Eye ulcer

[Dews1]

Hi!
I'm back again, this time posting about my healthy piggy Treacle. (Chino is doing great btw, living her best bald life and maintaining weight)

So when I got in on Wednesday evening I noticed Treacle had a white cloud covering the bottom part of her eye, and what looks like a blood pool at the bottom. Her eye was definitely normal-looking on Tuesday.

We went to the vets on Thursday morning and vet said it looks like an ulcer caused by a hay poke, she used a UV dye to reveal the damage, and she struggled to find anything, but then a tiny little dot was visible in the middle of her eye like a shining spec of dust. The vet said the appearance of her eye right now is normal during healing of a hay poke.

We were prescribed metacam once a day for 5 days, Chloramphenicol 1% eye drops, one drop four times a day. And Remend gel, also four times a day, 15 mins after the first drop.

The vet told me to book in after 7 days to see how it's healing. It'll be a further £60 on top of the 130 for the first visit. ... (and after charging me £26.50 for the exact same bottle of eye drops I sell at the pharmacy I work at for £6, my own eyes are watering! ) I asked if returning to vets was necessary and she said yes she would recommend a second appointment "but I suppose you can see how she goes... "

I'm planning on returning on Saturday, but before I make the appointment, is a week a regular timeframe for a healing eye ulcer which was caught early and treated with these drops? She's not squinting, no eye discharge, no change in behaviour at all etc.

part of me wants to wait a bit longer to see if it gets better without unnecessary expense. Another part of me wants to see some kind of visual improvement but each of the numbered photos attached were taken 3 days apart and I can't see much of a difference between them...

What do we think?

 

[Merab]

Last time I dealt with hay poke the vet wanted to do a follow up check after a week so I think this is normal practice.
Vet prices are eye watering these days - Phoebe wiped out my entire vet fund when she was ill !

Good for you catching it so quickly and getting prompt treatment.
Hope everything heals quickly

 

[CTWC]

Poor Treacle that looks very sore. I think the last photo looks less angry. Hopefully a few more days and there will be a significant improvement.
I'm glad Chino is well

 

[Dews1]

I did the follow up appointment on the Saturday and spent £63 on a clean bill of health! Such is life I suppose you can't put a price tag on peace of mind. (Well. You can! It's £63 ) The vet says that the cloud may remain long term if it is from scar tissue inside the eye, but the cornea is fully healed and there is no infection. Just keep an eye out for glaucoma symptoms which would become obvious quite fast (bulging, high level of pain).

Thanks for sharing your similar eye stories! I'm glad I went back in the end, because the cloudiness is still there (its now been over two weeks since the eye problem started) and without the reassuring follow-up I'd have ended up worrying about it.

 

[Dews1]

Hello!

I'm back, worrying about Treacle's eye.

The cloudiness (that the vet said would probably stay as it could be scar tissue) seems to have grown and is now covering most of her pupil which is making me think she has lost vision in that eye (although you wouldn't think it by watching her, she isn't really favouring her good eye or bumping into anything..)
The main thing I'm concerned about is that it looks very slightly like it's bulging. I'll attach photos. Sometimes I can convince myself it's not and it's the illusion caused by the whiteness of it, but other times I can tell the dodgy eye looks bigger than the good eye.

Every now and then she pulls faces as if something is stuck in her molars and that has led me down the retrobulbar abscess rabbit hole. She's maintaining weight and lets me get close to the eye and feel her jaws/face/etc with no issues.

I'll be taking her back to the vets again of course
Does anybody have any history with eye abscesses and their treatment/symptoms etc? It's hard to tell what this eye issue actually is as no pictures on Google look the same as this!

 

[Roselina]

Your poor girl
I’m sorry I don’t have any experience of this but I just wanted to offer support and say I think you’re right to go back to the Vet
I hope you get an answer

 

[Dews1]

Your poor girl
I’m sorry I don’t have any experience of this but I just wanted to offer support and say I think you’re right to go back to the Vet
I hope you get an answer

I know, I feel so sorry for her losing her friend and now partly losing her sight (or at least I think so) thanks I will update here with what the vet thinks. This forum is a treasure trove of great people, good advice and support

 

[CTWC]

I would get to the vet as an emergency with the bulging

 

[Merab]

I agree about getting an emergency vet appointment.
Hope all will be well.

