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Protruding eye

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Julieo365

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Hi my guinea pig Nala has been to the vets twice has antibiotics and pain meds as the vet said it’s likely she has a tumour/abscess behind the eye. The antibiotics have not made it smaller however she is still eating drinking and not displaying signs of pain. She is about 4 ( I adopted her) so can’t be sure and lives with her sister. Not sure why I’m posting here just gutted and don’t want to let her go if she appears ok in every other way. Do guinea pigs continue to eat and drink when in pain because couldn’t bear her to suffer but finding it difficult to accept the time has come …any thoughts ?
 
So sorry to hear about your girl

One of my boys had an abscess behind the eye (retrobulbar). We got to a stage in which the vets where considering enucleation (eye removal), but a course of Azithromycin cleared it up in the end

He wasn’t eating, but started eating once the abscess erupted. I think it was the pressure that was painful for him

Have you tried different antibiotics?
 
Julieo365 said:
Hi my guinea pig Nala has been to the vets twice has antibiotics and pain meds as the vet said it’s likely she has a tumour/abscess behind the eye. The antibiotics have not made it smaller however she is still eating drinking and not displaying signs of pain. She is about 4 ( I adopted her) so can’t be sure and lives with her sister. Not sure why I’m posting here just gutted and don’t want to let her go if she appears ok in every other way. Do guinea pigs continue to eat and drink when in pain because couldn’t bear her to suffer but finding it difficult to accept the time has come …any thoughts ?
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Hi and welcome

HUGS

Very sorry about your problem. A retrobulbar abscess (an abscess behind the eye) ids sadly not all that uncommon. Baytril can unfortunately usually not get on top of it.

Your further options are:
a) an unlicensed strong antibiotic like zithromax (azithromycin) that has a better chance of getting on top of the abscess medically.
b) an eye removal operation (enucleation) to remove an untreatable abscess/allow it to drain via the eyehole.

Thankfully, eyesight is actually the weakest of the guinea pig senses (it is the strongest in humans), so an eye removal is not the end of the world and guinea pigs adapt to it well. Your piggy is not too old for an operation but you want a vet who is confident ad practiced with operating on small furries. If your vet has concerns about either way of treatment, then you may want see whether the Cat&Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton can help you; they are not all that far from you.
The Cat and Rabbit Clinic, Northampton - Referrals for guinea pigs with dental issues

Are you weighing your guinea pig regularly in order to monitor the all-imporant hay intake? It should make over three quarters of the daily food intake but you cannot control it by eye; it is also the first food group that suffers when there is pain since it is the hardest of guinea pig foods. The silica in the grass is what grinds down the all important back teeth and the gut is fully laid out for the digestion of highly nutritious but tough grass/hay fibre. Just eating veg is not enough since veg, pellets and any treats all together only replace the supplementary role that whild forage used to have.
Weight - Monitoring and Management

If there is weight loss or there is loss of appetite from a strong antibiotic that also affects the digestive gut bacteria, then you need to step in with syringe feeding support in order to make up for the missing hay. Weight loss/loss of appetite are some of the major indicators for pain since guinea pigs as prey animals are wired to suppress any illness to a quite amazing degree.
Our syringe feeding and medicating guide is very comprehensive and practical, including how to improvise initially: All About Syringe Feeding and Medicating Guinea Pigs with Videos and Pictures

Here is more information on any post-op care and for an eye removal recovery in one of my own piggies.
Tips For Post-operative Care
Please keep your fingers crossed for Meleri's eye removal operation!

All the best. Please take a deep breath. Your girl has a very change of living for a goodly while longer yet! :tu:
 
Good luck. I hope Zithromax clears it up. I had a piggy on this antibiotic for 6 weeks and it completely knocked his appetite. I had to syringe feed the whole time. But the good news is that he is fine now. Hopefully your piggy will be absolutely fine on it but I wanted you to be prepared just in case.
 
I've dealt with a lot of guinea pigs with retrobulbar abscesses and all have done very well. Most have needed eye enuculeation, but we have managed to save the eyes of some. The problem with an abscess behind the eye is that you can't get good drainage of the pus, so even with the best antibiotics, sometimes the eye needs to be removed to allow this drainage.

Zithromax (azithromycin) is the best antibiotic to use and although it can affect appetite, in over 15 years of using it with the guinea pigs here at TEAS, I have only ever had one guinea pig lose appetite whilst taking it.

I really would urge you to get your piggy seen by Simon or Kim Maddock at the Cat and Rabbit Care Clinic in Northampton, as they are so experienced with dealing with these types of issues.
 
Julieo365 said:
Thanks for your answers very much appreciated I will ask for a referral to the Northampton vet after trying different antibiotics x
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Julieo365 said:
Hi my guinea pig Nala has been to the vets twice has antibiotics and pain meds as the vet said it’s likely she has a tumour/abscess behind the eye. The antibiotics have not made it smaller however she is still eating drinking and not displaying signs of pain. She is about 4 ( I adopted her) so can’t be sure and lives with her sister. Not sure why I’m posting here just gutted and don’t want to let her go if she appears ok in every other way. Do guinea pigs continue to eat and drink when in pain because couldn’t bear her to suffer but finding it difficult to accept the time has come …any thoughts ?
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Update: went back to the vet 4 days ago and they gave Nala an oral antibiotic and advised they would find somewhere to do the eye removal. After booking this in for tomorrow morning the new antibiotics have made such a difference it seems the abscess has been training and the eye has substantially reduced in size and now looks shiny and more like an eye still red underneath but so much better I don’t think they should remove the eye now as it looks so much better
 
Julieo365 said:
Update: went back to the vet 4 days ago and they gave Nala an oral antibiotic and advised they would find somewhere to do the eye removal. After booking this in for tomorrow morning the new antibiotics have made such a difference it seems the abscess has been training and the eye has substantially reduced in size and now looks shiny and more like an eye still red underneath but so much better I don’t think they should remove the eye now as it looks so much better
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Wishing you all the best but glad that things are going in the right direction.
 
That is good news. I hope things continue to move in the right direction and your piggy won't need an eye removed.
Get well soon Nala.
 
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