Eye Injury from Bite: How Bad is It?

[fgradowski]

Two of my boars decided to get into a fight about something yesterday and one of them got bit in his eye. I've been putting antibiotic ointment on it. He can still see out of it and move it around. It did obviously hurt him for the rest of the night. He seems to be in less pain today. Here's a photo of his eye shortly after the injury:

Today it looks like he is getting some gunk that isn't crusty, but more like a gooey eye booger mostly in the corner of his eye. I would expect this to be a part of the healing process.
What else should I be doing for his injury and what signs should I look out for to let me know if and when he would need vet attention?

[fgradowski]

Here is his eye as of right now:

[pinky]

I never mess around with an eye injury. I'd take him to a vet so it can be looked at more closely.

[bpatters]

Vet. The fact that the eye is smaller means he's in pain, and the gunkiness probably means infection.

Since it's Sunday, you might be able to find ophthalmic antibiotic drops or ointment. If so, be sure not to get one that has an -cillins in it, like amoxicillin or penicillin. Some have a mixture of neomycin and polymixin and a steroid -- those would be ok. The ointment is harder to use and the pig is more likely to ingest some of it, but stays on the eye better. If you use the drops, which are safer, you'll have to reapply more often.

[fgradowski]

Vet. The fact that the eye is smaller means he's in pain, and the gunkiness probably means infection.

Since it's Sunday, you might be able to find ophthalmic antibiotic drops or ointment. If so, be sure not to get one that has an -cillins in it, like amoxicillin or penicillin. Some have a mixture of neomycin and polymixin and a steroid -- those would be ok. The ointment is harder to use and the pig is more likely to ingest some of it, but stays on the eye better. If you use the drops, which are safer, you'll have to reapply more often.

It's actually not any smaller. He was just laying down for a nap in the second photo and had his eyes closed just a little.

[fgradowski]

Also bpatters, can I just get those drops at any pharmacy? I was looking up eye injuries and it seems that most injuries are treated by a vet with drops and ointment.
I couldn't find any injuries that looked like his though so that's when I decided to make a post. I just checked him out this morning to apply morr ointment and his eye is actually looking pretty good.

[fgradowski]

Here's a quick photo:

It looks really shiny and wet because I had just applied the ointment.

[pinky]

I would strongly urge you to have a vet look at it. An infection can result in the loss of the eye which will be a lot more expensive than a vet appointment. The vet will examine the eye to see how serious the abrasion is and clean the eye and then prescribe what's needed.

[Paula]

Do you know where the puncture wounds actually are? Was he bit in the eyeball itself (this is pretty unlikely for a variety of reasons) or just somewhere near the eye?

Personally, I've seen a number of eye issues/injuries heal up with medicated ointment. If it gets cloudy, he starts holding it shut, it gets really gunky, etc., I'd take him in. Otherwise, just a bit of gunk can mean the eye is healing - not necessarily that it's gotten infected. If he's got it open and it looks good, for me, I wouldn't race him in right away. It would probably be good to get him on some kind of pain med if you have any on hand. If you don't and the pain seems to be getting worse for him, even if the eye looks just fine, that in and of itself warrants a vet visit.

Have you separated him from the pig who caused this injury?

[fgradowski]

Do you know where the puncture wounds actually are? Was he bit in the eyeball itself (this is pretty unlikely for a variety of reasons) or just somewhere near the eye?

Personally, I've seen a number of eye issues/injuries heal up with medicated ointment. If it gets cloudy, he starts holding it shut, it gets really gunky, etc., I'd take him in. Otherwise, just a bit of gunk can mean the eye is healing - not necessarily that it's gotten infected. If he's got it open and it looks good, for me, I wouldn't race him in right away. It would probably be good to get him on some kind of pain med if you have any on hand. If you don't and the pain seems to be getting worse for him, even if the eye looks just fine, that in and of itself warrants a vet visit.

Have you separated him from the pig who caused this injury?

It appears to be just below his eye. I can see what looks like a tear in what looks like an eyelid.
What kind of pain meds can I get and where do I get them?
The cage was separated immediately following the injury. They had never been best of friends, but since moving and upgrading to a 2x6 with a loft they hadn't had any problems other than the occasional chase or you're too close to me complaints. I have no idea what provoked the bully pig, but he has been separated from this pig and my other pig.

[Sunrise]

Keep the fleece/bedding clean, keep the instigator pig and the injured pig separated. You can use a divider so they can still have the company of seeing another guinea pig without being able to engage in anything other than sniffing each other through a separator.

I wouldn't wait too long for an eye infection of any kind. It's better to have a vet look at it. A simple antibiotic eyedrop could put him out of his pain so much faster and heal this faster.

[Soecara]

If it is not the actual eyeball that was injured you may have narrowly avoided disaster. An injury to the eye lid/conjunctiva is much less concerning then any injury to the eyeball, but it may still cause him pain.

[pinky]

Can you upload a photo of what it looks like this morning? My concern is that the eye is cloudy. If there was simply a tear in the lid, you wouldn't see the cloudiness in the eye. I've had a guinea pig with an abrasion to the lid and a guinea pig with a hay poke that resulted in cloudiness and an ulceration of the eye. (I personally had an eye injury about 10 years ago so I'm adamant about treating eye injuries to avoid infection.) It could be a scratch in the eye from the fight. Either way, guinea pig nails are dirty from walking in their droppings so the eye can easily get infected. The reason I recommend a vet visit is that they can look at it with a blue light to see the degree of damage to the eye which you can't determine just by looking at it. Eye injuries can be very painful. I've attached a link to guinealynx which recommends a vet look at cloudy eyes. Click on "signs of illness or injury."

http://www.guinealynx.info/eyes.html

[fgradowski]

Here it is right now. I think it's looking pretty good.