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eye injury advice - possible eye removal

Wilsonbobandjim

New Born Pup
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on Friday morning whilst feeding my piggies, I noticed one and an eye injury . I think from fighting- took him to the vets. The vet has given him pain relief and eye drops as his eye is cloudy.

Taken him back this morning for a check up andvet is concerned his eye is still cloudy. I have more drops and have to bring him back Friday. She fears if his eye doesn’t go back to normal colour he will require an eye removal operation. She indicated this will cost £400 ish.
Has anyone any experience of this sort of problem? If so what was the outcome ?
 
Sorry to hear about the injury. They can get haypoke as well so may not necessarily be an injury from fighting. There are several piggies on here who have had eyes removed and go on to lead very normal piggy lives. Someone else will be along soon to answer your questions but I hope his eye starts to improve.
 
Eye injuries (usually caused by hay pokes) are common, a fight of course would also be a plausible explanation, Particularly as I’ve seen on your other thread that you’ve got three boars together. As long as the damage isn’t so severe, then they are usually cured by antibiotic eye drops. Depending on the severity of the ulcer, it can take a few weeks to heal. I would not be considering removal unless the vet confirms the damage is far too serious and no amount of eye drops is going to improve it.

Both of mine have had hay poke injuries, along with most of the piggies on the forum! - it’s the risk of having to have copious amounts of hay and piggies being close to the ground and running through hay.
 
Wow, that is a bad injury.
 
This is the eye injury - as I didn’t see it I can’t say it was definitely fighting but my other ideas were he caught it in a bush or we do get magpies in the garden.
the surrounding injury is healing well it’s now just the cloudy eye. I don’t believe it’s hay poke
 
Oh wow, that looks nasty. The cloudiness usually indicates that blood is flowing to the area to heal it. They do sometimes look worse before getting better, but they can also go bad very quickly. Removing the eye can become necessary if antibiotics won't cure the injury. If they eyeball has been punctured or if the eye isn't healing with antibiotic drops then it may be that the eye cannot be saved. Several members have had piggies with an eye removed. Apologies to anyone I forget to tag but @alpacasqueak @furryfriends (TEAS) and @Wiebke all have experience I believe.
 
Oh dear! This looks nasty!

Would your vet consider using zithromax antibiotic and plenty of a lubricant like plain artificial tear gel (if necessary from a pharmacy) to promote healing in the deeper areas in addition to the eye drops (is your vet using chloramphenicol as the stronger option?) and metacam.
You always have to wait at least half an hour with the tear gel to allow any drops to be full absorbed, but the gel is easier to apply and longer lasting than plain artificial tear drops, although the tear drops will also work. You just need to give them up to 6 times a day while the gel only needs to be applied 3 times.

These measures have been prescribed for piggies of mine where an eye removal operation was not an option because of old age or underlying health issues and have in each case thankfully done the trick, even if it was at the price of temporarily losing their appetite from the zithromax.

The increased blood vessel activity in the area is actually a good sign; it means that the healing process is in full swing.

All the best! I hope that it won't come to an eye removal operation but - apart from the cost - it won't be the end of the world as piggies tend to cope with it pretty well. They don't like being approached from their blind side but will otherwise be able to lead a totally normal life and usually recover well from the op.
 
Ouch, poor piggy, that looks very sore.
My Jess had an injury and had to have her eye out in October last year, hers was a very deep poke caused by, we think, her cagemate’s nail.
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Hers was very serious and she had the eye removed the following day, so not quite the same as your boy. But she copes brilliantly with just the one eye and adjusted very quickly.
All the best for you and him! Hopefully no op will be needed but I’ve found with both my one-eyed pets (I had a chinchilla with only one too) it doesn’t bother them at all and they get used to it very fast once the stress of the op and meds are done.
Fingers crossed no op for your lad and the meds can help that have been mentioned instead x
 
Thank you so much for your comments everyone!
Poor little fella, I hope the drops work but I will look at he suggestion from wiebel too as an extra.
I will update on Friday as that is the next scheduled vets appointment for him 🤞
 
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