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Red itchy eye 😢

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 151851
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Deleted member 151851

Hey guys,
So I woke up this morning to one of my guinea pigs squinting in her right eye, and as you know there's not a lot of white in their eye but from what I could see it was extremely red. Didn't look bloodshot like I thought it might be but was pure deep red. It's gunky and there's some stuff on her face around the eye which I cleaned, and have given a few drops of saline water earlier (probably at 10ish this morning) to hopefully help clean it, but just come home and no improvement. She doesn't seem to be massively affected energy wise, but is a little less excited than usual, and it does seem to be itching her. She was able to open it about halfway this morning but now it's fully closed and she's blinking/squinting it every second. My other guinea pig had a sort of similar thing last year, except she actually needed painkillers and couldn't even open her eye, but it wasn't red so I don't think this is the same thing, especially as the vet I took her to said she had probably irritated it with some hay (which is very likely as they love burrying in it). I haven't taken her to a vet yet as that was sort of a last resort (it's pretty expensive where I live) and wondered if you had any suggestions for me? I'll keep giving her the saline every couple of hours to hopefully keep the gunk under control and to help with redness and the slight swelling around it, but in case there's anything else I can do I would appreciate it so so much.

Possible helpful information: she's in a sawdust & hay cage with one other guinea pig, nothing sharp or unusual in the cage she could poke herself with. (The yellow on her face in the photos is from the red pepper she ate this morning in case anyone was questioning it)
 

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Please see a vet. Eye issues are considered urgent in the UK and will be seen as a priority - seeing the vet for an eye issue should not be considered a last resort.

Hay poke is a very common injury and it’s always possible some foreign body remains in the eye. One of my boys had a squinting, watery eye. He was at the vet within 30 minutes of the injury occurring where the vet found a 1cm grass seed wedged under the eye lid, (it was not possible to see it just by looking at the eye) which was scratching and causing further damage every time he moved his eye.
 
Piggies&buns said:
Please see a vet. Eye issues are considered urgent in the UK and will be seen as a priority - seeing the vet for an eye issue should not be considered a last resort.

Hay poke is a very common injury and it’s always possible some foreign body remains in the eye. One of my boys had a squinting, watery eye. He was at the vet within 30 minutes of the injury occurring where the vet found a 1cm grass seed wedged under the eye lid, (it was not possible to see it just by looking at the eye) which was scratching and causing further damage every time he moved his eye.
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thank you so much, however I don't think I will be able to see the vet today as I don't believe it's open, but tomorrow is a bank holiday which means everything will be shut and I don't know what to do 😭
 
An emergency visit may well be in order, there will be an emergency service open by law.

Eyes can go wrong very quickly and it will be very very painful for her.

Good luck 😊

Also some Vets4pets surgeries may well be open as they have longer opening hours, if there's one near you.
 
popcornguineapig2 said:
thank you so much, however I don't think I will be able to see the vet today as I don't believe it's open, but tomorrow is a bank holiday which means everything will be shut and I don't know what to do 😭
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Your normal surgery may not be open but all UK vets will be covered by an out of hours/emergency service (in the Uk we are lucky to have access to a vet 24/7) so you will be able to see a vet today/tomorrow. Emergency vet visits do cost more but an eye issue is considered an emergency - they deteriorate quickly and the quicker treatment is started the better the recovery.

Please call your normal surgery number and their answer phone will give you details of the surgery which covers them out of hours. You may also be able the find the information about the cover surgery in your normal surgery’s website
 
Piggies&buns said:
Your normal surgery may not be open but all UK vets will be covered by an out of hours/emergency service (in the Uk we are lucky to have access to a vet 24/7) so you will be able to see a vet today/tomorrow. Emergency vet visits do cost more but an eye issue is considered an emergency - they deteriorate quickly and the quicker treatment is started the better the recovery.

Please call your normal surgery number and their answer phone will give you details of the surgery which covers them out of hours. You may also be able the find the information about the cover surgery in your normal surgery’s website
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Thank you all so much for your support, it's really helping me try to stay hopeful that she'll be ok. I think it's too late now to get her to an emergency vet as my parents definitely won't let me take her this late, but I will 100% take her as soon as possible tomorrow. If I keep washing it with the saline water do you think she'll be ok until tomorrow? I know that this is really urgent but I can't go anywhere until tomorrow which is making me super anxious and worried for her in case the worst happens and they can't do anything 😖😖😣😣I'm so scared for her and there's nothing I can do to help her until tomorrow which feels like forever away…
 
How is she doing now? Any changes in her behavior at all?
I am sorry to hear you weren't able to get to a vet, please phone your local vets when they open tomorrow to try and get an emergency appointment as said above it will/can deteriorate really quickly.

