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Advice Needed: Eye Issue

Laaaauren

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hello,

One of my guinea pigs, Cookie, is suffering with an eye issue and until we see our exotics vet on Wednesday - which was the earliest appointment I could get - I don’t quite know what to do. She has been seen by two other vets but needless to say I was left very dissatisfied with both.

Last Monday I noticed that there was something wrong with my Cookie’s left eye. She has pea-eye in both eyes and I have even brought this up to vets before, but so far it hasn’t presented any issues. But her left lower eyelid seemed to have fallen further and the only way to describe it was as if the tissue around the eye was causing it to bulge. I immediately called the vets and was referred to the out-of-hours clinic as it was late in the evening.

I’ll keep it short, but essentially she was seen by one vet on Monday evening, and a checkup appointment with a different vet on Friday. Both only took a very cursory glance at her eye and I was the one to bring up the possibility of a hay poke with the vet on Monday, and that her left eye was bulging on Friday. The attitude from both vets seemed very nonchalant, almost “oh yeah” - not what you want to hear when you’re stressed about your pet’s health. They both believe it’s an ulcer, but their attitudes were not one of concern. There was more that upset me about these two visits but it would take a while to explain so I’ll leave it there!

Cookie’s eye seems to be going through phases of looking better, then going back to looking bad. At the minute her eye is cloudy, it’s squinting and she can’t seem to close it fully, it looks as if it’s bulging slightly and I can see a scratch on the surface of the eyeball. But because it felt like those two vets did not care much for the issue, I’m hesitant to book with anyone other than our exotics vet (who is absolutely fantastic). However, if I feel that Cookie is suffering I’ll absolutely do it.

I’ve continued using both the drops and anti-inflammatory meds as recommended, and so far she seems well enough in herself. She’s eating and drinking fine, she’s vocal for veg, and her weight has remained stable. I hate the thought of her suffering, but it seems pointless to see vets who don’t have experience with guinea pigs. I tried to take a picture but I can’t seem to get a clear image. As mentioned it seems to go back to normal for a time, but then reverts to how it was before.

I’m sort of at a loss. She’s acting normally and after a negative experience with those two vets I feel like I can only trust our exotics vet. But if Cookie is in pain or at risk of it getting worse I will absolutely take her regardless.

Should I continue monitoring her since only our exotics vet seems to be good with piggies? Or is it too risky to leave it? Any advice is appreciated!
 
Update: managed to get a picture of her eye. Please ignore the little stain by her face, she was having tomato! It’s more visible in person but this was the best I could get.
 

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What meds is she on?

Minor haypokes tend to heal quite quickly with prompt treatment while a more severe one may take longer.
The eye itself bulging could well be a cause for concern and may mean you need to have her checked sooner (while still keeping your appointment with your exotics). I can appreciate your hesitance after two bad experiences but it’s still another two days until the exotics appointment and if the eye is worsening at all then if it was me, I’d feel better having it checked before the exotics appointment

I hope she is ok
 
What meds is she on?

Minor haypokes tend to heal quite quickly with prompt treatment while a more severe one may take longer.
The eye itself bulging could well be a cause for concern and may mean you need to have her checked sooner (while still keeping your appointment with your exotics). I can appreciate your hesitance after two bad experiences but it’s still another two days until the exotics appointment and if the eye is worsening at all then if it was me, I’d feel better having it checked before the exotics appointment

I hope she is ok
On the Monday evening she was prescribed Isathal eyedrops to be used twice daily, and Meloxaid once daily for the inflammation.
Then on the Friday checkup the other vet advised using Chloramphenicol drops three times a day, whilst continuing with the Meloxaid once daily. The second vet said the Chloramphenicol typically works better for ulcers.
 
Chloramphenicol is stronger.

(Don’t know if it is just because it’s her injured eye, but I’m not sure If I see pea eye. Pea eye is when the back edge of the lower lid droops down. How long ago was pea eye diagnosed).

Are you seeing any progress?
 
Chloramphenicol is stronger.

