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Machu gummy eye and head tilt

machuandpicchumummy

machuandpicchumummy

Junior Guinea Pig
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As you may remember Picchu has had an eye ulcer over the last week and he's basically back to normal now and we are continuing treatment until 5th May when he's next in the vet. Today I've noticed Machu has a gunky eye and a also a slight head tilt. He is also moving his head when stationary in a tilted way. I've called the vet and he's in this afternoon. I was just wondering if you've ever heard of eye problems that can cause head tilt and if it could be something that he caught off Picchu potentially.
 

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machuandpicchumummy said:
As you may remember Picchu has had an eye ulcer over the last week and he's basically back to normal now and we are continuing treatment until 5th May when he's next in the vet. Today I've noticed Machu has a gunky eye and a also a slight head tilt. He is also moving his head when stationary in a tilted way. I've called the vet and he's in this afternoon. I was just wondering if you've ever heard of eye problems that can cause head tilt and if it could be something that he caught off Picchu potentially.
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Hi

Please keep in mind that the respiratory tract is connected to the nasal cavities and via that to the eyes and also the ears. It sounds like an infection that could be situated in the nasal or ear area. Good that you have booked an appointment promptly.

All the best for getting on top of it quickly!
 
Glad he is on the mend. If an eye injury is particularly painful it can cause them to tilt their heads. Is he on pain meds too? I would keep a close eye on him and go back to the vets if it doesn't seem to be healing as quickly as you expect just in case its a deeper injury than normal.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
Glad he is on the mend. If an eye injury is particularly painful it can cause them to tilt their heads. Is he on pain meds too? I would keep a close eye on him and go back to the vets if it doesn't seem to be healing as quickly as you expect just in case its a deeper injury than normal.
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He is on metacam for pain as well so hopefully he is not in pain 😭 yes I will take him back straight away if he doesn't look like he's healing
 
Almost a week on and he isn't really looking any better 😭 Picchu was 90% looking better by this point. That has been our only experience with eye injury so I'm not sure if healing time can vary based on how bad it was etc. Has anyone here had any experience of eye injury taking a while to show any improvement?

Doesn't help that he scratches his eye constantly after the drops every time 🙄. I try and stop him and sit with him after but of course I can't sit with him 24/7 to jump in if he's scratching.
 

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Oh poor little man!
Did they check and make sure that there was no tiny bits of hay in there, it looks so sore? My vet removed some tiny little bits from under her eyelid, I would have never even seen them, it she had a pain old hay poke
Maybe a stronger AB would help
 
Bill & Ted said:
Oh poor little man!
Did they check and make sure that there was no tiny bits of hay in there, it looks so sore? My vet removed some tiny little bits from under her eyelid, I would have never even seen them, it she had a pain old hay poke
Maybe a stronger AB would help
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Yes they had a look under his eyelid with a torch and couldn't see anything. He's also got a lubricating drop to wash his eye out in case anything surfaced. It just looks really sore and hasn't improved so I'm just a bit worried about him. He has a check up appointment next week, booked at the time of his first appointment to check he's healing well. We are using Isathal at the moment, I can try calling and seeing if they have anything stronger they can offer us.
 
I was given a slightly stronger AB, it’s 0.5% Chloramphenicol antibiotics, one drop 3-6 times a day, maybe you could try and get a sooner checkup?

Hope he improves 🤞
 
Aw poor Machu, it does still look sore doesn't it! I'd give the vets a call and see if they can offer another treatment. We've had good results with remend corneal repair gel too, along with chloramphenicol eye drops and metacam.
 
Merab's Slave said:
Holding you in my heart ♥️
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Thank you 💕 luckily I have managed to contact the shop that I bought the hay that caused it from and they have recalled the batch and informed people it contains some small sticks with thorns on as well as some big ones. They also gave me a fairly large voucher and free gifts for the inconvenience and expensive vets visits.
 
Hi, I am sorry his eye is not improving, a normal hay poke injury would be very much improved by now. As I mentioned before, the head tilt he had when he first injured his eye would have been a sign of pain, possibly as a result of a more penetrative injury. Sadly it seems that may be the case.
I have two of my pigs who have had these more serious kinds of injuries. Both had a head tilt in the beginning and both took a long time to heal and were left with permanent damage. It is very difficult for a vet to be able to see the extent of the damage, mainly due to the eyes natural responce to injury of turning cloudy and ulcerating. That said I would recommend taking him back to the vet as soon as possible and not wait until next week. As others have said there are stronger eye drops that may work better in his case. It is also important that he remains on the metacam.
In the case of my piggies one ended up with scarring to her eye, which my vet says means she has around 60% sight loss in that eye. In the case of the other piggy her eye kind of shrunk away. But both are perfectly fine, not in any pain and lead normal lives. Just be prepared that it may take a time for Machu's eye to resolve itself, keep going with the meds, their eyes have an amazing ability to heal even if there is some permanent loss of sight.
I will try and take some photos tomorrow but my phone is away being mended and the quality of photos using this tablet is not great and may not be enough to show details of eyes very well.
 
Pound Shilling & Pig said:
Hi, I am sorry his eye is not improving, a normal hay poke injury would be very much improved by now. As I mentioned before, the head tilt he had when he first injured his eye would have been a sign of pain, possibly as a result of a more penetrative injury. Sadly it seems that may be the case.
I have two of my pigs who have had these more serious kinds of injuries. Both had a head tilt in the beginning and both took a long time to heal and were left with permanent damage. It is very difficult for a vet to be able to see the extent of the damage, mainly due to the eyes natural responce to injury of turning cloudy and ulcerating. That said I would recommend taking him back to the vet as soon as possible and not wait until next week. As others have said there are stronger eye drops that may work better in his case. It is also important that he remains on the metacam.
In the case of my piggies one ended up with scarring to her eye, which my vet says means she has around 60% sight loss in that eye. In the case of the other piggy her eye kind of shrunk away. But both are perfectly fine, not in any pain and lead normal lives. Just be prepared that it may take a time for Machu's eye to resolve itself, keep going with the meds, their eyes have an amazing ability to heal even if there is some permanent loss of sight.
I will try and take some photos tomorrow but my phone is away being mended and the quality of photos using this tablet is not great and may not be enough to show details of eyes very well.
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Thanks for your reply. I'm sorry to hear about your pigs 😢 It is now a week since I first noticed the problem and there's not been too much improvement 😔 I'll call the vet and see if we can get an earlier appointment. Thank you for the advice.
 

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