Wishing you all the best x
 
pigmotherof6 said:
How is she doing now? Any changes in her behavior at all?
I am sorry to hear you weren't able to get to a vet, please phone your local vets when they open tomorrow to try and get an emergency appointment as said above it will/can deteriorate really quickly.

Wishing you all the best x
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Thank you for asking after her, she seems to have been sleeping all day but that's pretty normal for her and the other guinea pig in her cage as they both love their sleep 😆, and although she can't open her eye and it's bothering her a bit she's still her usual self as far as I can tell, wheeks when I come and check up on her etc, appetite is normal and she's eating/drinking fine
 
Had a quick conversation with my mum and she said we can't afford an emergency appointment so I'm hoping above hope we can get an appointment for her ASAP tomorrow morning, my Vets4Pets near me opens at 9 tomorrow and I really hope that's good enough for her, everyone is telling me it's an emergency and it's making me even more scared that there will be nothing that they can do for her…I hope the saline water will help for now as I don't have any animal safe eye drops or any painkillers to give her. Again, thank you all for your help and support, and fingers crossed I can get an appointment as early as possible and she'll be ok
🙏🙏🙏🙏🤞🤞🤞🤞
 
Ok, so I have an update (good news!) that has definitely made me a little less worried for her. I woke up this morning at 9:45 ish and immediately checked on Jazzy for improvement/if anything had become worse, and there was something poking out of the corner of her eye which definitely wasn't there yesterday. Obviously as soon as I saw it I picked her up and sat her on my lap and gently removed it, she knew I was trying to help her and stayed perfectly still which was a massive help. I removed a piece of hay/grass just over 1cm, and she can now open her eye fully without gunk or being uncomfortable. Her eye is still red (not as much as yesterday which I think is improvement) of course after being irritated that long, so I gave her another drop of saline water to hopefully wash anything out and help a little bit. I'm pretty sure that because now I have removed the piece of hay, my parent's won't let me take her to the vet as they might view this as her being fine, but I thought I should take her anyway because so much damage could have been done without me realizing and I'm hoping I can convince them, however I'm not getting my hopes up as I doubt they'll take her now. Do you think she'll be ok now that there's nothing in her eye to cause further damage? Obviously I shall keep a close eye on her in case it does look worse or something becomes wrong with her vision, maybe I'll keep giving her saline every now and then if that might help, but right now I don't know what else to do if they won't take her…

I also just wanted to say a huge massive thank you to all of you for your support and advice, it has helped me stay hopeful so much and you've all been so nice ❤
so once again, thank you guys so much! I've only had my guineas for 2 years now and I freak out sometimes 😅, and this website is so helpful with so many kind people. I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day 💕
 
popcornguineapig2 said:
Ok, so I have an update (good news!) that has definitely made me a little less worried for her. I woke up this morning at 9:45 ish and immediately checked on Jazzy for improvement/if anything had become worse, and there was something poking out of the corner of her eye which definitely wasn't there yesterday. Obviously as soon as I saw it I picked her up and sat her on my lap and gently removed it, she knew I was trying to help her and stayed perfectly still which was a massive help. I removed a piece of hay/grass just over 1cm, and she can now open her eye fully without gunk or being uncomfortable. Her eye is still red (not as much as yesterday which I think is improvement) of course after being irritated that long, so I gave her another drop of saline water to hopefully wash anything out and help a little bit. I'm pretty sure that because now I have removed the piece of hay, my parent's won't let me take her to the vet as they might view this as her being fine, but I thought I should take her anyway because so much damage could have been done without me realizing and I'm hoping I can convince them, however I'm not getting my hopes up as I doubt they'll take her now. Do you think she'll be ok now that there's nothing in her eye to cause further damage? Obviously I shall keep a close eye on her in case it does look worse or something becomes wrong with her vision, maybe I'll keep giving her saline every now and then if that might help, but right now I don't know what else to do if they won't take her…

I also just wanted to say a huge massive thank you to all of you for your support and advice, it has helped me stay hopeful so much and you've all been so nice ❤
so once again, thank you guys so much! I've only had my guineas for 2 years now and I freak out sometimes 😅, and this website is so helpful with so many kind people. I hope you all have an amazing rest of your day 💕
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I’m glad the hay is out. She does still need to see a vet though. They need to put a fluorescent dye in her eye to check for damage/ulceration. She may still need an antibiotic eye drop to heal it. Saline will not treat anything.

Are you not able to take her yourself?
 