(Don’t know if it is just because it’s her injured eye, but I’m not sure If I see pea eye. Pea eye is when the back edge of the lower lid droops down. How long ago was pea eye diagnosed).

Are you seeing any
Chloramphenicol is stronger.

(Don’t know if it is just because it’s her injured eye, but I’m not sure If I see pea eye. Pea eye is when the back edge of the lower lid droops down. How long ago was pea eye diagnosed).

Are you seeing any progress?
Cookie’s pea eye seems to just be the whole of the lower lid drooping in both eyes, not so much at the back. She’s had it for at least 2-2.5 years but it’s slowly drooped more over time. I have brought this up to the vets a few times but they said her eyes seemed fine, no signs of infection or irritation.

At points it seemed to be getting better but right now she’s sat with me and I’d say it’s similar to when I first noticed it.
Annoyingly with the emergency vet it always seems to be the same one on standby, which is the vet we saw on Monday who seemed very uninterested and didn’t seem to know much of anything about piggies. But I’ll do anything to help my little Cookie so I may end up calling the vet just so they can at least take another look. 😞
 
Hello,

One of my guinea pigs, Cookie, is suffering with an eye issue and until we see our exotics vet on Wednesday - which was the earliest appointment I could get - I don’t quite know what to do. She has been seen by two other vets but needless to say I was left very dissatisfied with both.

Last Monday I noticed that there was something wrong with my Cookie’s left eye. She has pea-eye in both eyes and I have even brought this up to vets before, but so far it hasn’t presented any issues. But her left lower eyelid seemed to have fallen further and the only way to describe it was as if the tissue around the eye was causing it to bulge. I immediately called the vets and was referred to the out-of-hours clinic as it was late in the evening.

I’ll keep it short, but essentially she was seen by one vet on Monday evening, and a checkup appointment with a different vet on Friday. Both only took a very cursory glance at her eye and I was the one to bring up the possibility of a hay poke with the vet on Monday, and that her left eye was bulging on Friday. The attitude from both vets seemed very nonchalant, almost “oh yeah” - not what you want to hear when you’re stressed about your pet’s health. They both believe it’s an ulcer, but their attitudes were not one of concern. There was more that upset me about these two visits but it would take a while to explain so I’ll leave it there!

Cookie’s eye seems to be going through phases of looking better, then going back to looking bad. At the minute her eye is cloudy, it’s squinting and she can’t seem to close it fully, it looks as if it’s bulging slightly and I can see a scratch on the surface of the eyeball. But because it felt like those two vets did not care much for the issue, I’m hesitant to book with anyone other than our exotics vet (who is absolutely fantastic). However, if I feel that Cookie is suffering I’ll absolutely do it.

I’ve continued using both the drops and anti-inflammatory meds as recommended, and so far she seems well enough in herself. She’s eating and drinking fine, she’s vocal for veg, and her weight has remained stable. I hate the thought of her suffering, but it seems pointless to see vets who don’t have experience with guinea pigs. I tried to take a picture but I can’t seem to get a clear image. As mentioned it seems to go back to normal for a time, but then reverts to how it was before.

I’m sort of at a loss. She’s acting normally and after a negative experience with those two vets I feel like I can only trust our exotics vet. But if Cookie is in pain or at risk of it getting worse I will absolutely take her regardless.

Should I continue monitoring her since only our exotics vet seems to be good with piggies? Or is it too risky to leave it? Any advice is appreciated!

Hi

If your girl is stable on her meds, then please continue in any way until you can have her seen. Please be aware that guinea pig eyes, diagnosis and treatment/medication is the same as for cats or dogs, so any general vet will usually do - getting treatment quickly is more important in this case than seeing an exotics vet. She may need the stronger very meds or not, depending on how well the healing process is going but there is only so much a vet can do since there are only about a couple of antibiotic eye drops/gels, lubricants and pain meds.

It looks to me like a potential injury/hay poke that may also affected the conjuctiva (I can however only guess)? What have the vets said and what meds is your girl actually on? That would help us much better to assess the situation than your comments about your local vets.

