Crusty Eyes Red and Crusty Guinea pig eyes?!?! lack of vitamin c?

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 10, 2015

Hi, I have 3 guinea pigs and recently one of my boys, Cupcake (about 6 months old) had something wrong with his eyes, his eyes where somewhat crusty and he kept squinting. I washed them out and left him in a cage alone for a while and washed them every day. After 4 days I looked at his again and they were healed, so I put him back with my other boy, Pumpkin (2yrs old). However, now Pumpkin's eyes were quite crusty and after I washed them out, the next day his eyes were still crusty and were now sagging and were red around the eyes, so I did the same thing I did with Cupcake (put him in another cage and left him alone and washed out his eyes). Now they're both healed and in the same cage, but my question is, are they not getting enough vitamin C or what? Did Cupcake give his eye thing to Pumpkin? I gave them some slices of orange when they were sick, did that help them? Did anyone else have the same or similar problem? I looked on the internet and couldn't find anything that helped me very much. This is my first time posting anything, so sorry if this is super long or anything.

lissie · Feb 10, 2015

Eye issues can be serious. Please don't try anymore home remedies. You should take them to the vet.

Edit to add: crusty eyes are usually signs of URI.
https://www.guinealynx.info/uri.html

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 10, 2015

Thank you, but where I live there are no vets.

bpatters · Feb 10, 2015

According to your IP address, you're no more than 50 miles from a city that has plenty of vets. There's even an exotic vet in Fargo, Valley Veterinary Vet.

I have to drive nearly 30 miles to see an exotic vet, and I live in Houston. Fifty doesn't sound so bad.

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 10, 2015

There are no GOOD vets, they will charge $3,000 just to look at him, and he's healed already. Thanks for your reply anyway though.

bpatters · Feb 10, 2015

No, they won't charge $3,000 to look at him. That's a ridiculous statement.

You're as responsible for his medical care as you are for feeding him and keeping his cage clean. Why have an animal if you're unwilling to take it to a vet when it needs to go?

DalesLass · Feb 11, 2015

I’m puzzled by some of the advice being given here. “Don’t try any more home remedies” The OP hasn’t been trying ‘home remedies’ she merely bathed the eyes daily to clear any debris (and by doing so has possibly prevented a secondary infection).
“You should take them to the vet.” Why? The infection was obviously self limiting – in other words it ‘ran its course’ and went away. The OP says the pig’s eyes are no longer inflamed and so what exactly is the vet going to do now?
“It can be a sign of a UTI” The OP did not mention the cavies had any signs of ill health other than a conjunctivitis type infection. True, a UTI is often accompanied by runny eyes but this does not seem to be the case here.

The OP was asking whether this type of condition was linked to lack of vitamin C. The answer is no (although of course, a cavy in good health is more likely to be able to clear itself of infections more quickly).

The problem is obviously contagious as the second cavy caught it. The most common cause of conjunctivitis in guinea pigs is Chlamydia caviae (sometimes called ‘chlamydial conjunctivitis’ or ‘occular chlamydia’ ) and I am very surprised that it’s not mentioned anywhere on the Guinealynx medical reference pages. It is often the cause of mild eye infections exactly like the one that the OP described.
The cavy Chalmydia is ‘self limiting’ but the reason that breeders will often seek veterinary treatment is because it's very contagious. It can spread through a whole breeding colony of cavies and can occasionally cause abortion in pregnant sows. This isn’t the situation in the OP’s small group of boars.

It’s possible that the third boar will also get it, or it might be that he has already had it and is immune to it (it’s rare for a healthy cavy to get it a second time). Just out of interest, is this third cavy the newest addition to the group – perhaps he or his previous cage mates had it and it was him who brought it in?

The most important thing is for the three cavies to have no contact with any other cavies for at least a few weeks – no ‘play dates’ or handling other owners cavies. By the way, Chlamydia caviae is a cavy specific infection, it is NOT the same as human Chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) or the parrot disease, psittacosis (Chlamydia psittaci) so no-one will catch anything from the cavies !

pinky · Feb 11, 2015

Whether or not their eyes have cleared up, you should have an exotic vet lined up in case you ever have a medical emergency. You can call ahead to find out the cost of office visits and common meds so you'll know what to expecct next time. I have no idea how you came up with a $3000 office vist but that's outrageous. Typically, an office visit costs between $30 to $65. Guinea pigs are not low maintenance pets and some do require medical intervention so, as a pet owner, you owe it them to be prepared to provide them with vet care if they need it.

