What Would You Do? Which Advice To Take.

[PopcornPigs]

Hello

A lot of you may know/remember my guinea pig Willy. He was mistreated/neglected when he was very little and I 'rescued' him from the situation.

I am very close to this little pig, having hand fed him and watched him grow/become stronger (He couldn't even walk when I got him). He regularly gets ill ever since I've had him (I'm guessing due to the horrendous start to life). I was prepared for this so I always take him to the vet no matter what the cost.

Recently, he's had an issue with his eyes. He's had fatty eye for a while but the tear duct area started to look pink. It then bulged and it was as if the membrane on his eyelids was swelling. We took him to the vet straight away but my usual vet Anne (Goddards Ewell) was not available. We saw another lady who said it appears he's having a reaction to something. She suggested the hay or if we'd been decorating. We always change our hay so it could have been the new one we were on, we had also painted recently (but not in the pig room). We were given fucithalmic cream to try.

A few days into the fucithalmic the eyes slightly calmed down. I'd changed the hay from being in a tray to a rack to prevent him burrowing into it. But a few days later they flared up worse than before. He was taken to the vet straight away, but yet again Anne wasn't available and we saw a man. He seemed confident and advised it was similar to an auto immune response to something. He advised it was probably just a small change but his eyes were having an out of proportion reaction. We were prescribed Maxitrol (steroid eye drops).

These drops helped a lot and the swellings went down so they were only visible if you manipulated the eye (could see they were swollen underneath - rather than protruding). We went for a check up and saw the original lady. She had spoken to the man vet we'd seen before and they'd agreed that we need to try to find out the cause. I honestly can't think of anything as his hay has been changed and the drops were working. We were just given more drops to continue to keep it down and have another check up in 3 weeks.

So.. this is where the decisions come. We went back to the vets and yet again it wasn't Anne (Sorry if I sound like I'm moaning, but she is the vet we always wish to see). This vet originally said that he had made a very good improvement but then as soon as I told her how old he was she started down a different root of action. She started asking us if we wanted to have a biopsy taken of the inflamed parts to check it wasn't anything more serious. This would mean sedating Willy and cutting out part of the eye inflammation. I would like to mention here that Willy is very well in himself, the eyes don't seem to bother him. This option scared me a lot as it seems like a lot of stress to him, but at the same time I want what's best.

Ever since he's had the eye problems I've started giving him extra vitamin C through tablets as I believe his immune system is low.

I would like to know what other people would do/what their opinion is and I just don't know what to do.

 

[piggyfan]

This is very tricky. My marble had so much wrong with her eye that it had to be removed. I know a biopsy is risky but he could be in pain with his eye and hiding it. I would either try the biopsy or get it removed.

 

[Pebble]

I don;t think it's necessary to remove the eye just yet. Eyes are normally only removed if they are so heavily infected/abcessed/ulcerated/damaged that they can't be healed with just anitbioitics. I think we need to go back to first priinciples here and run through possible causes: bear in mind I am not a vet and you have not put a picture up....so I will try to help you consider your options based upon my own experience with my own pigs.

Infection of the conjunctiva - The fucithalmic didn't really have much effect which would suggest it is not a bacterial infection - however sometimes the bugs are resistant to fucithalmic and an alternatie course would be to give a combination of steroids to reduce inflammation and gentamycin drops (tiacil)to kill off any resistant bugs. Pseudomonas commonly infects eyes and ears and there are some nasty strains around that are only susceptible to gentamycin - I know because I have had 3 guinea pigs whose swab cultures showed this.

The fact that the steroids reduced the inflammation could be indicative of allergy or infection - but could also just be dry air owing to central heating and the drops are helping to stop the irritation as well as providing lubrication

Another thing it could be is a blocked tear duct/inflamed lachrymal gland - these can be flushed to clear them. Again the fact the steroids have reduced the swelling could indicate this. The vet can put fluorescein dye in the eye and then look with a UV light into the mouth/throat to see if it is coming down through the tear duct - if it's not, this would show if there is a blockage.

The suggestion to do a biopsy is to find out if there is any malignancy going on - lymphoma can often present in the eyes....but even if it was found that does not mean the eye should be removed - because there would normally also be evidence of it elsewhere in the body so there is little point in removing a perfectly functioning eye.

The fact Willy regularly gets ill suggests his immune system is compromised and giving the extra Vit C is a good idea. The fact it is compromised could mean he can;t fight infection very well or that he has a malignancy or both.

If he were my piggy, I think I would first be discussing with the vet whether it is worth continuing with the steroids but also with gentamycin to see if that clears it....I would also be asking them to check it isn;t a blocked tear duct by using the dye. When those are ruled out I would then consider a biopsy. One of my pigs had one for suspected lymphoma after we ruled out the blocked tear duct - and he was fine afterwards - no pain or irritation - the risk is the anaesthetic if the guinea pig is already in a weakened state. I think you really would need to ensure the vet who performs the biopsy is the most experienced with guinea pig GA's - I'm assuming that would be Anne.

I'm sorry you haven;t managed to see Anne yet - can you telephone her to have a chat through your options?....or request an appointment specifically with her when she's in as I'm sure she would want to see him first before any discussion.

Hope this helps you to make an informed decision

x

 

[Tbag]

Hey, so sorry to hear about all Willys problems. I really hope you can get to the bottom of them soon.

I think Anne only works Monday to Wednesday so that's perhaps why you haven't been able to see her yet. Why don't you ring first thing Monday and see if she can schedule a quick phone appt to talk to her then about what's been going on. If she thinks she needs to examine him herself you can double check with her when she'll be in next?

 

[Tbag]

I do have an email for Anne that she gave me at our last appt so I could keep her updated on Cash's problems. It's only the generic branch email but if you put FAO Anne in the subject line I'm sure it'd get to her - if you have no luck on the phone pm me and I'll send it to you

 

[Stewybus]

I'd ring and make an appointment with Anne if you feel more comfortable dealing with her. Even if you have to wait a few days it would be better to see someone you have confidence it. I wouldn't have any treatment done until Willy has seen Anne.