Any more serious injuury will take its time to heal - usually a good two weeks or even longer. It looks however like any potential ulceration has already gone (i.e. any infection has been stopped) and the temporary blood vessels have attached to the injured area to bring extra oxygen for the natural healing process; they will fade away again once the job is done. Because the eye is the only place in the body we can see the actual healing process in action, this stage always looks worse and can throw any owner who has never witnessed it - normally the same process happens invisibly inside our body tissue.

Just hang on in there. Contact your exotics vet if there is a clear deterioration but as far as I can see, it shouldn't be needed.
 
Hi

If your girl is stable on her meds, then please continue in any way until you can have her seen. Please be aware that guinea pig eyes, diagnosis and treatment/medication is the same as for cats or dogs, so any general vet will usually do - getting treatment quickly is more important in this case than seeing an exotics vet. She may need the stronger very meds or not, depending on how well the healing process is going but there is only so much a vet can do since there are only about a couple of antibiotic eye drops/gels, lubricants and pain meds.

It looks to me like a potential injury/hay poke that may also affected the conjuctiva (I can however only guess)? What have the vets said and what meds is your girl actually on? That would help us much better to assess the situation than your comments about your local vets.

Any more serious injuury will take its time to heal - usually a good two weeks or even longer. It looks however like any potential ulceration has already gone (i.e. any infection has been stopped) and the temporary blood vessels have attached to the injured area to bring extra oxygen for the natural healing process; they will fade away again once the job is done. Because the eye is the only place in the body we can see the actual healing process in action, this stage always looks worse and can throw any owner who has never witnessed it - normally the same process happens invisibly inside our body tissue.

Just hang on in there. Contact your exotics vet if there is a clear deterioration but as far as I can see, it shouldn't be needed.
I managed to get a better picture of her eye if that helps at all. It’s hard to make out but the eye is cloudy and has a scratch on the surface, alongside the drooping and reddish-brown colour.

To begin with she was prescribed Isathal eye drops twice daily and Meloxaid once daily to help with the inflammation. Then during the second vet visit she was prescribed Chloramphenicol drops to be used three times a day, alongside the Meloxaid once a day.

As mentioned, the two vets I spoke to said they were both more used to seeing dogs and cats as opposed to guinea pigs but suspected it to be an ulcer. They didn’t say why they thought it happened, I was the one who suggested a hay poke but neither took a proper second look to see if that was the case. They only gave a cursory glance and seemed pretty uninterested, hence why I was left upset with the experience. I understand not being as knowledgeable on piggies, which is why if we can we always see the same exotics vet, but it was the fact they didn’t seem very fussed about the issue that bothered me most. 😞

For now she’s eating and sleeping as normal but it’s such a worry. I’ve never had a piggy with such a noticeable eye issue. I’ve dealt with a minor scratch on the eye before with another piggy that healed in days thanks to drops, but this time it seems to be all over the place.
 

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I managed to get a better picture of her eye if that helps at all. It’s hard to make out but the eye is cloudy and has a scratch on the surface, alongside the drooping and reddish-brown colour.

To begin with she was prescribed Isathal eye drops twice daily and Meloxaid once daily to help with the inflammation. Then during the second vet visit she was prescribed Chloramphenicol drops to be used three times a day, alongside the Meloxaid once a day.

As mentioned, the two vets I spoke to said they were both more used to seeing dogs and cats as opposed to guinea pigs but suspected it to be an ulcer. They didn’t say why they thought it happened, I was the one who suggested a hay poke but neither took a proper second look to see if that was the case. They only gave a cursory glance and seemed pretty uninterested, hence why I was left upset with the experience. I understand not being as knowledgeable on piggies, which is why if we can we always see the same exotics vet, but it was the fact they didn’t seem very fussed about the issue that bothered me most. 😞

For now she’s eating and sleeping as normal but it’s such a worry. I’ve never had a piggy with such a noticeable eye issue. I’ve dealt with a minor scratch on the eye before with another piggy that healed in days thanks to drops, but this time it seems to be all over the place.

