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Eye Ulcer? Help

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chennnnn.w

New Born Pup
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Hi,

I just bought my guinea pigs two weeks ago and they are only 13 weeks for now. However, I found there was a little bit redness and ulcer on the eyelid of Barry. He is still very energetic and behaves like normal. Is it a big problem? Do I need to take him to the vet?

Thanks!IMG_2913.webp
 
chennnnn.w said:
Hi,

I just bought my guinea pigs two weeks ago and they are only 13 weeks for now. However, I found there was a little bit redness and ulcer on the eyelid of Barry. He is still very energetic and behaves like normal. Is it a big problem? Do I need to take him to the vet?

Thanks!View attachment 167737
Click to expand...

Hi and welcome

Please have your boy seen for either of the very start of a ringworm infection or a potential not yet ulcerated (Ulceration is a greyish/bluish patch or film of gunk on the eye surface) eye irritation.
How Soon Should My Guinea Pig See A Vet? - A Quick Guide
Tips For Vet Visits

My personal money would be rather on the ringworm with the look of the crusty scabbing starting to form on and just below the lid, as this is sadly not at all uncommon in chain pet shop piggies. The time between infection and outbreak is about 10-14 days. Ringworm forming by the eyes is a classic place. You can reclaim any vet fees and treatment cost from the pets shop as part of your customer rights for having been sold in effect damaged ware by presenting the sales receipt together with the vet bill.
New guinea pigs: Sexing, vet checks&customer rights, URI, ringworm and parasites
Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures
 
Thank you so much! The vet said it's a bite caused by fighting. It's neither an ulcer nor ringworm injection.
 
Have you seen them fighting?
 
Ringworm can look like a bite or a scratch at first (although it doesn't like one in your picture) but the area will grow larger and covered in a white crust very quickly. When you look at the pictures at the end of the ringworm guide you can see that I have included one that has started out looking like a scratch. ;)
Here is the link again. Please look at the pictures so you can recognise ringworm when it takes off: Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

How piggy savvy was the vet you have seen?
Vet Locator
 
chennnnn.w said:
Yes sometimes
Click to expand...

Do be clear what you mean by fighting - Full on fighting, fur ball rolling around, injuries occurring, is grounds for immediate separation as their bond is broken. Ensure all your hides have two exits so no piggy can get cornered in one by the other - this is how defensive wounds can occur. Dominance behaviours (chasing, mounting, teeth chattering) can look full on, but is normal and to be expected of piggies who are almost teenagers.
 
Wiebke said:
Ringworm can look like a bite or a scratch at first (although it doesn't like one in your picture) but the area will grow larger and covered in a white crust very quickly. When you look at the pictures at the end of the ringworm guide you can see that I have included one that has started out looking like a scratch. ;)
Here is the link again. Please look at the pictures so you can recognise ringworm when it takes off: Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures

How piggy savvy was the vet you have seen?
Vet Locator
Click to expand...
Thanks！I will keep an eye on him in the next few days. At the moment, he didn't paw at that the area so maybe it's not ichy.

I'll bring him to the listed vet if I recognise the ringworm!
 
chennnnn.w said:
Thanks！I will keep an eye on him in the next few days. At the moment, he didn't paw at that the area so maybe it's not ichy.

I'll bring him to the listed vet if I recognise the ringworm!
Click to expand...

All the best! Fighting is a lot less common that many vets not familiar with guinea pigs seem to assume.
We are here if you need more practical support. Please use this thread again so we can keep all information on the same case together for better advice when we can refer back to what has already been said/ruled out. You can always pick up your ongoing support via the Find threads/Your thread button. Unlike social media we can provide ongoing support and keep any thread running for as long as needed.
 
I found a white patch inside my another piggy's ear yesterday, so I brought them to another vet. I tried to register the nearest cavy savvy vet. However, during covid they don't accept any new registrations. As I live in central London, it's quite sad there are not many cavy savvy vets.

