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Fucithalmic 10mg/g eye drops urgent advice needed.

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Guinea Slave

Guinea Slave

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Ok I am now exasperated! As in my previous post re Metacam, I had to see a non exotic specialist yesterday for my poorly girl, she has a nasty eye infection. It is improving but I am still concerned about it. Anyway, I just went to give her her eye antibiotics and I am sure the vet said one drop per day. However the label on the box says 1 drop twice a day orally ! (clearly the orally is incorrect (she administered one drop yesterday so I know I am not cracking up on this one) but I am now worried I misheard her!

So is the label completely wrong and it is once a day (the 'orally' is making me really mistrust the advice) or should I be giving this to her twice a day. I am sooo worried as her eye is bad and time is of the essence. So again any ideas...one drop or two?

And yes...I will be complaining on Monday. What if someone had taken the advice literally and administered orally!
 
Guinea Slave said:
Ok I am now exasperated! As in my previous post re Metacam, I had to see a non exotic specialist yesterday for my poorly girl, she has a nasty eye infection. It is improving but I am still concerned about it. Anyway, I just went to give her her eye antibiotics and I am sure the vet said one drop per day. However the label on the box says 1 drop twice a day orally ! (clearly the orally is incorrect (she administered one drop yesterday so I know I am not cracking up on this one) but I am now worried I misheard her!

So is the label completely wrong and it is once a day (the 'orally' is making me really mistrust the advice) or should I be giving this to her twice a day. I am sooo worried as her eye is bad and time is of the essence. So again any ideas...one drop or two?

And yes...I will be complaining on Monday. What if someone had taken the advice literally and administered orally!
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I've only ever seen fucithalmic given twice daily (I run through dosing instructions with every client I give medication to, so I've seen it a lot!)
 
Just rang emergency vet and they have confirmed twice a day and NOT orally. Grrr. Sorry to bother you all just panicking. mallethead
 
I feel awful now as I missed her dose this morning! Feel like crying, I was so sure she said once a day 8... She already has a problem with that eye (lots of calcium deposits), I feel awful.
 
I have always been instructed to give one drop twice a day.

Don't feel bad. It is easy to mishear especially when we are worried.

I hope your piggy feels better soon x
 
Awww hun, don't beat yourself up. (((((hugs)))) You're doing your best. It's one missed dose, not loads. Just keep up with the two now, hope she's feeling better soon. x
 
Aw thank you. I just feel so awful. She's munching down her food now, not much more I can do other than as said, make sure I don't miss another. I'll never forgive myself if she loses her eye.

Thank you for your replies, I always know you guys will be so helpful! Will keep you posted... Not gone through eye problems before (had pretty much everything else!) so it'll be another emotional journey for us no doubt.
 
Well, there's a lot of us who've had our fair share of eye problems ( going through one ourselves with Livvy-lou right now) so don't worry, plenty of experience on the forum to help you through it - and plenty of us have been through piggies losing their eyes too and it's not the end of the world ( but hopefully you won't have to deal with that so DON'T worry). Piggies are very adaptable little darlings.
 
Now she is on 2 drops a day you should see some improvement - it sounds like she's in good hands so keep it up and try not to beat yourself up - there is so much to take in especially when you are worried.

Our Butters had an eye removed 3 weeks ago due to a ruptured cataract and he is currently munching on hay with his little girlfriend as if nothing has happened. As AndreaJane says if it came to that they are very adaptable, but you're a long way from that yet.

I really hope you and your piggy are feeling better soon.
 
She seems a bit better today. The eye is still cloudy but she can at least open it all the way today. Fingers crossed. Problem is this one is complicated. She has calcium deposits in this eye, very bad ones which are almost making her blind in that eye. She has seen an eye specialist and all we can do is monitor her. The last thing we want is to remove the eye as its effectively a repository for the calcium at the moment. The vet fears that if we remove the eye then either the other eye will then get the deposits and she would then be blind or the calcium will move to other areas of her body (bladder, joints etc). hence my concern. Interestingly this all started when she had a check up with the eye specialist last week to make sure all was OK...!mallethead

She is on the rate watchers plan and has filtered water so there is little else we can do. Very frustrating.

