Constant and repeated hay pokes

[dietmilk]

Hi All,

I am the proud dad of 4 piggies (3 skinny 1 hair - all same family) and I have had the issue of hay pokes for almost 3 weeks now. I wanted to reach out to some more educated guinea pig caretakers and see if maybe I could get some advice on how to prevent this in the future. One of my piggies received a hay poke on Christmas day (pic attached) and due to the day, I opted to pull to see if there was any resistance and if it could be removed at home. The hay came out fine, and it looked to have gone between her eyelid and the eye, but she was rushed to the vet the next morning. She was proscribed Meloxicam and Neomycin for the eye and things appeared to go well, her eye was turning more white over the next few days but started to fade. I took her in for a 1-week checkup and I pulled her out of the carrier and the same eye looked red and almost like it ruptured, the vet came in and discovered she got a second piece of hay in her eye and pulled out a massive strand maybe an inch long. Today I was treating that hay poke, and she had yet another piece of hay in her eye (pic attached). This has never happened with these guinea pigs over the 18 months I have had them, and now all of a sudden, I have had three in a row (all the same eye). I always dust the hay (but maybe I'm not doing it well enough) and the only thing I have changed with their hay was going from those 90oz Oxbow timothy hay bags to the 50lb box of Oxbow timothy hay, which means the hay is no longer being inspected.

I just had one pass away from some oral antibiotics that were prescribed after a hay poke, and it's making me a little paranoid about my other ones. She is still eating lots of hay, she is active and has felt plump every time I have picked her up, but I have not been weighing her.

I have a few questions:

How long can a guinea pig take Meloxicam with no issues? She will have been on it for almost a week+ by her next checkup. (She is a full-sized female)
Is there a good way to tell if hay is dry? Mine has a lot of dust, but it looks like most of the hay is a dark green leafy color.
Is it safe to pull hay from eye at home? This has never happened, and the first time being a holiday has proven to be a challenge getting to the vet sometimes.
What signs are there to tell if her eye is getting worse? It looks quite white, but not nearly as much as a few days ago. Maybe it will flair up again now.
Any general advice on what I can do to prevent this moving forward?

 

[Piggies&buns]

Welcome to the forum

I'm sorry to hear this. These things always crop up at the most tricky of times.
It’s just unfortunate that you have seen so many in a short space of time.

In answer to your questions.

1. It’s fine she is on pain killers. We on the forum and myself personally have many animals on painkillers for long term conditions (so literally in it for years) such as arthritis. A week on painkillers is nothing in the grand scheme.
2. If it feels dry, and doesn’t smell musty then the hay should be fine
3. We never recommend action for a haypoke is taken at home and always advise a vet visit within 24 hours of the injury occurring. Here in the Uk we are very lucky in that eye injuries are seen with the urgency they require and will almost always be fit in that day due to the speed with which they deteriorate.
4. Anything which means the eye is clouding up, red, bleeding etc means it is getting worse.
Going white and cloudy means ulceration is occurring and therefore antibiotic eye drops and painkillers are needed asap.
5. Sadly nothing. It is just something which happens and there is very little you can do to prevent it.

 

[ScrufflesRules]

I'd recommend taking photos of the eye on a daily basis during recovery too, so that you can objectively judge whether it's getting better instead of trying to remember what it looked like before.
I hope she gets better soon- Piggies&buns has given brilliant advice above.

 

[dietmilk]

Okay this is all good advice and I appreciate you both for taking the time to comment and help me out. I have checked the hay and based on the info here it seems okay. My sweet girl is running around, interacting, playing, eating, and she can fully open her eye, but it is a bit white. I will keep going with the pain, and eye meds until I am able to get to the vet! The pics of the eye is a good idea as well - thank you for that tip!