The vet was not 100% sure if it's the ringworm, so she took some samples to do the lab test. Based on the vet's advice, before I get the results, I shouldn't give them any treatments. However, it's going to take 5-10 days to get the results. I was suggested to give my piggies pain killer(Metacam) 1ml every day but not any treatments for ringworm yet. I feel like my piggies are very happy and behave normally. Do they really need the pain killer? ( It's my first time to have guinea pigs so I have no idea about any the treatments)

To be honest, I'm almost 98% sure that my piggies are suffering ringworms when I compared the online pictures with my piggies symptoms. After reading the Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures, I bought F10 disinfectant and cleaned everything inside the cage. I'm wondering because they are still in the cage with ringworm, even I cleaned the cage and changed the beddings, does it mean the cage is still with fungus? How often should I clean the cage?

Thanks a lot!
 
Usually the vet should treat the ringworm while waiting for the test results because ringworm is so contagious, if it looks suspect- I have to say your first photo I immediately thought ringworm, as did Wiebke and VickiA who have lots of experience with this.
However you do need proper prescription treatments, from a vet- and so close to the eye a topical treatment would be risky, oral itrafungal medicine on prescription would be best. Have you viewed our vet locator, to help find a more experienced piggy vet?
 
PigglePuggle said:
Usually the vet should treat the ringworm while waiting for the test results because ringworm is so contagious, if it looks suspect- I have to say your first photo I immediately thought ringworm, as did Wiebke and VickiA who have lots of experience with this.
However you do need proper prescription treatments, from a vet- and so close to the eye a topical treatment would be risky, oral itrafungal medicine on prescription would be best. Have you viewed our vet locator, to help find a more experienced piggy vet?
Click to expand...
Yes I've checked with the vet locator. The nearest vet doesn't accept any new patients unless emerngency or refferal because of covid. The second nearest vet is really far away and I don't have a car so it's not easy for both of us.
 
Could you try the vets in Bromley Common? Piggies can travel well on public transport. There have been members who went far to collect adopted piggies and used public transport. I think I would consider travelling a little further to get the correct treatment.

Hope you can find a way round the travel difficulties.
 
1ml metacam per pig in one go seems like quite a high dose - especially if they are not in obvious pain and are behaving normally.
There are 2 strengths of metacam: 'dog' type is 1.5mg/ml but 'cat' type is 0.5mg/ml so basically 3 times the difference. I am typically prescribed twice-a-day 0.23ml (ish) of 'dog' for a full-grown 1 kilo pig when they are clearly in pain, for instance after dental surgery or peeing blood with a bladder infection (which would be about 0.72ml of 'cat' I expect). It is bodyweight dependent so the vet should have weighed each pig and calculated the dose. Even assuming you have the weaker 'cat' version 1 ml in one go seems a lot for younger, smaller pigs and if it is the dog version it is definitely very high.

If it was a bite the other pig was very careful to only bite the lid and not catch the eye... and I don't think fighting pigs are usually that careful!

Good luck little piggies x
 
chennnnn.w said:
I found a white patch inside my another piggy's ear yesterday, so I brought them to another vet. I tried to register the nearest cavy savvy vet. However, during covid they don't accept any new registrations. As I live in central London, it's quite sad there are not many cavy savvy vets.

The vet was not 100% sure if it's the ringworm, so she took some samples to do the lab test. Based on the vet's advice, before I get the results, I shouldn't give them any treatments. However, it's going to take 5-10 days to get the results. I was suggested to give my piggies pain killer(Metacam) 1ml every day but not any treatments for ringworm yet. I feel like my piggies are very happy and behave normally. Do they really need the pain killer? ( It's my first time to have guinea pigs so I have no idea about any the treatments)

To be honest, I'm almost 98% sure that my piggies are suffering ringworms when I compared the online pictures with my piggies symptoms. After reading the Ringworm: Hygiene And Pictures, I bought F10 disinfectant and cleaned everything inside the cage. I'm wondering because they are still in the cage with ringworm, even I cleaned the cage and changed the beddings, does it mean the cage is still with fungus? How often should I clean the cage?

Thanks a lot!
Click to expand...

Hi!

