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The Dreaded Hay Poke

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katanamoon

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I had to take my poor little Widget to the out of hours vet this evening :( I had been out all day, and just as I was leaving to come home my husband rang and said that she was tilting her head and one of her eyes was shut. I got home as quickly as I could and yeah, her right eye was nearly shut and the upper lid very swollen. Rang up the vet (who, typically, had closed 20 minutes earlier but they're an animal hospital so have out of hours and emergency vets there 24/7) and took Widget over.

The vet was lovely - she had a good look and found a large strand of hay that was stuck right up under Widget's top eyelid. We have drops now for the next 5 days, twice a day, and a check up appointment for next Friday.
 
Best of luck! Glad that you could have her seen promptly, so things will hopefully heal off well. See your vet sooner if things don't go well.

PS: You may want to distract her with food, so it is easier to get the gel or drops into the eye. I would recommend to do so as often as you can (up to four times a day, but at least three times) during the first two days in order to get the discomfort down as quickly as possible.
 
Poor girl, hope she is feeling better soon. I had 3 of mine with a hay poke last week, all on the same day and all the left eye. Am sure they were trying to wind me up. All are responding well to the drops the vet gave us.
 
Ooo @helen105281 that sounds nasty! :(

Widget's eyelid is much less swollen today. She sat still for her drops (although that might have been out of the sheer terror of being PICKED UP first thing in the morning) and had a quick snuggle x
 
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Looking much better this evening - the white bit of her eye is mostly white again instead of red and it doesn't seem to be cloudy - think we might have just about got away with that one!

Eye injuries can develop very quickly, but thankfully, when treated promptly, they come down again very fast. I've just been through it with my old lady Nerys in December. As hers came on while we were away overnight, it had already started going to deeper into the eye, but by being diligent to treat her eye four times a day, I did get it down without having to resort to stronger meds, which would have been problematic in combination with her regular meds.
 
Eye injuries can develop very quickly, but thankfully, when treated promptly, they come down again very fast. I've just been through it with my old lady Nerys in December.
Poor Nerys :( They will go shoving their heads into the hay, won't they!
 
Glad to hear Widget can go back to her favourite pastime of sticking her head in the hay again!
 
Great news! Well done on the dreaded nail trim too. Cuddles to Widget x
 
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