So sorry to hear all the other eye problems people are having/had, they all sound complicated ! Hope Livvy Loo and Butters are feeling much better. x
 
It's so easily done - I've come out of the Vets armed with meds. and instructions etc. and had complete brain freeze mallethead
Healing vibes sent for a speedy recovery, I have a piggy here who sustained a nasty eye injury recently and is on drops x3 daily, ABX and pain relief :(
 
Guinea Slave said:
She seems a bit better today. The eye is still cloudy but she can at least open it all the way today. Fingers crossed. Problem is this one is complicated. She has calcium deposits in this eye, very bad ones which are almost making her blind in that eye. She has seen an eye specialist and all we can do is monitor her. The last thing we want is to remove the eye as its effectively a repository for the calcium at the moment. The vet fears that if we remove the eye then either the other eye will then get the deposits and she would then be blind or the calcium will move to other areas of her body (bladder, joints etc). hence my concern. Interestingly this all started when she had a check up with the eye specialist last week to make sure all was OK...!mallethead

She is on the rate watchers plan and has filtered water so there is little else we can do. Very frustrating.

So sorry to hear all the other eye problems people are having/had, they all sound complicated ! Hope Livvy Loo and Butters are feeling much better. x
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Thanks hun. Thankfully Livvy's eye is responding well. Hope your baby is feeling better soon, healing vibes for her. :laluot_29:
 
Thank you everyone! (Yes I definitely had brain freeze, the whole eye thing freaks me out...I had a nightmare we had to remove both her eyes it was awful!).

She is better again today but her eye has bled inside (her eye is red with blood) its not haemorraged but it does'nt look great but not swollen and her eyelids are normal size now. I suspect the infection has unsettled the calcium hence the bleed. She is going to the eye specialist tomorrow am, we'll measure the pressure in her eye and hopefully she will be OK. Keeping everything crossed!
 
As an update, her eye has bled more and the pressure has built so much that she is in a lot of pain so on Friday she has to have it removed. I am utterly devastated, my poor poor girl. The ONLY good thing is that she has lost sight in that eye now anyway so acclimatisation will not be too hard for her but I am so scared for her. The last piggy to have an op (all be it for something else) died.

Please share with me anything that may be useful, such as after care, what to expect etc. So upset.
 
I am so sorry to hear that she needs to have her eye removed - I hope the op goes smoothly, and I'll be thinking of you on Friday.

When Butters had his eye removed, we made sure things such as water bottle, food bowl, hay rack and bed were in the same place in the days running up to the removal and again afterwards. That said, he had completely lost sight in one eye, so he was used to being with only one eye anyway.

We had to give Metacam everyday for any pain and Baytril every day for about 10 days to prevent any infection, and I expect you'll have to do similar. There was a worrying moment for a couple of days afterwards when he appeared not to be drinking, but he was eating plenty of veg, hay and food. It has healed very nicely, and the hair is growing back so doesn't look quite so obvious anymore (Butters is black, so it's quite hard to tell he is missing an eye).

It sounds like she is in very good hands, which is a very big positive.

Just make sure she is eating throughout the week, so she has plenty of strength for Friday.

Wishing you and your girl well.
 
Thanks Guinea Guy, really appreciate your experience and kind words. She is very healthy otherwise (the vet even commented on this today) so hopefully she'll have lots of strength to pull through. Like Butters, she has been losing the sight in that eye for some time so I hope she will not have to adjust too much. She is a golden agouti so it will show a little but as long as she is healthy I don't mind. I just am in shock its all happened so quickly, it was only last week at her check up with the specialist where we both agreed eye removal would'nt be necessary (she was fine at that time), just goes to show.
 
I am sorry that your piggy is having to have her eye removed :( but it really can be ok.

My Eliza had her eye removed at the beginning of September after she sustained a nasty eye injury. Eliza is 6 and the fact I have already lost 3 guinea pigs this year terrified me even more but like your piggy, my vet was confident that she was strong enough to withstand the operation as she is so fit and healthy for her age.

Eliza came through the op and was eating and drinking almost straight away. She was just a little quitter than normal.

I geared myself up for this horrific sight when I collected her but she didn't look half as bad as I imagined. She is still beautiful.

I had to separate her from her friends to prevent them from interfering with her stitches and I bedded her on fleece and provided hay in a hay ball.

After the 48 hour post op recovery time and with my vets permission, , I moved the hospital cage in to the shed (my piggies live free range) so Eliza could still be amongst her friends.