 

[Dews1]

She went to the vet yesterday, and the vet (a different vet to the first one who saw her) maintained that the white part is just the way eyes heal / scar.

She had a good luck at both eyes and said she couldn't see any bulging (and they did look even to be honest). She rinsed out a bit of green stuff from her mouth and said she can see that all her molars are evenly worn (no sharp edges or overgrowth) and appear healthy. So it might have been a bit of stuck food causing her uncomfortable mouth symptom, but the vet said she will prescribe metacam in case she does have toothache.

I haven't seen her pulling faces today (I know it's only a day) and she's still eating well. She has lost a bit of weight over the past two weeks which the vet wants me to keep an eye on. So just watching her food intake and making sure the eye stays as it is.

 

[Dews1]

Update on the eye. It's been a while.
The cloud grew until the entire eye turned white but since no other symptoms were present and I had been reassured in March that the white area is just an area of scarring, I didn't go to the vet. However a couple of weeks ago the white area had a slight pink hue. I started looking for vets near me that were a little more cavy savvy.
Last Tuesday evening it looked like a blood vessel burst and the eye had gone from white to blood red. I called 3 vets and they had no availability so I booked her in at the exotic vet in Urmston for last Friday. In the meantime I have had metacam and Treacle's behaviour has been normal with minimal weight loss and very slight change in behaviour (a little less active, but when you take her out for floor time she's still running around and exploring like usual).

They just got back to me today after consulting an opthalmologist, to confirm that the only treatment option recommended is eye removal. She's having the eye removed on Tuesday (they were concerned that there was no availability for earlier due to the bank holiday, but she has both oral and opthalmic painkillers and a 24/7 emergency vet nearby if urgently needed).

I'm disappointed that my local vet reassured me that the eye was healing as normal even after the two extra visits when I had a feeling something wasn't right. The exotic vet has confirmed the white area was pus and the entire eyeball is infected and too far gone to save. I mentioned that there didn't even seem to be an injury in the first place (see my first post - the vet used a UV dye and struggled to find any area of damage) and she agreed that this is an internal issue with an unknown cause.

Any experience of eye removal? The vet i saw on Friday said she is happy to do the procedure and she recently did the same on a piggy who is now doing great, so that's very reassuring. I've of course chosen her to do it.
I suppose this is just a cautionary tale to listen to your gut if you feel something's not right, I'm kind of racked with guilt about having my poor pig going through this since January, but thankfully she hasn't been too poorly in herself so hopefully she hasnt been feeling too rotten this whole time

 

[CTWC]

Hi there how awful for you both I hope all goes well on Tuesday one of our boys Cookie had to have his eye removed following a falling out I was initially devastated and upset of course but honestly he coped absolutely fine after he had recovered, he had a couple of very slight infections which were soon remedied with antibiotics and warm compresses it honestly hasn't affected him in any way at all he is probably the most adventurous of all our boys

 

[Merab]

Sorry to hear how difficult things have been for you.
Hope the surgery goes well on Tuesday

 

[Dews1]

Treacle's surgery went well today, there was a hiccup where she stopped breathing so they had to hurry to finish the operation so she has staples instead of stitches and they couldn't do an IV of something (I'm not sure, its a bit of a blur) This resulted in the op being cheaper than expected which was a silver lining!

She woke up fine and has eaten, and once she was home she was walking around quite active, just slightly wobbly. The incision looks very neat and I feel like it'll heal nicely. The vets at the exotics in Urmston are brilliant and really looked after her. <3

I'm slightly worried about her catching the staples on her feet like if she scratches her head.. but they gave her a cone and she really hates it and kinda freaks out walking backwards. She has been very good though and not fussing over the wound or anything, so hopefully she doesn't scratch it

 

[Wiebke]

Update on the eye. It's been a while.
The cloud grew until the entire eye turned white but since no other symptoms were present and I had been reassured in March that the white area is just an area of scarring, I didn't go to the vet. However a couple of weeks ago the white area had a slight pink hue. I started looking for vets near me that were a little more cavy savvy.
Last Tuesday evening it looked like a blood vessel burst and the eye had gone from white to blood red. I called 3 vets and they had no availability so I booked her in at the exotic vet in Urmston for last Friday. In the meantime I have had metacam and Treacle's behaviour has been normal with minimal weight loss and very slight change in behaviour (a little less active, but when you take her out for floor time she's still running around and exploring like usual).

