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Worried about Eliza - Serious eye injury

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Yes she is! She has to have them removed... That'll be fun as she is such a fidget.

Poor Eliza, she is probably fed up with the whole thing. Lets hope it's nothing and it'll stop as soon as it started. X
 
Rather than starting a new thread, I shall reopen this one :(

Eliza had been doing so well and her eye socket had been filling in with granulated tissue and healing nicely.

It is unlikely that the eye socket will ever fuse together completely as it was left open for so long. Since I was able to stop flushing and she came off her antibiotics, I have been cleaning it gently with diluted hibi scrub or saline as it weeps serum etc but it is just something we have got used to.

However, on Christmas Day, the socket started bleeding and having a closer look, it looked like she had caught it. Granulation tissue is fragile so bleeds easily when caught.

I kept it clean but it is producing a lot more gunk than before due to the blood and scab :( Eliza has seen the vet for the last two weeks. There isn't an infection there which is what I am concerned about but Eliza is on Baytril as a precaution and Fibreplex but I am at my wits end. As soon as the scab dries out and looks to be healing, it starts bleeding again and we are back to square one and this is delaying the healing process to the original eye removal :(

I assume that Eliza is either scratching it herself or one of her friends is over grooming her although having said that, she hates the area being messed with so I'm not sure she would even let them lick it.

Eliza is back at the vets on Monday but does anyone have any tips or advise? It's a shame we can't cover it over like you can on a human :(
 
How open is it? Can you post a pic? I thought we were going the same route with Monty's eye socket just a few days ago, but it has suddenly healed nicely, with just a very tiny opening left, which at the moment doesn't appear to be producing any pus. It sounds like she must be catching it herself and making it bleed as you say she doesn't like anyone near it. I am seeing Simon on Monday and will ask him if he has any ideas about what you can do. It really is a shame she can't wear a little eye patch!
 
furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary said:
How open is it? Can you post a pic? I thought we were going the same route with Monty's eye socket just a few days ago, but it has suddenly healed nicely, with just a very tiny opening left, which at the moment doesn't appear to be producing any pus. It sounds like she must be catching it herself and making it bleed as you say she doesn't like anyone near it. I am seeing Simon on Monday and will ask him if he has any ideas about what you can do. It really is a shame she can't wear a little eye patch!
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Thank you. Any advise is much appreciated. I have pm'd you x
 
Sorry to read this Claire, hopefully Simon may pop up with a good suggestion. Hugs to you and love to your beautiful little girl x
 
Just to update, Eliza has been to the vets where the vet gave her wound a really good clean, flush and removed the scab. It actually doesn't look too bad underneath the gunk! The poor girl now has no fur round her eye area.

I am to start flushing the wound again with saline. There is no infection but using some will be less stressful for Eliza and hopefully be easier to remove the gunk.

She is to stay on antibiotics and we are back at the vets next Monday.

All was well until I bedded them down for the night tonight and Eliza has caught herself again so has bled :(

I am pretty sure she is catching herself whilst washing / scratching with her back foot as when her friends wash themselves like that, they close their eye which obviously Eliza can't do.

I think this is going to be one of those things that we are going to have to live with. I wish there was such thing as a piggy eye patch :(
 
Oh no! You poor thing. I am having problems with Lacey too. The vet thinks not all the tear gland was removed so she builds up gunk (it's not pus) and it leaks through every few days. Nothing we can do other than another op which I won't consider as it's not fair on her.

Not as bad as Eliza though. It just sounds like her wound needs time to heal without interference. Could she not be separated for a little while and a topical pain relief gel or ointment applied (if there is such a thing). She may then be less likely to scratch it? I hope you get it sorted x
 
Guinea Slave said:
Oh no! You poor thing. I am having problems with Lacey too. The vet thinks not all the tear gland was removed so she builds up gunk (it's not pus) and it leaks through every few days. Nothing we can do other than another op which I won't consider as it's not fair on her.

