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Hay poke/Cloudy eye

MildredMaudeandEnid

MildredMaudeandEnid

Junior Guinea Pig
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Hi guys

My girl Millie got a hay poke on Wednesday and the vet has given her isathal drops twice a day. I'm just wondering how quickly they should start to work? I forgot to ask the vet and now they're closed until Tuesday. I can't say I've seen much improvement so far and the vet said she only needs to see her again if it doesn't clear up. Millie is fine in herself other than not being very happy with me fussing her.

Cheers!
 
Usually, in the case of a minor haypoke, they work quickly but it obviously depends on the situation. Some can take longer to heal. We also recommend administering an artificial tear gel. Did the vet give pain relief also?

Whenever mine have had had a minor haypoke, the eye has started to clear up within a couple of days and it’s completely healed by a week. My vet has always requested a follow up appointment after a week to check progress.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Usually, in the case of a minor haypoke, they work quickly but it obviously depends on the situation. Some can take longer to heal. We also recommend administering an artificial tear gel. Did the vet give pain relief also?

Whenever mine have had had a minor haypoke, the eye has started to clear up within a couple of days and it’s completely healed by a week. My vet has always requested a follow up appointment after a week to check progress.
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Thanks for the reply! The vet said the isathal was an antibiotic and lubricant so no need for artificial tears. She didn't prescribe a pain killer but I do have some metacam from a previous illness. I'll see how she's doing by the end of the weekend. If there's still no improvement I'll book her back in. It's hard to tell as the actual injury is on the sclera. The eye still looks quite cloudy though.
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
Thanks for the reply! The vet said the isathal was an antibiotic and lubricant so no need for artificial tears. She didn't prescribe a pain killer but I do have some metacam from a previous illness. I'll see how she's doing by the end of the weekend. If there's still no improvement I'll book her back in. It's hard to tell as the actual injury is on the sclera. The eye still looks quite cloudy though.
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Hi

The eye often looks cloudier in the later stages of healing. I agree from having prescribed artificial tear gel by several vets in conjunction with isathal and - in much worse cases choloramphenicol - in recent years that it makes a noticeable difference in speeding up the healing process.
Metacam in the first few days will help with the pain and any inflammation.

However, you will get there on the twice daily isathal, it will just take a bit longer. ;)
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

The eye often looks cloudier in the later stages of healing. I agree from having prescribed artificial tear gel by several vets in conjunction with isathal and - in much worse cases choloramphenicol - in recent years that it makes a noticeable difference in speeding up the healing process.
Metacam in the first few days will help with the pain and any inflammation.

However, you will get there on the twice daily isathal, it will just take a bit longer. ;)
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Thanks, Wiebke. I was worried that it looked cloudier now than when she first did it so that makes sense. She's supposed to be going into boarding on the 9th so I'm hoping she's better by then but I've contacted the boarders to discuss it with them just in case she needs an extended course of eye drops. She seems fine in herself other than not being happy with me.

I've got some metacam but it was prescribed last January. Would it still be OK to use? It was prescribed for Millie.
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
Thanks, Wiebke. I was worried that it looked cloudier now than when she first did it so that makes sense. She's supposed to be going into boarding on the 9th so I'm hoping she's better by then but I've contacted the boarders to discuss it with them just in case she needs an extended course of eye drops. She seems fine in herself other than not being happy with me.

I've got some metacam but it was prescribed last January. Would it still be OK to use? It was prescribed for Millie.
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I think that your piggy is now over the worst and well into the healing process (as much as I can judge sight unseen) so the metacam will no longer be necessary. Give it another week but the eye should hopefully be back to normal in 10 days' time. If there are any concerns please have her vet checked before you leave. Just be patient for the turn of the year. You are only a few days into the healing process after all.
 
Wiebke said:
I think that your piggy is now over the worst and well into the healing process (as much as I can judge sight unseen) so the metacam will no longer be necessary. Give it another week but the eye should hopefully be back to normal in 10 days' time. If there are any concerns please have her vet checked before you leave. Just be patient for the turn of the year. You are only a few days into the healing process after all.
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You can still get some carbomer based tear gel like viscotears (UK brand) or similar today from a pharmacy or order it online. Normal plain eye drops are not quite as efficient as they do not penetrate as deeply as the gel (which is the best thing to help with the cloudiness inside the eye) but will do if you cannot get anything else. They are all pretty
much the same.
Please always wait for at least half an hour after applying the antibiotic eye drops or gel to allow the medicated drops to be fully absorbed. You can apply the eye gel three times a day and plain tear drops double as often.
 