As long as they have areas with acute fungal, they are shedding lots of invisible spores all the time so disinfecting the cage daily is a bit of a lost battle until you can treat; a bit like shovelling snow during a blizzard. Concentrate on not getting any spores on yourself (all that Covid hygiene training will come in handy) and make sure that you are not transmitting them further yourself for the time being.

Do a deep clean of everything in the cage and immediately around with F10 at the start and at the end of ringworm treatment; the latter together with a bath making sure that now spores are in any way carried across. This big clean of any potential place spores could be at the end of treatment is the most important one to prevent a return of ringworm. Once you have got some decent treatment (either itrafungol or a dip), you should get on top of any acute ringworm within 7-10 days. It is going to be a pain but it is doable. The problem with ringworm is not that it is a killing disease (it generally isn't) but because of its long lasting contagiousness and easy cross-species transmission.
 
Siikibam said:
Could you try the vets in Bromley Common? Piggies can travel well on public transport. There have been members who went far to collect adopted piggies and used public transport. I think I would consider travelling a little further to get the correct treatment.

Hope you can find a way round the travel difficulties.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the recommendation but Bromley common is 20 miles away from my home.
 
Free Ranger said:
1ml metacam per pig in one go seems like quite a high dose - especially if they are not in obvious pain and are behaving normally.
There are 2 strengths of metacam: 'dog' type is 1.5mg/ml but 'cat' type is 0.5mg/ml so basically 3 times the difference. I am typically prescribed twice-a-day 0.23ml (ish) of 'dog' for a full-grown 1 kilo pig when they are clearly in pain, for instance after dental surgery or peeing blood with a bladder infection (which would be about 0.72ml of 'cat' I expect). It is bodyweight dependent so the vet should have weighed each pig and calculated the dose. Even assuming you have the weaker 'cat' version 1 ml in one go seems a lot for younger, smaller pigs and if it is the dog version it is definitely very high.

If it was a bite the other pig was very careful to only bite the lid and not catch the eye... and I don't think fighting pigs are usually that careful!

Good luck little piggies x
Click to expand...
Sorry, it's a typo. 0.1ml of 'cat' type every day. They are about 600g each so I think it's the right dose.
 
They really need to be seen by an experienced vet. You don’t want that getting worse. It’s unfortunate that there aren’t experienced vets everywhere.

Good luck and I hope they’re sorted soon.
 
chennnnn.w said:
Sorry, it's a typo. 0.1ml of 'cat' type every day. They are about 600g each so I think it's the right dose.
Click to expand...

0.1 ml of cat metacam is a cosmetic dose and as low as a vet can go. Like giving a human a quarter of a paracetamol a day for a broken leg. Not that it does do anything for ringworm in the first place. I would personally not bother.
 
Hi guys,

I have another question about my piggies' urine colour and the way they pee.

I found there were some dark brown spots every morning on the side wall of the cage. Is it normal they pee towards the wall? I don't see any urine on the wall during the day time. Is the colour of dark brown abnormal? Their urine on the beddings is in orange/brown. I assumed that's the correct color after oxidation of urine.

（I tried to upload pictures but it always shows the file was not an image as expected)
 
It does become a rusty/brown colour when oxidised. It’s not normal to pee towards the wall though, unless they’re spraying pee.
 
Siikibam said:
It does become a rusty/brown colour when oxidised. It’s not normal to pee towards the wall though, unless they’re spraying pee.
Click to expand...
Thank you! The colour is quite rusty. I thought they peed blood, but they still eat and drink and didn't make any strange noise. Maybe I am just overthinking as a new mum of two piggies.
 
Pop them in a plastic tub / clean washing up bowl with a bit of wet veg and wait for a wee... you should see that fresh looks much more like you'd expect.
Some pigs have more orangey pee - and if they've been eating a lot of beet-leaves or red veggies it can tint the colour too!
 
Free Ranger said:
Pop them in a plastic tub / clean washing up bowl with a bit of wet veg and wait for a wee... you should see that fresh looks much more like you'd expect.
Some pigs have more orangey pee - and if they've been eating a lot of beet-leaves or red veggies it can tint the colour too!
Click to expand...
Will do that! Thanks a lot!
 
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