Unfortunately Eliza had complications as she caught an infection in the eye so we had to leave the eye cavity open in order to flush and drain it. It took 8 weeks altogether from when the eye was removed to get rid of the infection and she had to live indoors away from her friends so I could keep an eye on her but she had regular lap time with her friends. I'm not going to lie, it was an awful time. Not because Eliza was suffering but it just wasn't very nice and I couldn't see light at the end of the tunnel. However, please do not let this scare you and put you off. All guinea pigs are different and Eliza was just unlucky but like I say, she recovered from the op perfectly well especially for her age.

As Eliza had been away from her friends for so long, I had to rebound them but she is now back living happily amongst them and has been for the last few weeks. Like your girl, Eliza had already lost sight in her right eye so she adjusted really well. The one thing I can say is that she is a bit more nervous than she was before as she doesn't like it when when of her friends approaches her from her blind side but all the piggies are learning to adjust together as a group and respect Eliza's needs. Eliza is now at the bottom of the group and gets shoved around a bit but this is normal behaviour especially for a guinea pig who has been poorly. Eliza is happy and that's all that matters.

I try and keep the furniture, food and water in the same position and places and she has no problems what so ever in navigating around and for a 6 year old half blinded piggy, she can still move fast when she wants to :)

When your girl comes out of surgery, I would expect your vet to have used stitches to close her eye up. With Eliza, you couldn't even see the stitches that much. Baytril will probably be prescribed to prevent any infection and matacam as pain relieve. I didn't have to give Eliza any medication for 48 hours as my vet injected her whilst she was under to make it last before I had to start giving it her orally but you vet may be different so just double check when you take her home.

Bed her on fleece, give her a hidey to allow her to feel secure and only provide hay in a hay rack / ball to prevent her from foraging as you don't want anything to irritate the stitches.

Bearing in mind Eliza's eye socket was left open due to the infection, here was her eye last week closing up nicely :)

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Still beautiful

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Enjoying being back with her friends

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I shall be thinking of you both on Friday x
 
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Oh thank you so so much for that. Like you, I lost so many guineas last year to ops and illness I am as nervous as hell. I had read a little about Eliza but had not got the whole story, poor you but its a great story and a happy ending no doubt through your attentive nursing! She is a really beautiful girl and you are right, it does'nt show too much does it?

Seeing those pictures helps a lot, you just do not know what to expect and ones I have seen on the internet were no where near as clean as that. How did you know she had an infection? I guess the wound was weeping?

Like you, mine are free range (well very large C&C) in a heated shed but she will be indoors for at least a few days first with her best friend. I can section off some of the C&C so she can (when ready) be in with the others without them bullying her. Like you say, I have noticed a bit of bolshy behaviour since her eye was poorly but my boy protects her, he is lovely with her. She has always been bottom pig so that won't change, bless her! I typically keep most things the same out of habit so will make a mental note to ensure I keep doing that. I liked your advice re the hay.

I will appreciate all your thoughts on Friday, I am dreading it and keep getting tearful which I know is very silly, its not like I am not used to guinea problems, but this one just seems so extreme if you know what I mean?

Anyway, thank you so much again, I cannot tell you how much all the advice helps. xxxxxx
 
No problem and i really do understand what you're going through.

You will probably notice some clear watery discharge coming from the eye afterwards but this can be perfectly normal as the majority of wounds weep as part of the healing process. This is obviously for people but I found this website helpful http://surgery.about.com/od/aftersurgery/a/Types-Of-Drainage-Exudate-From-A-Surgical-Wound.htm of course your vet will be able to tell you what's normal and indicate if there is an infection present.

With Eliza, I noticed the skin around her eye was slightly red. It then started weeping thick yellow pus that had collected behind the stitches. It seeped through the stitches and pushed the stitches out :( The pus smelled awful!

Before my vet made the decision to leave her eye open, Eliza was given another GA, had her eye socket cleaned and restitched but the same thing happened again.

It it sounds like you have everything in place and your girl is very lucky to have such a caring owner.

Eye removal ops are extreme and like any surgery, there are risks but believe me, she will feel better afterwards and as you can see with Eliza, once the eye heals over, it really doesn't look too bad.

You are not being silly by being tearful. It just shows how much you care xx
 
It happened quickly for us to -took Butters in as he was in some kind of pain and was told he his cataract had ruptured and it needed to be done asap, and 4 days later it was. I had actually been following Claire W's thread on Eliza at the time and this was then all I could think of. Claire did such a fantastic job and Eliza is so lucky to have an owner like her.

