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Bulging eye

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Petalnick

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We got two baby female piggies on Friday from pets at home. We lost our 6 year old senior girl last week and wanted company for her sister. I know Pets at home isn’t ideal but couldn’t find any alternatives.

All was going great and we were slowly introducing Peaches and Rosie to Sally. Today we noticed that Peaches had a swollen eye. We called Pets at home who said get her to a vet

We got an emergency appointment and she got seen straight away. They spent time trying to put the eye back in the socket but said they weren’t able to and she would need to be sedated tomorrow to be able to do this. Since she has been to the vet her eye looks a lot worse and gone from swollen to bulging. They give us Isathal 10mg to use every 4 hrs and she got metacam. The cost was £237 which obviously is worth every penny but we don’t feel like they really helped and if anything caused her eye to be worse. We didn’t get any metacam home with us and worried she will be in pain soon.

We are keeping a constant eye on her and she is eating and drinking fine.We are going to take her to our usual vet tomorrow who are experienced with Guinea pigs.

Can such a young Guinea pig be sedated ok? Even though we have only had Peaches since Friday the whole family have bonded with her and we are all worried sick.
 
Sorry I should have added I am in Aberdeen Scotland.
 
I’m sorry to hear this.

I would honestly take her to an emergency vet tonight. She will be in pain and eyes are considered emergencies especially if it is bulging that badly
 
I’ve just managed to get a photo of her as she eats some hay. I believe there is only one emergency vet here in Aberdeen and we took her at 5pm and this was the advice that they give us. Will be phoning our usual vet as soon as they open at 8am.
 

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Piggies&buns said:
Oh gosh poor thing. That’s really bad.
Make sure you really push that this is an emergency
Keep us posted, I hope she is ok
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Thank you. I will update. We will push that it is an emergency tomorrow and ensure she is seen as early as possible. We have a list of vets to call if we can’t get to our usual one. We have kept her in with her sister is that ok? Didn’t think separating them would do either any good.
 
Petalnick said:
Thank you. I will update. We will push that it is an emergency tomorrow and ensure she is seen as early as possible. We have a list of vets to call if we can’t get to our usual one. We have kept her in with her sister is that ok? Didn’t think separating them would do either any good.
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You’ve done the right thing. There is no need to separate them, doing so would be unnecessarily stressful for them both.
 
Hi, I also live in Aberdeen. What vets do you go to?

That does look sore poor thing, do they think it is some sort of retrobulbar abscess?
Fingers crossed she is okay x
 
piggl said:
Hi, I also live in Aberdeen. What vets do you go to?

That does look sore poor thing, do they think it is some sort of retrobulbar abscess?
Fingers crossed she is okay x
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We took her to vets now which is based at ardene house. The vet didn’t seem to know what was wrong. She took the piggies away into a room and my husband wasn’t allowed to go in with them. She said she had tried to pop the eye back into the socket but couldn’t so she would need to be sedated to do this. Her eye looks a lot worse since going to the vet.

Our usual vet is aurora in Bucksburn who we have always found to be great. Very open to any other suggestions who to contact though.
 
Petalnick said:
We took her to vets now which is based at ardene house. The vet didn’t seem to know what was wrong. She took the piggies away into a room and my husband wasn’t allowed to go in with them. She said she had tried to pop the eye back into the socket but couldn’t so she would need to be sedated to do this. Her eye looks a lot worse since going to the vet.

Our usual vet is aurora in Bucksburn who we have always found to be great. Very open to any other suggestions who to contact though.
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I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience. I’ve been lucky to never need to use them but it definitely doesn’t sound like someplace I would be inclined to go to anyway. It’s good she’s on some sort of painkiller for the time being.

I also go to aurora, they have a fantastic vet team. You can call at 7:50-7:55 (they open at 8), this is when they release a new set of appointments. I’ve been taken by them even when they had no appointments when one of my piggies suddenly turned for the worst (who unfortunately passed away when we got there), and they have been amazing and compassionate with my piggy issues in the past. So even if they don’t take you as an emergency, although they should if you explain what’s happening, if you call early they will be able to offer you a regular slot.

I’m not so sure about the young age and affects of GA, but unfortunately in this case I think it is needed even with the risks involved.

