Help Eye Discharge

[csmith9nr]

I just got 2 male guinea pigs, brought them home and realised one of them has really bad eye discharge, it’s watery and he’s hardly moving

Here’s pictures

He can hardly see out of it

Please help what do I do?

 

[Wiebke]

I just got 2 male guinea pigs, brought them home and realised one of them has really bad eye discharge, it’s watery and he’s hardly moving

Here’s pictures

He can hardly see out of it

Please help what do I do?

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View attachment 72207

Hi! Please see a vet ASAP as an emergency with both guinea pigs. It is most likely that your piggy has got an advanced respiratory tract infection.
Guinea Pig Vet Locator

Please bring your guinea pigs indoors if they are in a hutch!

If your piggy is not eating and drinking, you also need to step in with syringe feeding and watering to get your piggy through the crisis until the meds kick in. Please take the time to read our step-by step guide. Make sure that you never give more than a mouthful at a time. If your guinea pig is very lethargic, this can be as little as 0.1 ml (one tenth of a small syringe). Make sure that it has gone down the right way. You need to feed the more often round the clock the less your piggy is getting down in one sitting. Ideally you aim at a minimum of 40 ml in 24 hours in order to keep the guts going but with an extremely ill piggy, this may not be possible. But every little bit of food and water can make the difference between life and death. Your home care is as important as the antibiotic, as medication cannot work if the body is closing down. You should be able to get some critical care or other herbivore recovery formula as well as syringes from your vet. Probiotics to help bolster the guts against the antibiotic (another appetite dampener) can be got either from a vet (if they have any) or from a pet shop.
Weigh any ill piggy or any you are worried about once daily at the same time instead of the regular weekly health check in order to monitor the actual food intake. Just watching a piggy nibble is very deceptive. Hay makes 80% of the daily food intake, and you can simply not control that.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

You can help ease the breathing by placing a bowl of steaming water next to the cage and keeping it refreshed; this does not replace a vet visit; it is just an additional home care tip. A drop of olbas oil (but NOT vicks, which contains substances that harmful to guinea pigs) may also help. Keep your ill piggy warm, but not hot.

If you have bought your piggy from a pet shop, you can reclaim the vet cost by presenting the vet bill together with the sales receipt as exposure/infection must have happened at the place you bought your piggy from. You can also report the place to your local council over trading standards, i.e. the sale of ill pets.

 

[csmith9nr]

Hi! Please see a vet ASAP as an emergency with both guinea pigs. It is most likely that your piggy has got an advanced respiratory tract infection.
Guinea Pig Vet Locator

Please bring your guinea pigs indoors if they are in a hutch!

If your piggy is not eating and drinking, you also need to step in with syringe feeding and watering to get your piggy through the crisis until the meds kick in. Please take the time to read our step-by step guide. Make sure that you never give more than a mouthful at a time. If your guinea pig is very lethargic, this can be as little as 0.1 ml (one tenth of a small syringe). Make sure that it has gone down the right way. You need to feed the more often round the clock the less your piggy is getting down in one sitting. Ideally you aim at a minimum of 40 ml in 24 hours in order to keep the guts going but with an extremely ill piggy, this may not be possible. But every little bit of food and water can make the difference between life and death. Your home care is as important as the antibiotic, as medication cannot work if the body is closing down. You should be able to get some critical care or other herbivore recovery formula as well as syringes from your vet. Probiotics to help bolster the guts against the antibiotic (another appetite dampener) can be got either from a vet (if they have any) or from a pet shop.
Weigh any ill piggy or any you are worried about once daily at the same time instead of the regular weekly health check in order to monitor the actual food intake. Just watching a piggy nibble is very deceptive. Hay makes 80% of the daily food intake, and you can simply not control that.
Complete Syringe Feeding Guide

You can help ease the breathing by placing a bowl of steaming water next to the cage and keeping it refreshed; this does not replace a vet visit; it is just an additional home care tip. A drop of olbas oil (but NOT vicks, which contains substances that harmful to guinea pigs) may also help. Keep your ill piggy warm, but not hot.

If you have bought your piggy from a pet shop, you can reclaim the vet cost by presenting the vet bill together with the sales receipt as exposure/infection must have happened at the place you bought your piggy from. You can also report the place to your local council over trading standards, i.e. the sale of ill pets.

Thank you I'm taking him to the vets in an hour. I bought him from a breeder that is apparently good as the reviews say but from actually visiting I'm not so sure. He didn't tell me much and didn't check them over. My previous guinea pigs where from a pet store and they seemed to care for the guinea pigs more than this breeder did!

 

[VickiA]

Poor little soul. Well done for asking advice and taking him to a vet so quickly. I hope that he makes a good recovery and that his companion is ok.

I'm so sorry that you've had such a bad experience. We are a pro rescue forum, as although many of us in the past bought piggies from pet shops and/or breeders, we have seen so many examples of poorly or injured piggies being sold as commodities with little regard for their welfare that we tend to favour adoption from reputable rescues who care about the health and wellbeing of the piggies. Depending on how you feel afterwards you may wish to consider complaining to the breeder. They should not have sold a sick animal to you and are responsible for the veterinary costs you incur as a result. Sadly the legislation this comes under is consumer protection legislation (Sale of Goods Act) which again treats animals as a commodity.

Please let us know how you get on at the vets with your poorly piggy.

 

[csmith9nr]

Poor little soul. Well done for asking advice and taking him to a vet so quickly. I hope that he makes a good recovery and that his companion is ok.

I'm so sorry that you've had such a bad experience. We are a pro rescue forum, as although many of us in the past bought piggies from pet shops and/or breeders, we have seen so many examples of poorly or injured piggies being sold as commodities with little regard for their welfare that we tend to favour adoption from reputable rescues who care about the health and wellbeing of the piggies. Depending on how you feel afterwards you may wish to consider complaining to the breeder. They should not have sold a sick animal to you and are responsible for the veterinary costs you incur as a result. Sadly the legislation this comes under is consumer protection legislation (Sale of Goods Act) which again treats animals as a commodity.

Please let us know how you get on at the vets with your poorly piggy.

It didn't go well. He had an abscess under his chin and very bad discharge in his eye, by the time we got to the vet he couldn't even open his eye. He wasn't moving the whole way there or when we got there. The vet said treatment wouldn't work in his state and would only prolong suffering...

 

[VickiA]

Oh no. I’m so terribly sorry for your loss. RIP little man xx

You may wish to consider reporting the breeder to the RSPCA as this had clearly been an ongoing issue that had been left untreated by the breeder for some time.

 

[Katiedid]

I am so sorry that is awful.