I’m glad that you got the hay out but please do see a vet asap. She will need antibiotic eye drops and will need to be checked for damage to the eye

We woke up this morning to my Ella having a poorly eye, most likely a hay poke. My regular vet is closed but we’ve got her an appointment at our local Vets4pets this afternoon x
 
LunaticPoodle said:
Let your parents read this thread so they'll know that it's a serious issue. Untreated eye injuries could cause her to lose the eye. Best of luck to you and your piggy.
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I have read out messages to them and they still think it's not that serious, I'm pretty sure they think I'm over exaggerating or something because as I mentioned before something similar happened to my other piggy last year and they gave her eye drops and painkillers so my parents think the eye drops will he useless etc
 
Claire W said:
I’m glad that you got the hay out but please do see a vet asap. She will need antibiotic eye drops and will need to be checked for damage to the eye

We woke up this morning to my Ella having a poorly eye, most likely a hay poke. My regular vet is closed but we’ve got her an appointment at our local Vets4pets this afternoon x
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I hope Ella will be ok 💕 I've mentioned the damage to the eye situ to them but because my other guinea was given eye drops and painkillers because she scratched her cornea, they think that the eye drops are basically pointless and I don't know how many times I've said it but they don't see how serious it can be so I don't know what to do 😔
 
Piggies&buns said:
I’m glad the hay is out. She does still need to see a vet though. They need to put a fluorescent dye in her eye to check for damage/ulceration. She may still need an antibiotic eye drop to heal it. Saline will not treat anything.

Are you not able to take her yourself?
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The dye and eyedrops is the exact treatment my other piggy Wiggles was given and I don't know how or why but my parents think it was potentially a waste of time because I could have washed her eye myself, even though the eyedrops are antibiotic and I truly do not know how else to say it to them. I understand why you asked if I could take them myself but I'm not old enough xx
 
I have tried to tell them a lot of times between yesterday and today but I think they see it as "the hay is out so it's not as serious anymore, and she's not in any pain or anything so it's not needed" when I know she has damaged her eye if she still can't open it and also because who's eye wouldn't be damaged after having a piece of hay stuck in it for 24hours+. I don't know what to do…
 
I know I'm making them sound like really really bad people, they're not, I'm just trying to get them to see why she needs the vet and idk why but they just don't think she needs it, despite how many time I've told them how many people said it's serious.
 
It’s okay, we understand sometimes parents don’t think it is as serious when it is in such small rodents.

I would recommend just keeping an eye on her and try and convince them, perhaps you could do a chore to get some money to cover the cost?
All the best x
 
pigmotherof6 said:
It’s okay, we understand sometimes parents don’t think it is as serious when it is in such small rodents.

I would recommend just keeping an eye on her and try and convince them, perhaps you could do a chore to get some money to cover the cost?
All the best x
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thank you so much 🙏💗, I will keep trying to convince them as best as I can, and I'm keeping a close eye on her for any changes just in case xx
 
popcornguineapig2 said:
I hope Ella will be ok 💕 I've mentioned the damage to the eye situ to them but because my other guinea was given eye drops and painkillers because she scratched her cornea, they think that the eye drops are basically pointless and I don't know how many times I've said it but they don't see how serious it can be so I don't know what to do 😔
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Thank you. I hope your girl will be ok too. I’m sorry that your parents think it’s pointless seeing a vet. Sadly, it’s hard when we have to rely on our parents 😞 All you can do is to keep on trying to convince them and remind them that they have a duty of care and responsibility
 
Claire W said:
Thank you. I hope your girl will be ok too. I’m sorry that your parents think it’s pointless seeing a vet. Sadly, it’s hard when we have to rely on our parents 😞 All you can do is to keep on trying to convince them and remind them that they have a duty of care and responsibility
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@Claire W is right, your parents have a duty of care BY LAW under the Animal Welfare Act to get her the treatment she needs ASAP. Her eye will still be painful and may well be damaged.
This isn't your fault, but I think maybe show your parents these messages again.
Surely they don't want her in pain.
The longer they leave this, the more expensive treatment will get if the eye deteriorates.
Good luck 🤞
 
Please do try and convince your parents and show them this thread. I’m just back from the vets with Ella. The vet pulled a grass seed from her eye and she has a corneal ulcer which could only be seen when the vet put the dye in her eye and has been prescribed eye drops and corneal repair gel. I suspect your girl WILL have an ulcer too and she WILL NEED vet treatment. Please please please do remind your parents that they have a duty of care by law to have her seen
 
Just know that we understand you're a child and you're doing your best to be a responsible owner, and doing what you can. It's not your fault. It's true vet expenses can be a lot, but they'll be much worse if there are complications, and hay is the same as having sandpaper in your eye. It easily causes damages. I'm sorry you're in this situation. Wish you all the best.
 
Ella’s vet bill was £138 and that included the consultation, the treatment given in the examination room ie removal of the grass seed and administering the dye etc and the medication we bought home but that was at Vets4pets who are a chain so I assume more expensive but if your girl loses her eye, it will cost a lot more. Sorry to be blunt and I appreciate the position that you’re in but she really does need to see a vet 😞
 
Yep, unfortunately once we discover a member is underage, we have to delete the member to comply with the law, I'm too pretty to go to prison and Pip mog is too old to be put out to work.
 
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