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Toddie's Eye

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Niki

Niki

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This is how i found his eye Saturday & it developed overnight; i had noticed white "frills" round the eyeball earlier in the week & was monitoring it. Because no piggy vet was on til Tuesday i started to treat him with chloramphenicol eye drops, thinking it was a haypoke & something was better than nothing. I'm not meaning his fatty eye, he's had that for over a year.

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We saw the vet tuesday who had no clue as to what's caused it & has never seen anything like it. He prescribed ExOcin (ofloxacin) 0.3% w/v antibiotic drops for BOTH eyes. Toddie exhibits no signs of a tooth root abscess; there's nothing to be felt round his eye, he isn't bothered by it one bit, his appetite hasn't changed & there's no discharge/smell/drooling.

The swelling you can see is his cornea NOT his actual eyeball but there has been a bleed on the eye itself & within the white ring round his eye there was a red one which has now gone (thank god). He does have fatty eye & the white lines you can see are fat deposits & the vet thinks it could be an infection & the fat deposits are hampering the healing.

This is his good eye & you can see the white marks on his eye
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We've been back today & vet's still clueless as to the cause but he's taken photos to send to an opthalmologist in the hope a cause can be given. Thankfully, today, his eye is looking better, the cornea is still swollen & the red patch is still there but the outer ring of red's gone & the vet was surprised that it looked as good as it does. We go back Wednesday, hopefully he will have a cause or Toddie's eye will have returned to normal.
 
Awww poor little boy, i have to admit Niki i've never seen anything like this either.
Hope poor Toddie get's better soon xxxxx
 
Niki said:
Thanks. Toddie's fine in himself, his eye bothers me more than it bothers him :))
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That's typical, but a good thing, I'm glad it's not causing him any discomfort but would be good to know what caused it, Hopefully the vet will be able to tell you more Wednesday :)! xx
 
His eye looks bloodshot, maybe he did have something "in" his eye.
He also seems to have a cataract.
The frilly edge, it looks scalloped shaped, happens in many pigs, it is best left alone. If it bothers the pig it can be removed, a simple procedure carried out under a local anaesthetic.
 
We've been back to the vets today, no news from the opthalmologist & no real change in Toddie's eye :(

Monday it was looking really good, the swelling seemed to have gone right down but yesterday it was back up & resembled a fish eye (awful). Today it doesn't look as bad as yesterday but there is still some swelling.

Vet still has no idea what it is & did consult a colleague who also has never seen anthing like it.

I'm to carry on with the drops & wait to hear from the vets either with news from the opthalmologist or a referral to him/her. My vet doesn't know if this person has seen a guinea pig before as it's usually cats & dogs that are referred.

The only other thing the vet thinks it could be is a tumour, within the eye itself, if it is then the eye will have to come out.

Toddie is still not bothered by it; he's still eating & drinking & acting as he's always done & he doesn't show signs of being in pain when it's touched.

I will update when/if i ever find out what this is :)
 
Fingers crossed for you! poor guy glad it is not bothering him, best of luck with the opthalmologist!
 
I'm not 100% sure from the photos, but it looks like what Sukie had. With her, it looked a whole lot worse than it was, and she lived with it for about 18 months (wasn't the cause of death). Her 'bad' eye protruded slightly more than the other. My vet wasn't sure what it was either, but thought maybe it was a abcess growing, and that the eye might have to be removed, but that proved not to be the case, since it never got any worse and didn't seem to bother her.
 
Thanks Sarah that's encouraging. His eye, at times, does look horrendous but the fact he's not bothered by it makes me think it's not "that" bad. The vet doesn't think it's a tooth-root abscess as he shows no other symptom; at just over 3lb he is a big pig, tho' not as big as he once was at 3lb 10oz.
These antibiotic drops are supposedly the best treatment yet they're appearing to make no difference & i don't know if the swelling going down would've happened naturally or wether to attribute it to the drops.