Hi

You have been given the correct treatment.

Isathal is the antibiotic used as the standard treatment for eye injuries while chloramphenicol is there as a fall back option for serious injuries or infections. There are no other antibiotics available for eye treatment in either pet species; the next step would be eye removal. Injuries just need time to heal at their own pace.

Meloxaid is a UK brand name for metacam, like loxicom (cat or dog strength) or now rheumocam for dog strength metacam to help with any pain and inflammation in the first days.

The one extra thing you can do in order to help speed up the healing process a little is to get hold of tear gel from a pharmacy if they have some; applied three times a day it can help with the comfort in the eye but where it really comes into its own is with the healing process in the deeper levels of the eye if the infection has penetrated deeper because the medicated eye drops can struggle to get as far down.
Normal plain tear drops can work in a pinch but they are not half as effective and long lasting as the gel. You have to always wait for at least half an hour after the antibiotic in order to have them fully absorbed.
The plain tear gel can be used when you haven't been prescribed Remend or a similar lubricant product by your vet - not all vets have it in stock since it is not a prescription only medication, unlike antibiotics or analgesics.

However, your girl is about halfway through the healing process, so please take heart and continue with your medication for as long as it takes or until your vet tells you to stop. Even without the gel the eye will heal fully. ;)
 
Hi

You have been given the correct treatment.

Isathal is the antibiotic used for milder injuries while chloramphenicol is used for more serious injuries or infections. There are no other antibiotics available for eye treatment in either species. Injuries just need time to heal.
Meloxaid is a UK brand name for metacam, like loxicom or now rheumocam for dog strength metacam to help with any pain and inflammation in the first days.

The one extra thing you can do in order to help speed up the healing process a little is to get hold of tear gel from a pharmacy if they have some; applied three times a day it can help with the comfort in the eye but where it really comes into its own is with the healing process in the deeper levels of the eye if the infection has penetrated deeper because the medicated eye drops can struggle to get as far down. Normal plain tear drops can work in a pinch but they are not half as effective and long lasting as the gel. You have to always wait for at least half an hour after the antibiotic in order to have them fully absorbed. The plain tear gel can be used when you haven't been prescribed remend or a similar product by your vet - not all vets have it in stock since it is not a prescription only medication, unlike antibiotics or analgesics.

However, your girl is about halfway through the healing process, so please take heart and continue with your medication for as long as it takes or until your vet tells you to stop. Even without the gel the eye will heal fully. ;)
I’ll definitely see if the pharmacy has some asap. Since the tear gel isn’t on a prescription, is there an amount you would recommend using? I know you mentioned three times a day, but would that be just one drop in the eye 30 minutes after the Chloramphenicol and Meloxaid?

Thanks for the advice, it’s very much appreciated. I’ve dealt with quite a few different issues when it comes to piggies but it’s always so daunting when it’s something new and unknown. Often it can look worse than it actually is but that doesn’t stop us worrying!
 
I’ll definitely see if the pharmacy has some asap. Since the tear gel isn’t on a prescription, is there an amount you would recommend using? I know you mentioned three times a day, but would that be just one drop in the eye 30 minutes after the Chloramphenicol and Meloxaid?

Thanks for the advice, it’s very much appreciated. I’ve dealt with quite a few different issues when it comes to piggies but it’s always so daunting when it’s something new and unknown. Often it can look worse than it actually is but that doesn’t stop us worrying!

The gel is just a small dab on the eye surface and the tear drops would be one drop (guinea pig eyes are a lot smaller).

For drops, you gently pull down the lower lid and aim the drops into the gap. You can very, very gently move the lid around a little but please do not rub or push into the eye.

The gel can help clear out any cloudiness in the deeper levels and is really helpful with a dehydrated eye but please be aware that the eye will heal anyway - all my earlier piggies in years gone by with hay pokes and surface scratches have done so.

It is hard to sit by and be patient but your girl is no longer in any major discomfort and will make a full recovery. ;)
 
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