but didn’t think too much of it at that time.

Yesterday, we noticed that the inner bit was looking more swollen and pink in colour. Her eye was also cloudy. We took her to our local vet with Ginger (our end of life piggy with lymphoma) and our local vet said she thought this was being caused by Leia accidentally bumping her lump and causing a small amount of bruising/bleeding under the skin.. resulting in the swelling and pink colour. She felt some ”squishy” bit beside the hard lump, under her eye and aspirated it to see what it was but just got blood leading her to thinking it was from bumping it. She prescribed us some hydrotears eye drops to put in twice a day, to help lubricate the eye and reduce the swelling and cloudiness. She said to use it for at least a week. She said Leia’s going to be finding it very difficult to close her eye so it could be getting dry. That evening, I noticed Leia scratched the eye with her back nails. Now it looks worse and as if it has been bleeding a bit more.

I’ve seen some other piggies‘ bulging eyes on the forum... I was wondering if we could be doing more for her eye. She’s on 0.3ml dog metacam twice a day but I’m thinking I should up this to 0.4 or 0.5ml twice a day? I was wondering if it could benefit from antibiotics..? I didn’t think to ask my local vet as she thought it’s due to trauma. Also, wouldn’t it help to use the hydrotears more frequently than twice a day if she cannot shut it properly due to the swelling?

I can’t really take her all the way up to Simon again. Maybe I could send him some photos and have a phone consultation

Here‘s what her eye looks like this evening. You can also see her lump when the hair was shaven to take the scraping almost 4 weeks ago.

 

[Wiebke]

So this is Leia who has a hard lump beside her eye. Simon at Cat and Rabbit took a scraping and it came back as being a cancerous tumour. He said they wouldn’t attempt to operate on it due to its location and because he believes it is deep rooted into tissue as opposed to being close to the surface. Therefore we are treating Leia with metacam and treating her as end of life. Simon has said it’s impossible to give her a prognosis as we do not know where or how much the cancer has spread. Our local vet believes due to location, it may interfere with her eating before anything more systemic and then we’d be looking at pts.

Around the same time as we discovered the lump, we noticed Leia’s eye beginning to droop and the inner bit looking a bit swollen. In fact I think we noticed this before the lump but didn’t think too much of it at that time.

Yesterday, we noticed that the inner bit was looking more swollen and pink in colour. Her eye was also cloudy. We took her to our local vet with Ginger (our end of life piggy with lymphoma) and our local vet said she thought this was being caused by Leia accidentally bumping her lump and causing a small amount of bruising/bleeding under the skin.. resulting in the swelling and pink colour. She felt some ”squishy” bit beside the hard lump, under her eye and aspirated it to see what it was but just got blood leading her to thinking it was from bumping it. She prescribed us some hydrotears eye drops to put in twice a day, to help lubricate the eye and reduce the swelling and cloudiness. She said to use it for at least a week. She said Leia’s going to be finding it very difficult to close her eye so it could be getting dry. That evening, I noticed Leia scratched the eye with her back nails. Now it looks worse and as if it has been bleeding a bit more.

I’ve seen some other piggies‘ bulging eyes on the forum... I was wondering if we could be doing more for her eye. She’s on 0.3ml dog metacam twice a day but I’m thinking I should up this to 0.4 or 0.5ml twice a day? I was wondering if it could benefit from antibiotics..? I didn’t think to ask my local vet as she thought it’s due to trauma. Also, wouldn’t it help to use the hydrotears more frequently than twice a day if she cannot shut it properly due to the swelling?

I can’t really take her all the way up to Simon again. Maybe I could send him some photos and have a phone consultation

Here‘s what her eye looks like this evening. You can also see her lump when the hair was shaven to take the scraping almost 4 weeks ago.

You can up the artificial tear gel to up to 3-6 times a day (about every 4 hours, which was what I was I was recommended when Nosgan's eye was badly dehydrated and no longer had sight after he bashed into a grid in blind panic (he managed to keep it and even regain a degree of vision); especially if she can no longer clean and lubricate; so it goes very itchy and uncomfortable and can cause loss of sight in the medium term.

I would recommend that you contact the Cat&Rabbit re. a consultation via the phone (which the Clinic offers) first thing on Monday morning but see a vet sooner if there is any continuing deterioration over the weekend. When you book a phone consultation best send current pictures across. A bulging eye is a serious problem.

 

[Fluffbabies]

You can up the artificial tear gel to up to 3-6 times a day (about every 4 hours, which was what I was I was recommended when Nosgan's eye was badly dehydrated and no longer had sight after he bashed into a grid in blind panic (he managed to keep it and even regain a degree of vision); especially if she can no longer clean and lubricate; so it goes very itchy and uncomfortable and can cause loss of sight in the medium term.

I would recommend that you contact the Cat&Rabbit re. a consultation via the phone (which the Clinic offers) first thing on Monday morning but see a vet sooner if there is any continuing deterioration over the weekend. When you book a phone consultation best send current pictures across. A bulging eye is a serious problem.