The fact he is in no pain surely must be a good thing but i don't know enough to know wether a tumour (if there is one) would cause pain but he does seem to have sight in the eye because it did react to the vets hand.

I've no idea what could've caused the bleed that's still so visible as there is no outward injury to be seen & am assuming the cornea has swelled to protect the eyeball itself, vet does think the fat deposits are hampering the healing but again healing of what - i wish i knew :{
 
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Niki, I've no useful advice but I'm wishing the best for Toddie. It's worrying when you know what's going on, never mind when you're not quite sure. I hope his eye recovers very soon. xx
 
poor baby 8...8...8...
sending healing wheeeeeeeeeks and uber loves to my little man Kanga xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xoxoxoxoxoxo these are from the girls (yeah they'd probably nag him too :(|)) xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Whatever else, do not panic, do not look on Google and find rare conditions and jump to the wrong conclusions.
Whilst it is difficult advice to follow, in most of these cases, the best policy is to wait and see what happens.
I have had a number of pigs with similar looking conditions which have resolved themselves with no active intervention/treatment. This has often meant a wait of 10 days or more. I would stress that none of the pigs were in any pain/discomfort.
 
The photo's on guinea lynx are the only ones i have seen that look like Toddies eye or rather how it started, with the white "frilly" edge & the bulbous look
Today is day 19 from when i first noticed this "frilly" edge & day 13 from when the bleed & the corneal swelling occurred & how long he's been having treatment with drops; 3 days with chloramphenicol the rest with the ExOcin & whilst there has been some improvement in that monday the swelling went down some, it'd swelled back up on Tuesday & his eye looked like a fish eye but he does remain in no pain.
 
Hope everything goes well with Toddie's eye Nikki. Poor thing. It looks awful but if it is not bothering him that is very encouraging I think.
Given that guineas don't like pain and always let us know if they are suffering I think Toddie's reaction is excellent. You are such a caring mum you would know immediately if he was poorly because of it :)
 
My vet has just rang & Toddie does have Osseous Metaplasia! He himself had been researching & he's heard back from the opthalmologist who is the best in the country & although it is an opthalmology exam question; to diagnose what it is - there is no literature on how to cure it & the opthalmologist himself has never seen it himself in a guinea pig!
He said there's not much point in me taking Toddie to see him as he'd not be able to add anything that my vet hasn't already said.

I've to stop the drops as they won't make a difference & just monitor what happens, it maybe it stays the same, it may swell again due to the possibility of the ducts being blocked (caused by the growth of bone).
If it does swell & is affecting his health then his eye will likely have to be removed. I also need to monitor his good eye as this too shows signs but that bridge will be crossed should it happen.

The one thing he said that i disagreed with was in reference to the drug companies not willing to put the money into research for guinea pigs because there aren't enough of them. I said i disagree, there ARE enough guinea pigs, its that there aren't enough owners who will bring them to a vets for treatment as they are sadly seen, by many, as a throw-away pet. :(
 
COME ON KANGA YOU CAN DO IT BOY XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Niki try not to look too far ahead, deal with it as it comes, you know he's an amazing boy he'll deal with it xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
HUGS for you both, i think Snoopy is amazing to have discovered this x)
All our love and wheeeeeeeeeeks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Glynis said:
COME ON KANGA YOU CAN DO IT BOY XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Niki try not to look too far ahead, deal with it as it comes, you know he's an amazing boy he'll deal with it xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
HUGS for you both, i think Snoopy is amazing to have discovered this x)
All our love and wheeeeeeeeeeks xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I'm not worrying now i have a name for it & i don't bother about what if's :)

Snoopy's head doesn't need to get any bigger :)) :))
 
Good to hear you've got a diagnosis for him, even better that he's not fussed about it. He's got a good mum 'n' dad to look out for him! :)
 
Glad you have a diagnosis, hope he is able to live with his condition and keep his eye!
 
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