This year has been awful for us as well - we have lost 2 piggies. We lost our Jerry after an operation and Butters op was only 6 weeks after this so I know exactly how you feel - it's so easy to fear the worst, but you really have to hope and prey for the best. And don't feel bad about being tearful - it's great that you care so much, your piggies are lucky to have such a caring owner as so many piggies don't have this.

The one thing I forgot to add was that we got some probiotic to give to Butters. Baytril can really upset their tummys and as he had to have a large dose (1ml a day!) we would sprinkle some on his favourite veg about an hour after we had given him his Baytril.
 
guineaguy said:
It happened quickly for us to -took Butters in as he was in some kind of pain and was told he his cataract had ruptured and it needed to be done asap, and 4 days later it was. I had actually been following Claire W's thread on Eliza at the time and this was then all I could think of. Claire did such a fantastic job and Eliza is so lucky to have an owner like her.

This year has been awful for us as well - we have lost 2 piggies. We lost our Jerry after an operation and Butters op was only 6 weeks after this so I know exactly how you feel - it's so easy to fear the worst, but you really have to hope and prey for the best. And don't feel bad about being tearful - it's great that you care so much, your piggies are lucky to have such a caring owner as so many piggies don't have this.

The one thing I forgot to add was that we got some probiotic to give to Butters. Baytril can really upset their tummys and as he had to have a large dose (1ml a day!) we would sprinkle some on his favourite veg about an hour after we had given him his Baytril.
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Aww thank you. That is a lovely thing to say.

I think it is nice to share stories and experiences with others who have been / are going through similar. I am pleased that Butters is recovering well also. I will be thinking of you tomorrow when you take your girl for her spay.

I forgot toe room probiotics also. Eliza has fibreplex. The cheeky sausage wouldn't eat her food with the sprinkled probiotics on (she can smell something fishy from a mile off) so we had to syringe her fibreplex.

It it is well worth giving a probiotic alongside baytril as it can cause more problems x
 
Thank you both for your replies. Its so good to share stories as you say. Claire you really went through it with Eliza did'nt you! OMG! Lets hope this is simpler.

Interestingly now she has been on medication (pain relief and to reduce the pressure build up) she is so happy and perky. She and her half sister escaped from the indoor cage yesterday evening and had quite an adventure running around the living room like two naughty school children. It was lovely to see her so perky and happy. Hopefully this indicative of how she will feel when her eye is gone and she is no longer in pain. I am dreading tomorrow for so many reasons but am working from home and cancelled most weekend activities so she'll have the best care possible. I will keep you posted as to how she is doing. x
 
Guinea Slave said:
Thank you both for your replies. Its so good to share stories as you say. Claire you really went through it with Eliza did'nt you! OMG! Lets hope this is simpler.

Interestingly now she has been on medication (pain relief and to reduce the pressure build up) she is so happy and perky. She and her half sister escaped from the indoor cage yesterday evening and had quite an adventure running around the living room like two naughty school children. It was lovely to see her so perky and happy. Hopefully this indicative of how she will feel when her eye is gone and she is no longer in pain. I am dreading tomorrow for so many reasons but am working from home and cancelled most weekend activities so she'll have the best care possible. I will keep you posted as to how she is doing. x
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It sounds like your girl is doing much better already and once the eye has gone, she will be even better :)

It sounds like you have everything covered for her return tomorrow and I shall be thinking of you both and keeping my fingers crossed.

Yes, Eliza has been through so much but what happened with her was pure bad luck and one of those things but now two months after her eye was removed, she is much better and it is lovely watching her run around and play with her friends. I didn't think I would see that again :(

Please keep us updated x
 
Thank you so much! The vet has just called and said everything went OK. She is just waking up. I am picking her up at 5.15 all being well. Now just have to focus on getting her eating and drinking happily. I have a long list of questions and things I need (probiotics etc). She is to be a house pig for the next 10 days as well which she will love.

Currently others are in the living room whilst I clean them out so my little girl can have the indoor cage when I get back. Just on a conference call when they had the most almight bust up along with shrieking...on the call. Most embarrassing (noise? what noise?).

Will keep you posted but thanks again for your thoughts it means a lot x
 
Well she's home but not happy. She has been eating some food but not a lot so syringing as well. She has pooped and peed but she is so depressed. Just sits in the corner of her indoor cage :-( put a friend in this morning who she has completely ignored. I am just hoping its time she needs. Really worried though :-(
 
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