They just got back to me today after consulting an opthalmologist, to confirm that the only treatment option recommended is eye removal. She's having the eye removed on Tuesday (they were concerned that there was no availability for earlier due to the bank holiday, but she has both oral and opthalmic painkillers and a 24/7 emergency vet nearby if urgently needed).

I'm disappointed that my local vet reassured me that the eye was healing as normal even after the two extra visits when I had a feeling something wasn't right. The exotic vet has confirmed the white area was pus and the entire eyeball is infected and too far gone to save. I mentioned that there didn't even seem to be an injury in the first place (see my first post - the vet used a UV dye and struggled to find any area of damage) and she agreed that this is an internal issue with an unknown cause.

Any experience of eye removal? The vet i saw on Friday said she is happy to do the procedure and she recently did the same on a piggy who is now doing great, so that's very reassuring. I've of course chosen her to do it.
I suppose this is just a cautionary tale to listen to your gut if you feel something's not right, I'm kind of racked with guilt about having my poor pig going through this since January, but thankfully she hasn't been too poorly in herself so hopefully she hasnt been feeling too rotten this whole time

HUGS

Sorry about the hiccup during the operation. The eye may have been somewhat swollen so getting it out could have put more pressure on the heart.

It sounds like proteins could have been leaking from the area into the eye and have been causing an infection? I am so very sorry; this looked really very nasty and painful indeed! Having the eye out must be such a relief.

It is a bit of a personal choice between vets as to whether to sew the eye opening shut or leave it open during the healing period, so the stapling is not much of an issue. We have seen eye removal piggies with both methods on here and it hasn't made any difference in the long run. You may need to take her back to have them removed and may need to have her seen if the eye is leaking pus.

Here is our pre- and post-op care advice guide: Tips For Post-operative Care

PS: My Meleri had her eye removal operation preventatively because of the potentially uncontrollable infection risk her strong cataract could be causing in the longer term when her strong cataract started turning pink. Thankfully, she was seen by an experienced guinea pig vet.
Here is her thread which charts her operation and recovery in case you find it helpful: Please keep your fingers crossed for Meleri's eye removal operation!

My fingers are very firmly crossed for a smooth recovery!

 

[CTWC]

I pray for a speedy recovery

 

[Dews1]

HUGS

Sorry about the hiccup during the operation. The eye may have been somewhat swollen so getting it out could have put more pressure on the heart.

It sounds like proteins could have been leaking from the area into the eye and have been causing an infection? I am so very sorry; this looked really very nasty and painful indeed! Having the eye out must be such a relief.

It is a bit of a personal choice between vets as to whether to sew the eye opening shut or leave it open during the healing period, so the stapling is not much of an issue. We have seen eye removal piggies with both methods on here and it hasn't made any difference in the long run. You may need to take her back to have them removed and may need to have her seen if the eye is leaking pus.

Here is our pre- and post-op care advice guide: Tips For Post-operative Care

PS: My Meleri had her eye removal operation preventatively because of the potentially uncontrollable infection risk her strong cataract could be causing in the longer term when her strong cataract started turning pink. Thankfully, she was seen by an experienced guinea pig vet.
Here is her thread which charts her operation and recovery in case you find it helpful: Please keep your fingers crossed for Meleri's eye removal operation!

My fingers are very firmly crossed for a smooth recovery!

Thanks for the well wishes. Today I think she's in pain which is expected..she does have strong metacam and paracetamol for the next 7 days (and co-trimoxazole) and she is going back for her 3 day post op check on Friday. She sounds a bit grunty when breathing. She's eating (slowly, again I imagine she must be very bruised today) but not very much, so we're supplementing with some home made critical care which she's not a fan of. I wonder if this faint grunty breathing is pain or whether she might have a bit of a sore throat as they use gas to sedate? She's not snotty or anything. She's active and moving around quite a bit, but then she's also sulking under a blanket (her wooden hide has been removed as per the vets advice.)

