Conjunctivitis / eye shut half way with crusties

[Jazz1738]

Hi ! It’s my first time posting here.
3 days ago I noticed in the morning that Yuki’s right eye was half closed with some crusties, the previous night her eyes were fine & there was no signs of crusties or being half shut. All my other guinea pigs were fine and happy as well, all playing and running around 9 hours before. I booked a vet visit ASAP and got her in, I thought it might have been hay stuck in her eye since I had introduced new hay the previous day. He checked her eye, nothing was in there and told me it’s conjunctivitis but there are many reasons why this could of happened he wasn’t too sure. Yuki was running around, eating, and going to the bathroom fine as well. No runny nose, or anything else. Prescribed her ophthalmic eye drops 3x a day for 10 days. I came home and noticed two of my other piggies had the same problem, one having both eyes effected, and another one having one eye being crusted not shut. I called him back and asked if it was safe to use the drops on them, and he gave the OK to do so. They aren’t open Saturday/Sunday but told me if the eyes aren’t looking much different by Tuesday to come back in. I’ve been doing the drops and cleaning their eye for 2 days and I see no improvement I let him know today it seems like their eyes are even more crusty at times, closed. I wish I knew what caused this, I’ve swapped back to their old hay they were on incase that was an issue which I also brought up to the vet and he told me to try that. Two of them look so sad walking around sometimes. I gave them some of their favorite veggies today and they all ate happily. I’m hoping they are okay and the drops start to work soon. He also informed me whatever was going on is not contagious.

Has anybody experienced this? Is there anything else I can do ? I’m cleaning their crusties using wash clothes with warm water and then put the drops in. I clean their cage once in morning, once at night & wash their stuff twice a week.

 

[Hope4gem]

Sorry to hear about your piggies! Not sure what could cause this. Only a vet could answer that and sometimes even they are not sure. Keep on with the advice the vet gave you. Did the vet tell you how long it may take for eye drops to work? Is this a vet who is knowledgable about piggies? If you're still concerned you could always seek a second opinion from a different vet.

 

[Siikibam]

Eyes are classed as an emergency. As treatment is the same for all animals, you can have them checked by a general vet. It would also be better to have them all seen rather than use meds on those that haven’t been vet checked. How many days have you been applying the drops for?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi ! It’s my first time posting here.
3 days ago I noticed in the morning that Yuki’s right eye was half closed with some crusties, the previous night her eyes were fine & there was no signs of crusties or being half shut. All my other guinea pigs were fine and happy as well, all playing and running around 9 hours before. I booked a vet visit ASAP and got her in, I thought it might have been hay stuck in her eye since I had introduced new hay the previous day. He checked her eye, nothing was in there and told me it’s conjunctivitis but there are many reasons why this could of happened he wasn’t too sure. Yuki was running around, eating, and going to the bathroom fine as well. No runny nose, or anything else. Prescribed her ophthalmic eye drops 3x a day for 10 days. I came home and noticed two of my other piggies had the same problem, one having both eyes effected, and another one having one eye being crusted not shut. I called him back and asked if it was safe to use the drops on them, and he gave the OK to do so. They aren’t open Saturday/Sunday but told me if the eyes aren’t looking much different by Tuesday to come back in. I’ve been doing the drops and cleaning their eye for 2 days and I see no improvement I let him know today it seems like their eyes are even more crusty at times, closed. I wish I knew what caused this, I’ve swapped back to their old hay they were on incase that was an issue which I also brought up to the vet and he told me to try that. Two of them look so sad walking around sometimes. I gave them some of their favorite veggies today and they all ate happily. I’m hoping they are okay and the drops start to work soon. He also informed me whatever was going on is not contagious.

Has anybody experienced this? Is there anything else I can do ? I’m cleaning their crusties using wash clothes with warm water and then put the drops in. I clean their cage once in morning, once at night & wash their stuff twice a week.

Hi!

Are the crusts transparent or thick greenish/yellowish or orangey?

In the first case, your vet may want to research to alternative causes like for example chlamydial conjunctivitis (which is highly infectious and species jumping) etc.

There are a couple of real nasties like this one around that can also affect guinea pigs. The sooner your vet can work out what is going (may need a lab test), the better. Some issues, like the above of which there was an outbreak in a UK rescue some years ago, can unfortunately be potentially fatal and require proper antibiotics and not just eye drops.

In the second case, you are more likely dealing with a URI.

 

[Merab]

Just wanted to offer support and a welcome to the forum.
Hope you can get the eyes sorted.

 

[Jazz1738]

Eyes are classed as an emergency. As treatment is the same for all animals, you can have them checked by a general vet. It would also be better to have them all seen rather than use meds on those that haven’t been vet checked. How many days have you been applying the drops for?

I have seen a vet and went in the morning of finding her eye that way. They have checked on yuki’s eyes but are not sure what is causing it he has told me there is a number of reasons it could be. I called back the day after asking my vet I saw, explained my two other guinea pigs had the same issues and he told me to use the same drops on them. Should I discontinue using it on their eyes? Eye drops have been used for 3 days. He has told me to bring them in Tuesday if it gets worse or I have not seen improvement. This vet is not open Saturday / Sundays.
Since last night one of my girl’s eyes (Crema) has improved a lot, no crusties so far. I’m attaching photos of Yuki the night before and Yuki the morning after. Her eyes in the first photo are what they were the night before.
I am hoping they are a little more relieved today right now they are all eating together.

 

[Jazz1738]

Sorry to hear about your piggies! Not sure what could cause this. Only a vet could answer that and sometimes even they are not sure. Keep on with the advice the vet gave you. Did the vet tell you how long it may take for eye drops to work? Is this a vet who is knowledgable about piggies? If you're still concerned you could always seek a second opinion from a different vet.

Thank you. He didn’t but prescribed it to be used for 3x a day for 10 days. Yes, he is in charge of looking at small animals. Depending how today is, I’m looking around at vets open here over the weekend.

 

[Jazz1738]

Hi!

Are the crusts transparent or thick greenish/yellowish or orangey?

In the first case, your vet may want to research to alternative causes like for example chlamydial conjunctivitis (which is highly infectious and species jumping) etc.

There are a couple of real nasties like this one around that can also affect guinea pigs. The sooner your vet can work out what is going (may need a lab test), the better. Some issues, like the above of which there was an outbreak in a UK rescue some years ago, can unfortunately be potentially fatal and require proper antibiotics and not just eye drops.

In the second case, you are more likely dealing with a URI.

Goodmorning thank you for your reply.
They are dried transparent crusties. I’ll be sure to bring up Chlamydial conjunctivitis if I go to a vet over the weekend and to the vet I saw when it opens. I am praying that they can have some relief soon.

 

[Jazz1738]

Just wanted to offer support and a welcome to the forum.
Hope you can get the eyes sorted.

Thank you very much, I am praying they can find some relief soon.

 

[Jazz1738]

Posting an update:
This morning all of their eyes are almost fully open & no crusties I booked an app Monday morning to take all of them in with the vet to check up on them.
I was extremely worried but I guess I just needed to wait for the drops to take effect, I don’t know if replacing their hay had any effect but I did swap back to their previous hay.

 

[Merab]

Hope the vet visit goes well.