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Hay in eye!

StardustEcho

StardustEcho

Junior Guinea Pig
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I must have angered the luck fairy. Just picked up Alfyn from the rescue yesterday and he's already got hay in his eye. He's completely unbothered by it, I only noticed it when I gave him his daily health check. And of course, the second he was back in his cage he dive-bombed the hay again. šŸ˜‚
Given he doesn't even seem to notice it, I think it should be okay to wait for a vet appointment tomorrow morning, rather than the emergency vet tonight. I'm meant to be super busy all day at work but guess I'll have to make lots of apologies! My poor baby. Fingers crossed all goes smoothly.
I wondered whether it was best to try and remove it myself, but it's only a little bit poking out under the eyelid and I don't want to risk making it worse since it looks difficult to remove. Any advice until I can get him to the vet tomorrow?
 
StardustEcho said:
I must have angered the luck fairy. Just picked up Alfyn from the rescue yesterday and he's already got hay in his eye. He's completely unbothered by it, I only noticed it when I gave him his daily health check. And of course, the second he was back in his cage he dive-bombed the hay again. šŸ˜‚
Given he doesn't even seem to notice it, I think it should be okay to wait for a vet appointment tomorrow morning, rather than the emergency vet tonight. I'm meant to be super busy all day at work but guess I'll have to make lots of apologies! My poor baby. Fingers crossed all goes smoothly.
I wondered whether it was best to try and remove it myself, but it's only a little bit poking out under the eyelid and I don't want to risk making it worse since it looks difficult to remove. Any advice until I can get him to the vet tomorrow?
Click to expand...

Hi

Any non-bleeding eye injury should ideally be seen 'promptly', i.e. within 24 hours; please give them a call first thing in the morning to be hopefully seen on the day. If there is blood, then this counts as an emergency that should be seen straight away.

Unless you already have some carbomer based eye gel or plain tear drops at home (for comfort), I would wait until you can see a vet; any general vet that will see guinea pigs will do since diagnosis and medication is the same as with cats and dogs.
I would leave any piece of hay stuck for the vet who will have the extra (nurses')hands and experience to gently remove it without further scratching the cornea.
You are likely going to be given antibiotic eye drops/gel and corneal repai drops (Remend).
 
Thanks. I'm going to give them a ring in half an hour when they open. He still seems unbothered this morning so hopefully it's not causing him too much pain or discomfort.
 
Had an appointment this morning, not hay but rather a white spot in his eye. On closer examination he has a tiny white spot in the other eye too. According to vet itā€™s a calcium deposit and likely isnā€™t bothering him so Iā€™m just to keep an eye on it and bring him in should anything change. He did get the orange dye to check for any scratches which has made around his eyes a lovely shade of yellow for a day or so. šŸ˜‚

He got a full checkover while there and the vet was a little concerned about the firmness of one of his neuter spots, so Iā€™m to keep an eye on that and heā€™s back for another check of that next week.

He was a fan favourite of the vets who saw him and got to show off his best rumbles to all the people who wanted snuggles. Now heā€™s home and frolicking happily in his hay.
 
I've been keeping an eye on him since the last appointment, specifically around the neuter site and on Saturday it become apparent that it was definitely swollen. Managed to get him in and the vet drained it, apparently got a fair chunk of gunk. He's on Baytril with a further appointment on Thursday, but it's gotten slightly swollen again, even though he seems largely unbothered. The vet did say I could squeeze it should I feel it necessary but I hesitate to do anything that involves further risk of infection or pain. Am I best off trying to get another appointment tomorrow instead of waiting? Or is constantly draining not going to solve any underlying issue? What's the best procedure here? Thanks for any advice.
 
Oh, and I should specify the vet did wish to prescribe a different antibiotic but they had none available, so Baytril it was. Hopefully when we're back we can get a stronger one.
 
The saga continues. The abscess was looking better last week (after having been drained at 3 separate vet appointments!) and I was hopeful the antibiotics would help. No such luck. It's all swollen again so off we went to the vet this morning. He drew out a lot of black-ish stuff and necrotic tissue, so Alfyn's booked in tomorrow to debride & clean the whole thing. Hopefully, we see more success with this as multiple drainings and Baytril for over a week don't seem to have helped. At least he keeps getting compliments on his majestic fluff! šŸ˜‚

Alfyn.webp
 
It is extremely majestic floof ā¤. My beastie boys send healing rumbles.....
 
All seems to have gone well! Got him home yesterday afternoon, a bit groggy but already eating happily. Turns out when the vet went in, he had a tiny abscess on the other side too that no one noticed previously so that got cleaned out as well.
He's currently on metacam (which he refuses from the syringe and instead wants to lick up from a surface, i.e. my hand šŸ˜‚). Back on Monday to see how he's progressing and hopefully be given a different antibiotic as the vet sent off a culture to see why the abscess wasn't responding to the Baytril (I have my guesses the Baytril wasn't strong enough but we'll wait and see). So fingers crossed he feels better soon and the abscesses don't re-appear! šŸ¤ž
Thanks for all the well wishes, means a lot! ā¤ļø
 
Abscess is back, though doesnā€™t seem as swollen. Culture finally cane back from the lab. He has an anaerobic infection (at least I think that was right!) and is now on metronidzole instead of baytril. Had his first dose last night and when I came in this morning he was wheezing away. So off to the vets again now. He just canā€™t seem to catch a break. šŸ˜¢
 
Thanks all (and Merry Christmas)!
His chest is fine thankfully, no issues there. His abscesses have been going down and he's loving the metronidazole. Was back at the vets on Friday where he was prescribed co-trimoxazole too as apparently there is a second bacteria that they can't identify in his sample. Next appointment on Friday 29th to see how his progression is.
However, I noticed some dried blood around the area today. There is pus underneath it I think and a small hard-ish lump where I assume it's come from. Originally wondered if the abscess had maybe burst but the small lump seems new. If it wasn't Christmas we'd be right at the vets but I'm at a loss as to whether to go. I can get him seen by the vets on Wednesday 27th but they're closed till then. If I thought it was massively serious I'd bite the bullet of the emergency vet costs but money is tight and I don't think it's an emergency/urgent? Plus I've seen the emergency vet before for a few guinea pigs and they don't have the knowledge of our regular vet. There are no guinea pig specialists available right now and I'm not particularly enthused at the idea of spending Ā£200+ to be told he just needs to stay on the antibiotics or they don't know what to do and to see our regular vet. Any advice is much appreciated. He's completely fine in himself and shows absolutely zero signs of pain or bother.
 
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