 

[Wiebke]

Thanks for the well wishes. Today I think she's in pain which is expected..she does have strong metacam and paracetamol for the next 7 days (and co-trimoxazole) and she is going back for her 3 day post op check on Friday. She sounds a bit grunty when breathing. She's eating (slowly, again I imagine she must be very bruised today) but not very much, so we're supplementing with some home made critical care which she's not a fan of. I wonder if this faint grunty breathing is pain or whether she might have a bit of a sore throat as they use gas to sedate? She's not snotty or anything. She's active and moving around quite a bit, but then she's also sulking under a blanket (her wooden hide has been removed as per the vets advice.)

Hi

I call the first day after an operation 'hangover day' when the medical cocktail has run out but the healing process has not yet started and everything is sore.

Breathing issues stemming from the tube in her mouth are not uncommon on the day after an op but should disappear on their own. It is good that she is still eating and hasn't lost her appetite altogether. Just keep on hanging on in there. She will hopefully improve a little more with every passing day.

Co-trimoxazole is septrin/bactrim.

Keep on weighing her daily first thing in the morning for best day-to-day comparison - the daily weight swing is then at its lowest and it helps you most to judge whether she is eating enough hay by herself or not.

Wishing you and your poorly girl all the best.

 

[CTWC]

Hugs

 

[Dews1]

I'm afraid I have some bad news about Treacle who has recovered so well from her eye removal surgery a few weeks ago.

The first thing is that I found a tumour kinda near her hip area. It is feeling a bit like a fatty lipoma as it moves around under the skin and doesn't feel as if it is attached anywhere. I brought this up at the stitch removal appointment, mentioning that I would prefer to watch and wait rather than go and book a removal as she had only just had a surgery, and the vet agreed this would be fine as long as it didn't grow much larger or begin affecting the function of her leg due to it being near the hip.

The second and worst thing is that her remaining eye has now developed the exact same white/red patch that her bad eye started with - I mean it's identical. This means the vets will have to find a treatment that actually works and manages to treat a deep/internal eye infection, or it worsens and she will be looking at the same eye removal outcome in a couple of months time. I feel like I'm in a horror movie right now. I was really hung up on the potential of this tumour removal and thinking of how cruel it would be to put her through surgery after she just got through one, and now we're faced with this. It's just too much!

I didn't mention this in my previous postings but when the exotics vet checked her eye pressures she said that the bad eye had low pressure which is expected when the eye is infected. But then she said something like "I'm not fully happy with the good eye either, the pressure is off, it could be just the way her eye is or it could be that this infection is caused by something unknown, maybe genetic, that could affect both eyes. But we don't know".

Even if the eye needs removal and I chose to do this whole thing again, would I just be doing this for myself? I mean she is acting totally good, eating, active, in fact I feel her personality has come out of its shell recently. So putting her to sleep isn't on the radar right now. But having a no-eyed piggy... I don't know!

I'm trying not to panic by telling myself I have seen the worst case scenario outcome. The eye looks almost normal in regular light- only when you shine a torch can you see the pus / blood that I know will slowly build up over time. I've caught it so early, maybe it can be saved.

I doubt anyone has even been though this situation... But what would you do?

Comparison photos of the start of the bad eye in January and the other eye today.

 

[CTWC]

No! How awful for you both as you say maybe that's it been caught early will help have your returned to the vet?

 

[Lemurs]

Hi, that is horrible, I am so sorry to read this.

Personally - a 2nd surgery is a big ask for everyone involved, especially after her heart stopping

I would speak to the vet, get painkillers/drops, then likely keep going as things they are (not saying this is the objectively correct thing to do) and spoil Treacle as much as possible.

She will continue hiding pain but I think there will be subtle behaviour changes that will indicate increased discomfort - slower to say hello, might not clamber on a knee or box to beg for food. That's when I'd consider "other options"