My piggy's eye looks odd around it -- Help?

[sheeptopia]

I made an appointment with the vet, but my concerns about my piggy is too strong. I hope that maybe someone here might be able to help. My piggy has a weird thing going on around her eye (see below). Does anyone know what this is? She is actively playing and eating, but there is nothing online that talks about an eye that looks like this while acting seemingly normal.

 

[DM030819]

@sheeptopia It looks like a fungal issue to me. The vet will give you something to help treat it.

 

[Freela]

It looks like it could be a fungal problem in the skin around the eye. Hopefully the vet can give you something to treat it, either topically or orally.

 

[Wiebke]

I made an appointment with the vet, but my concerns about my piggy is too strong. I hope that maybe someone here might be able to help. My piggy has a weird thing going on around her eye (see below). Does anyone know what this is? She is actively playing and eating, but there is nothing online that talks about an eye that looks like this while acting seemingly normal.

View attachment 106869

Hi and welcome!

Please have your guinea pig vet checked for a fungal skin infection, potentially ringworm. The latter is sadly not at all uncommon in newly bought pet shop or breeder piggies. The time between infection and acute outbreak is 10-14 days.

The latter is highly infective and can easily transmit to humans and other pets, so you need to be very strict with hygiene measures, especially as the visible spores can stay viable for up to 18 months.
But if you do it right and close out all transmission and reinfection angles, you can get on top of it once and for all. A good vet grade anti-fungal and not just antibacterial disinfectant is the best investment you can make when dealing with ringworm (recommended brands for several countries in our ringworm guide). We have had a dozen years and plenty of cases to work out the hard way all the possible ways of transmission and how to counter them; that is why our advice really works!

If you have had your guinea pig less than a month (US)/2-3 weeks (UK), you can reclaim any vet cost from the pet shop as part of your customer rights for having been sold faulty ware.

Please take the time to read these guides here and do NOT treat on spec. We are neither able to diagnose reliably without a hands-on examination nor are we qualified to. All we can do is tell you which avenues to pursue with a vet and support you during recovery.
What to check and look out for in new guinea pigs (vet checks, sexing, parasites&illness) (includes information on customer rights and ringworm)
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

All the best!