Not as bad as Eliza though. It just sounds like her wound needs time to heal without interference. Could she not be separated for a little while and a topical pain relief gel or ointment applied (if there is such a thing). She may then be less likely to scratch it? I hope you get it sorted x
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I'm sorry that Lacy is having problems too :( I can see why you don't want to put her through her op, I wouldn't either. Eliza has already had two. Does the gunk dry yellowish?

I really don't know if seperating her would help other than make Eliza miserable. I will see how it goes though.

I don't think there is an ointment that am be applied. The problem is her socket has now more or less filled in with granulation tissue but it is really delicate so bleeds easily. Ideally I need her fur to grow back over to act as protection but it all came out x
 
So far you have reduced down from hibiscrub to saline etc and there is no infection so the healing process is now "robust" except you are now having to deal with self-trauma through natural habits.

You really have done well and I appreciate your frustration in how long a process this is turning out to be.....hugs!

Perhaps now some type of collar or better, taping up the back feet, can be considered to reduce the possibility of trauma whilst grooming?

x
 
Pebble said:
So far you have reduced down from hibiscrub to saline etc and there is no infection so the healing process is now "robust" except you are now having to deal with self-trauma through natural habits.

You really have done well and I appreciate your frustration in how long a process this is turning out to be.....hugs!

Perhaps now some type of collar or better, taping up the back feet, can be considered to reduce the possibility of trauma whilst grooming?

x
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Thank you. It certainly has and still is a long road. I am just grateful that Eliza is happy in herself and acts like any normal guinea pig.

I have just ordered a small fabric Elizabethan cat collar.http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003XLH00Q/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=pet-supplies I'm not sure what good it will do or even if it will fit (I've ordered the smallest made) but it is worth a try. With it being fabric, she can still eat, drink and lay down and it can be cut to size. If it turns out to be unsuitable, it isn't a loss and if it restricts her in anyway, I will not use it xx
 
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Another update on Eliza.

Sadly she is still having problems. We take one step forwards and two steps back :(

My vet is very reluctant to cone her after we tried last Monday and her heart rate shot up, I have never seen an animal it that much distress :(

Just before Christmas before she caught it, her eye was healing up lovely and apart from producing a little serum which we had to wipe and clean, she was starting to look like any other piggy who had had an eye removed.

Now she just has a constant crusty and weepy scab where her eye originally was. Although it doesn't bother her and she has even gained a little weight, I am gutted for her that this operation went so wrong when you hear so many success stories of eye removals.

I do not blame my vet, her eye becoming infected was just one of those things and I understand that especially since doing my animal nursing course.

Eliza has now started to bite where I try and clean the area :(

I just feel so bad and guilty and wonder if I should have ever had the eye removed in the first
place :(
 
Poor you and little Eliza. Please don't second guess yourself Claire, I am sure all of us would have made the same choice in your situation.
It is so difficult an frustrating to deal with I would imagine, you are doing such an amazing job for your beautiful girl. Lots of love to little Eliza and you. x
 
Thank you Lee.

Her eye was on the verge of rupturing and her eye just got worse. The vet had high suspicions there and then that it wouldn't heal but obviously eye removal is the worst case scenario.

I just feel so guilty and sad that after her making such a good recovery even after the infection, she is now going through this
 
furryfriends Excellent Adventure Sanctuary said:
Is she back on antibiotics? Monty has gone back on Zithromax as we were getting a tiny amount of pus coming out of his socket. Our little guys really know how to worry us xx
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They certaiy do :( Poor Monty :(

She is on Septrin at the minute which helped last time.

I don't think the gunk is pus, it just doesn't look nice and Eliza is making it extremely difficult to have it cleaned by thrashing around and biting x
 
Just back from the vets with Eliza. Unfortunately her eye socket is getting no better and is sadly infected again despite me thinking I have been keeping the area clean and preventing infection. I'm gutted :(

She has been on a variety of 3 different antibiotics between September and November where the infection and her eye socket cleared up nicely.

My vet is phoning Cheshire pets (this is my vets chosen referral practice) to see where we go from here and I should hear back either today or tomorrow.

It looks like Eliza is building up a resistance :(

Oh, and this awful weather has caused my piggy shed to leak and go mouldy in places :( Good job they're not currently living in it!
 
