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Poorly Patches May Loose An Eye!

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherine..j
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catherine..j

Just thought i would ask anyone who has or has had a simlar experience what to do?
My Guinea pig's eye randomly swelled up about 4 days ago now and the vet thinks it is either a tumor or a cyst and wanted to remove his eye so that she could remove what ever is behind there, unfortunatly this isnt possible as they want over £200 to do so!
Dont worry though he isnt in any pain he is still a dopey and weird piggy :))
Weird as in he thinks he thinks he is a dog but that is a whole differnt story lol.
I was wondering if anyone has a piggy that has sight problems of any kind and how your pig copes?
And if anyone has been threw the same thing then please please tell me what happened as i would like a rough idea of what is going to happen to him!

Thanks For Reading! xx x>>
 

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has your vet treated it was anything ie cream such as fuserderm(sp? and not sure if thats the correct cream) first to see if the swelling goes down naturally.

I had a baby whos eye sweeled up and at 2 weeks old obviuosly the vet and me knew that an operation wasnt an option due to the anthetic(sp?) and we treated it with a cream and drops and the swelling went away, unfortunantly the eye has sort of "sunk" into its socket but I now have a healthy happy 3 year old running around
 
Hi Catherine, welcome to the forum. :)

How old is Patches? Has he had any treatment yet for the eye, aside from the suggestion from the vet of removal?

It can be hard knowing when to act regarding eye removal, if it's not swelling further then you may be able to persuade the vet to treat with anti-inflammatories and antibiotic eye drops. The one CavyWonders may be thinking of is called Fucithalmic, frequently prescribed by vets, typically applied to the eye 2-3 times daily for a good week or so, or for 3-5 days after symptoms have ceased.

Anti-inflammatories - tends to be Metacam or Rimadyl, dosage dependant on your piggies age/weight.

It certainly sounds like it's worth talking this treatment through with your vet before going through with an eye removal, unless your vet deems a removal necessary or urgent. :)
 
I dont know if this is the same condition that your little one is going through, but i had a PEW (sherbet) who constantly had eye problems. it started off as infection where she was treated with fucathalmic and baytril which helped but over the course of about a year she developed cataracts which limited her sight- think looking through net curtains and glaucoma which caused the eye to bulge, this was treated with steroid eye-drops (maxitrol). they didnt cure the problem but kept it under control. She also had regular 3 monthly check-ups at the vets. She lived a long and happy life,(until cancer took her) her house bowl etc was not moved around so there were no surprises for her to bump into and when I needed to pick her up, talked to her first and approached her from the front so she could get the scent without being startled. An operation was mentioned to remove the eye but according to my vet it was more of a last option than a first choice.
 
The vet did give him some antibiotics but the swelling didnt go down so she wanted to operate but as i cant afford it and he isnt so ill that he needs to be put down I'm now giving him antibiotics every day, we are going back so she can check on him in about a week, she never suggested any infection as the eye is apparently to swollen to be one, he is 2 and half years old.

He is still fairly energetic and still eating but i think it is starting to effect him, i thought it would be an infection as it appeard so suddenly litteraly over night!

If i could afford the operation i would still be a little nervous about doing it just because i have heard most guinea pigs cant cope with the anesthetic or cant cope after!
But if it gets worse i need to find somewhere that deals with alot of small animals but doesnt cost £200!
(sorry about my spelling)

Thank you for your suggestions i will ask her about eye drops/cream, would it be good to post a photo of his eye so you can see if it compares to anyone else?
 
Right The photo isnt that good as you cant see the size properly but i have added a photo of what the eye looked like the day before it happened!

1st photo is the bad eye
2nd photo is it looking fine!
3rd is what he is up to now, as he looks so chilled :)

And thank you, he is a strange one my patches ... he follows you around the house nd loves attention! we brought him a house to hide in but he just tips it over so you can see him lol x
 

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Antibiotic eye drops would be a worthwhile step to take going on what you've said and what I can see. He's had the eye examined for any hay seeds/foreign bodies?

Certainly have a chat with the vet and explore other options if eye removal isn't deemed urgent; the application of antibiotic drops to the eye and the anti-inflammatory meds are both important - speaking from experience of minor eye problems and also the standard advice from the Cambridge Cavy Trust.
 
I got up this morning to give him the antibiotics which took along time to give to him .. Bloody pain lol

But his eye has gone down slightly, and the redness is going!

If it goes away and turns out to be an infection I'm having serious words with that vet!

But if it doesnt go down then I'm defo asking about eye drops its so hard to give him them oraly .. Well almost impossible!
 
Iv got my fingers crossed for him that the swelling continues to disappear and hopefully doesn't get any worse x
 
Just wanted to say that patches is just gorgeous!

Hope his eye gets better and better for you.
xx
 
I had a similar ongoing problem with Martha an elderly pig here. It would always return after a few weeks of no Chloramphenicol Eye drops. Removal of the eye was out of the question. Her eyes would ulcerate and bulge too.

However, my vet referred me to an eye specialist who diagnosed dry eye. He was fantastic and spent half an hour really looking in depth at her eyes and doing all sorts of tests. Dry eye is caused by inefficient tear production either because the tear ducts are blocked or don't work properly.

She now has artificial tears (viscotears) put in three times a day and after 4 weeks there is no sign of the redness returning. Her eyes still bulge but she is comfortable and is closely monitored. (strangley I have a cat too with dry eye and they are both on the same treatment!)

I would suggest you ask your vet to refer you to an eye specialist, I am so glad mine did - even though the specialist wasn't an expert on cavies the eye function in many animals is similar.

I am suprised that the first reaction would be to remove the eye - in my opinion this really has to be a very last resort. I would maybe seek a 2nd opinion.

Good luck :)
 
Yes i thought it was a drastic 1st step as well, all she did was push his eye lids around a little bit!

Sorry to sound stupid as its probably obvious but I'm assuimng it was called dry eye as his eye was dry? lol

As patches eye isnt dry or anything he can blink a little better now it has gone down and the redness is disapearing, obviously i dont want to jynx it as its still obvious that it isnt right but looks better compared to the other day!

And he is a little more himself today! x
 
"Dry Eye" isn't obvious to the naked eye - the eye doesn't look any different. The vet measured Martha's tear production and found it poor in comparison to her better eye.

Guineas need tears to wash away debris collected on the surface of the eye - they don't blink it away as we do.
 
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