Let us know how you get on, my thoughts are with you and your lovely girl x
 
piggl said:
I’m sorry to hear you’ve had a bad experience. I’ve been lucky to never need to use them but it definitely doesn’t sound like someplace I would be inclined to go to anyway. It’s good she’s on some sort of painkiller for the time being.

I also go to aurora, they have a fantastic vet team. You can call at 7:50-7:55 (they open at 8), this is when they release a new set of appointments. I’ve been taken by them even when they had no appointments when one of my piggies suddenly turned for the worst (who unfortunately passed away when we got there), and they have been amazing and compassionate with my piggy issues in the past. So even if they don’t take you as an emergency, although they should if you explain what’s happening, if you call early they will be able to offer you a regular slot.

I’m not so sure about the young age and affects of GA, but unfortunately in this case I think it is needed even with the risks involved.

Let us know how you get on, my thoughts are with you and your lovely girl x
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Thank you very much. Will ensure we will phone early and hopefully get an appointment. X
 
How is your poor piggy today? Looks very sore, hope the vet can do something ASAP! Don't forget to insist on some pain relief!

I hope pets at home are covering this! 😡 They honestly have no idea of the health of their "breeding stock" and their babies 😔

(not a dig at you! This shouldn't happen wherever your piggies are from)

Best of luck 🤞❤️
 
All the best for getting your poor girl in to be seen as soon as possible. It sounds like it could be a retrobulbar abscess (an abscess behind the eye that is filling up quickly and pushing the eye out).

Fingers firmly crossed!
 
They are going to attempt to remove her eye. Said it was her only chance of survival. She is about to get it done now and hopefully pick them up this evening. They have kept both of them in so she has company. I feel sick with worry but know it is the best chance of survival.
 
Sending you huge hugs and best wishes for her recovery.
Please do keep us posted on how things go.

Once you can gather your thoughts contact pets at home and tell them this has happened, you have customer rights given you have only just got her.
 
Petalnick said:
They are going to attempt to remove her eye. Said it was her only chance of survival. She is about to get it done now and hopefully pick them up this evening. They have kept both of them in so she has company. I feel sick with worry but know it is the best chance of survival.
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Sending you hugs! I have thought that this may be the only way forward in order to drain the abscess this way as it seems to have gone into blowing up and then bursting mode. :(

Please take heart in that most eye removals go perfectly OK. Sight is thankfully the weakest of the guinea pig senses and guinea pigs adapt well to the loss of one eye or even full sight loss.

Here are our post-op care tips: Tips For Post-operative Care

If this helps you, here is a thread of mine about my Meleri's eye removal operation and recovery in 2021 (she had a bad abscess leaking proteins into the eye and causing an infection inside the eyeball). Your girl's eye may be kept open to allow drainage and better access for your vet during the healing process as the problem area is likely located behind the eye in your case. Other members may share their own experiences and tips with you once we know more about what is going on. But knowing first hand that eye removal ops can go perfectly well will hopefully ease your mind during the anxious wait.
Here is the link: Please keep your fingers crossed for Meleri's eye removal operation!

Fingers very firmly crossed for you and your poorly girl. The company will help her. These kind of emergencies have a bad habit of happening at the most inconvenient of times.

We are here for you for moral support and practical care tips for as long as it takes.
 
Larry had his eye removed and it went perfectly, he recovered just fine and very quickly!
I hope the same for your girl 🤞❤️
 
You're giving her every chance she has, fingers crossed here for her and a :hug:for you
 
Good luck with everything, what a horrible shock for you.
As others have said, she will not be negatively impacted by only having one eye, and once she recovers from the surgery she'll be living her little piggy life to the full.
Make sure you keep all receipts and invoices from the vets so that you can get Pets at Home to pay for her treatment.
 
They’ve done amazing work on one of my piggies before who needed to go under anaesthetic, I believe they use a ‘reversible’ GA for all their small animals, which makes the operation less risky, but obviously I cant be sure in your case.

Ask them for a print off of every charge (a receipt), they’ll do it for you happily and I certainly think you should get some sort of compensation from the store. May I ask which one you went to?
I completely avoid the one at the beach as last time I went there was a deathly sick pig, and they didn’t want to do anything about it (they eventually took it away, but god knows what happened after).

My thoughts are with you and your girl at this time x
 
Wishing your girl the best and hope all goes well with the surgery. It’s good she’s got her friend there for company.
 
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