I've had Millie back to the vets today as it didn't seem to be getting any better. I saw a different vet and she thinks it's a worse injury than initially thought. She's got another week of isathal and metacam. I do think it looks a little better today but it's slow going. I'm supposed to be going on holiday on Monday so I'm hoping she's better by then. 🤞

This is her eye today.
20230103_092454.webp
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
I've had Millie back to the vets today as it didn't seem to be getting any better. I saw a different vet and she thinks it's a worse injury than initially thought. She's got another week of isathal and metacam. I do think it looks a little better today but it's slow going. I'm supposed to be going on holiday on Monday so I'm hoping she's better by then. 🤞

This is her eye today.
View attachment 217423
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Have you got yourself some eye gel as we have recommended to help speed up the healing process?
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
The vet said the isathal contains a lubricant so extra eyedrops weren't needed.
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As stated before the turn of the year, what your vet has given you will hopefully eventually heal the eye but more slowly. In view of you going away, the extra gel would have speeded up the healing process so the eye would have hopefully completely healed up by the time you went away.

My own vet has given me isathal and asked me explicitly to get some extra tear gel as the hay poke had affected the deeper levels of the eye and not just the surface, but as with any non-medical support products, the choice is yours.
Isathal is not quite efficient in the deeper layers of the eye where the infection is still sitting visibly while the surface where it is designed to work at is mostly healed now.
 
Wiebke said:
As stated before the turn of the year, what your vet has given you will heal the eye but more slowly. In view of you going away, the extra gel would have speeded up the healing process so the eye would have hopefully healed up by the time you went away.

My own vet has given me isathal and asked me explicitly to get some extra tear gel, but as with any non-medical support products, the choice is yours. The isathal is not quite efficient in the deeper layers of the eye where the infection is still sitting while the surface where it is designed to work at is mostly healed now.
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I'm reluctant to give her anything that hasn't been prescribed by a vet. I've had allergic reactions to OTC eyedrops before and wouldn't want to use something that might not agree with her. I've been told the same thing by two different exotic specialists so I don't really want to go against their recommendations.
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
I'm reluctant to give her anything that hasn't been prescribed by a vet. I've had allergic reactions to OTC eyedrops before and wouldn't want to use something that might not agree with her. I've been told the same thing by two different exotic specialists so I don't really want to go against their recommendations.
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As said, it is your choice but you have to accept the pace of healing with just the twice daily isathal, which is about the mildest level of prescription.
 
MildredMaudeandEnid said:
I'm reluctant to give her anything that hasn't been prescribed by a vet. I've had allergic reactions to OTC eyedrops before and wouldn't want to use something that might not agree with her. I've been told the same thing by two different exotic specialists so I don't really want to go against their recommendations.
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Obviously you should do what you are most comfortable with but it is disappointing that 2 specialist vets have not recommended something that can really help speed up the process.
Having treated various hay pokes over the years I can vouch fo the fact that the addition of tear gel certainly seems to help them heal much faster.
Did your 2 specialist vets specifically say not to use tear gel?

I learnt about ti on here, and when I mentioned it to my vet (also a specialist) she said it wouldn't do ay harm to give it a try (in addition to the prescribed medication). When we revisited for a follow up she was impressed with the results, but said sometimes vets were often reluctant to recommend otc treatments, as next time clients might think they could go ahead and bypass the vet altogether.
 
Swissgreys said:
Obviously you should do what you are most comfortable with but it is disappointing that 2 specialist vets have not recommended something that can really help speed up the process.
Having treated various hay pokes over the years I can vouch fo the fact that the addition of tear gel certainly seems to help them heal much faster.
Did your 2 specialist vets specifically say not to use tear gel?

I learnt about ti on here, and when I mentioned it to my vet (also a specialist) she said it wouldn't do ay harm to give it a try (in addition to the prescribed medication). When we revisited for a follow up she was impressed with the results, but said sometimes vets were often reluctant to recommend otc treatments, as next time clients might think they could go ahead and bypass the vet altogether.
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They just said it wasn't necessary and didn't advise to use it. I understand that you're all giving advice from experience but I don't feel comfortable giving my pets something that hasn't specifically been recommended by the vet. There are a lot of different eyedrops and artificial tears and I can't imagine they're all suitable for animals. I'm seeing the vet again before I go on holiday so I won't be going if they're not happy with her progress.
 
I got Remend corneal repair gel and a stronger AB eye drop from my vet Chloramphenicol 0.5% I hope poor Millie is feeling better soon 🤞
 
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