I just checked what the eye drops are called and they’re called isathal, which according to google is an antibiotic for eye infections. Is this different to hydrotears?

 

[Fluffbabies]

Am I right I’m thinking I should be giving her some viscotears as well to hydrate the eye?

 

[Wiebke]

I just checked what the eye drops are called and they’re called isathal, which according to google is an antibiotic for eye infections. Is this different to hydrotears?

Isathal is indeed the most commonly used antibiotic for eyes in the UK. It is used for milder infections and eye injuries.

Hydrotears (generic brand name) or viscotears (original brand name) are plain artificial tear fluid either as drops or preferably in longer lasting gel form. They are a lubricant to hydrate an eye and are often prescribed in combination with an antibiotic by a savvy vet. Always wait at least 30 minutes after you have given the isathal for it to be fully absorbed before you apply any lubricant to ease the itching from the isathal. A lubricant helps to ease discomfort, keeps the eye hydrated and supports the healing in deeper levels where the antibiotic can't reach.

 

[Fluffbabies]

Thank you Wiebke! That’s what I thought she was giving me as she said hydrotears. I can buy some human ones from boots can’t I? To give Leia a few times a day in additional to the twice a day isathal?

 

[Wiebke]

Thank you Wiebke! That’s what I thought she was giving me as she said hydrotears. I can buy some human ones from boots can’t I? To give Leia a few times a day in additional to the twice a day isathal?

Make sure that you get the gel as that it is much easier to apply and lasting longer in its effect. I would apply it roughly every 8 hours for best effect. If necessary order online.

 

[Fluffbabies]

It’s time to say goodbye to Leia We sent photos to cat and rabbit on Monday and they called us on Tuesday asking us to bring her in as it looked bad, even though they couldn’t do anything about it but to see if they could make her comfortable for a while or if it was the end. We took her today, with Ginger, and long story short she was in discomfort but hiding it extremely well from us and from Kim. Kim said if we put her down today they would support the decision but we could also bring her home for a couple of days to say our final goodbyes. A week is the absolute do not go beyond and not giving her more painkillers wasn’t an option. Leia is on tramadol now as well as an increase to 0.6ml metacam twice a day. Shes about 998g which is normal for her (she’s our little one!).

We don’t want to wait more than a couple of days because of how horrible her eye looks it can’t be nice for her even with the combination of painkillers. We‘re going to decide a time tomorrow for the end of this week so we can have time to grieve or distract ourselves afterwards. We are lucky our vet is a Vets4Pets and there open weekends. I know we‘ve had so much warning and time to appreciate and love her. So much more than a lot of owners get with their piggies. Neither of us thought Leia would go before Ginger. Hers seemed slow and Ginger’s aggressive. Actually Ginger is doing very well Kim said today. I tried not to focus on Ginger exclusively in case this happened but I did to an extent expecting her to deteriorate fast and feel I don’t have enough recent photos. But I know I have 100s from our 4 amazing years with our beautiful girl and I won’t fuss her too much for new ones now. Just treats, strokes and kisses.

It’s hard though because she’s hiding it so well. Her behaviour hasn’t changed, she runs and begs for veggies, chews things, enjoys cuddles and no change in weight. She flopped on my boyfriends lap for an hour last night loving strokes so we thought maybe we still had time with her if she was happy. From one side she looks completely normal. It’s just her eye.. But I know logically, that the horrible tumour is growing much deeper and it’s kinder to stop it sooner. It breaks our hearts to think of her being in any discomfort any longer.

Here’s some of Leia’s latest memories...
- taking on a ball bigger than she is! Take 2 because as a very young pig, Ginger somehow shoved her into one of these and daddy had to get her out. (We always supervise anything that they could potentially get themselves in a pickle with!)
- shredding top secret documents
- spinach time
and - sleeping on top of two fluffy pig pillows who didn’t seem to mind! ❤

 

[Wiebke]

BIG HUGS

I am so very sorry. It is always tough when the only gift you can make a pet of yours is the most loving but equally most heart-breaking one - to end their suffering and allow them to make the journey to the Rainbow Bridge to be whole again. We all fear this moment, but when the chips are down, we'd rather bear the pain of loss than know that our beloved ones are suffering beyond what we can do for them and know that we have done the right thing by putting their welfare before our own fears.

Guinea pigs are prey animals and are therefore masters in hiding the true extent of their pain and illness. I have had to pts about half of my piggies over the years to spare them as much discomfort and suffering as possible when recovery was not an option or the natural dying process didn't run as smoothly as possible. It is never about how long we have a pet but how many of the days they have had with us have been happy ones because that is how piggies measure their lives by.

You may find the very practical but sensitive guides in this link here helpful for you in the coming days:
Death, Dying, Terminal Illness, Grieving and Bereaved Companions: Information and Support for Owners and Their Children