Thank you. I am still waiting for a phone call from the vets and growing incredibly inpatient :(

But I guess they have to work around consultations and operations and I only saw my vet late yesterday afternoon x
 
If your vet doesn't stock it ask for a prescription for the chemist as I was able to get it from my local one, they sell it under the generic name of Azithromycin. Just had the pay about £4 for the veterinary prescription and £9 at the chemist.
 
Poor you and poor Eliza - sounds like you are having a similar problem to one I experienced recently with one of my pigs.....in the end I asked the vet to board her as I couldn't keep the head wound/ear flushed properly because she was in too much pain for me to do it on my own at home.

It's a good idea to have a through review of her treatment plan to see if any alternative approach is now called for. Some suggestions to discuss with your vet:

a)Pain relief - metacam is most widely used because it is both anti-inflammatory and gives pain relief. However with deep-seated pain, tramadol may be more effective at relieving pain (can be given with metacam).

b) If it really is very painful for her, a second alternative is to board at the vets. They gave my pig a little gas once a day in order to clean it properly without causing her further distress.

c) source of infection - given the proximity to the ear it is worth checking to ensure infection is not being harboured in the outer ear (my pig was found to have a small channel connecting the wound above her eye with the external ear canal and the source of the wound infection was coming from there. )

d) Selecting the right antibiotic - Eliza has had 3 different antibiotics given orally already and there is now a real risk you are encouraging the development of superbugs. If the wound is infected again I would suggest a culture is taken to check for antibiotic resistance and so you know what bug you are dealing with. The ear/wound infection in my pig was found to be a multi-drug resistant pseudomonas that was resistant to azithromycin, baytril, septrin and every other antibiotic except gentamycin - which had to be given daily by injection rather than orally.

e) systemic antibiotic vs more localised approach?
i) It might also be worth considering further surgery to implant antibiotic beads in the site to provide a more localised protection/anti-bacterial effect -
you do need to have determined the best antibiotic first by culture.
ii) Topical: Many years ago, when Ginger had all his lipomas removed, he kept taking out the stitches on his tummy and opening up the incision. They gave
up re-stitching and he spent 4 weeks at the vets with the wound being allowed to heal by "secondary intention" ie naturally. It was kept clean with
hibiscrub and then polymax antibiotic cream together with some type of dermagel wound-healing product was applied 3x daily. (It wasn't DermaGel brand
but something similar). With my piggie above, this time we have been applying a topical gentamycin eye ointment to her head wound and gentamycin ear
drops for the outer ear

Hope this helps - wishing you and Eliza healing vibes.

x
 
Thank you so much for your detailed reply @Pebble

Certainly a lot to discuss with my vet which I will do. I will see what the specialist has to say first. My vet is still waiting for a phone call from her but has forwarded her notes on to be read through.

I must point out that the infection isn't as it was before when pus was oozing from her socket and the vet is pretty sure it isn't deep routed but I guess we don't really know.

Eliza is acting perfectly normally and holding her weight. I am also cautious of her age 6.5 years and what she is able to be put through?

I have metacam but I wouldn't say she is showing signs of pain, more discomfort than anything else and that's when I try and bathe the area due to it being sore. But I will give her metacam if anyone thinks she needs it? Does anyone happen to know how long it lasts once opened? I still have the original bottle we were given in September although I do have an unopened one too.

We attempted to cone her but her heart rate shot up from the stress and I really don't want her to suffer like that and discourage her from eating which has so far not been affected in the slightest.

I just don't understand how this could have happened after her eye socket had healed so nicely and we got to the point of it only needing a little clean once a week :( x
 
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Cones are difficult with piggies and given what you have described it could be this is just an inopportune scratch of her eye socket (by feet or hay) that unfortunately re-opened the tender healing tissue.

Completely off the top of my head now - is there any chance you could fashion some type of tubigrip to make a "bandit mask"? Would probably need to encompass her front paws to stay put

......REF:like Ginger's nappy - looks impressive - but lasted all of 24hours the little tyke!

Still might be worth a try?





x
 
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