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 12, 2015

DalesLass said:
I’m puzzled by some of the advice being given here. “Don’t try any more home remedies” The OP hasn’t been trying ‘home remedies’ she merely bathed the eyes daily to clear any debris (and by doing so has possibly prevented a secondary infection).
“You should take them to the vet.” Why? The infection was obviously self limiting – in other words it ‘ran its course’ and went away. The OP says the pig’s eyes are no longer inflamed and so what exactly is the vet going to do now?
“It can be a sign of a UTI” The OP did not mention the cavies had any signs of ill health other than a conjunctivitis type infection. True, a UTI is often accompanied by runny eyes but this does not seem to be the case here.

The OP was asking whether this type of condition was linked to lack of vitamin C. The answer is no (although of course, a cavy in good health is more likely to be able to clear itself of infections more quickly).

The problem is obviously contagious as the second cavy caught it. The most common cause of conjunctivitis in guinea pigs is Chlamydia caviae (sometimes called ‘chlamydial conjunctivitis’ or ‘occular chlamydia’ ) and I am very surprised that it’s not mentioned anywhere on the Guinealynx medical reference pages. It is often the cause of mild eye infections exactly like the one that the OP described.
The cavy Chalmydia is ‘self limiting’ but the reason that breeders will often seek veterinary treatment is because it's very contagious. It can spread through a whole breeding colony of cavies and can occasionally cause abortion in pregnant sows. This isn’t the situation in the OP’s small group of boars.

It’s possible that the third boar will also get it, or it might be that he has already had it and is immune to it (it’s rare for a healthy cavy to get it a second time). Just out of interest, is this third cavy the newest addition to the group – perhaps he or his previous cage mates had it and it was him who brought it in?

The most important thing is for the three cavies to have no contact with any other cavies for at least a few weeks – no ‘play dates’ or handling other owners cavies. By the way, Chlamydia caviae is a cavy specific infection, it is NOT the same as human Chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) or the parrot disease, psittacosis (Chlamydia psittaci) so no-one will catch anything from the cavies !

Goodness, THANK YOU!!! Most people here are somewhat mean, and witch I wasn't what I expected, but thanks for helping-Yes, I recently got one of my guinea pigs and probably had it to begin with, and I just didn't notice it.

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 12, 2015

bpatters said:
No, they won't charge $3,000 to look at him. That's a ridiculous statement.

You're as responsible for his medical care as you are for feeding him and keeping his cage clean. Why have an animal if you're unwilling to take it to a vet when it needs to go?

If it had been serious or anything life threatening me and my parents wouldn't hesitate to make the 100+ mile round trip to him to a vet-which I didn't be cause he was perfectly healthy other than his eyes. Thank you for your concern over MY animals. And yes, $3,000 was a ridiculous statement-I only said it in hopes that you would quite talking to me, but you should see that taking your animal to the vet for every little thing is also ridiculous. This was my first time posting, and I might have made the title to my question seem more obnoxious that it really was, he wasn't showing any signs of URI or anything serious, all I wanted to know was if it was a lack of vitamin c. You know, with a website so popular I was expecting more kinder and helpful people, who treated people with the same respect and kindness as they treat their guinea pig, but now that I signed up, I see that most of them don't. All I wanted to know is if anyone had the same issue as I had, and if it was a lack of vitamin c. I'm going to say it to you again, in case you didn't see it the first few times I told you, it wasn't anything SERIOUS, my guinea pigs are HEALTHY, and I WOULDN'T HESITATE to bring them to a vet if it had been anything serious. Since no one really helped me, I guess this is a closes thread, so don't bother writing a response-I got your message loud and clear.

P.S. Hope there are no hard feelings-I just wanted to make sure you know what was really going on.

Clarissa Cavy · Feb 12, 2015

bpatters said:
According to your IP address, you're no more than 50 miles from a city that has plenty of vets. There's even an exotic vet in Fargo, Valley Veterinary Vet.

I have to drive nearly 30 miles to see an exotic vet, and I live in Houston. Fifty doesn't sound so bad.

Thank you for showing me that there are closer vets than the one I've been going to.

bpatters · Feb 12, 2015

but you should see that taking your animal to the vet for every little thing is also ridiculous.

Stick around. You'll see that no one is recommending that you take your pet to the vet for every little thing.

But you did come across as someone who didn't know a lot about guinea pigs. Lissie's statement was totally correct -- eye problems usually (but not always) need a vet. And then you responded by saying there were no vets around, and that a visit would cost $3,000. Those statements didn't give me, at any rate, a lot of confidence that you either knew much about guinea pigs or that you were taking proper care of them.

I'm glad your pigs are healed. The problem was NOT a lack of vitamin C.

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Crusty Eyes Red and Crusty Guinea pig eyes?!?! lack of vitamin c?

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