Crusty Eyes Left Eye Getting Worse

[mikkysaur]

At first it was just little white flakes that would go away, assuming she cleaned them off herself. Now it’s gotten progressively bad in the span of 3-4 days. It’s only in her left eye, and my other piggy doesnt have it.

She also hasnt been eating as many pellets as before. Her and her sister would finish the bowl every day, but now half of it is still there (i dont know who’s been eating less, but it’s been happening for the past couple days.) I just assumed they’ve been eating more hay, and we switched from kaytee timothy complete pellets to oxbow adult pellets. We switched maybe a month ago so now I’ll switch back to kaytee to see if they’ll eat more pellets again.

otherwise, she’s been eating and drinking normally, normal activity levels

Ever since we got them, they would make little puffing/sneezing sounds. They dont really make those sounds anymore, only from time to time and it hasn’t gotten worse.

Her breathing sounds normal, no discharge anywhere. I am getting her to a vet asap and buying a scale to weigh my piggies from now on.

Do you have any idea what it is so i can bring this up to my vet? And do you think it’s contagious to my other piggy? Any help is appreciated, I’m worried sick

Possible things I’ve come across: sleep, cleaning fluid, hay poke/ something in the eye, blocked tear duct, conjunctivitis, URI

The girls had ringworm in the past so that’s already been treated for

 

[bpatters]

I wouldn't switch back to Kaytee pellets. They're pretty much crap, and pellets are the least important things in their diets.

Is that a picture of the eye with the problem? It looks like dried cleaning fluid to me. I'd clean it gently with a warm damp cloth, and then very very VERY gently massage the bottom of the, right at the nose. She may have a blocked tear duct that's keeping that eye from draining properly. Do that a couple of times a day for a couple of days and see if things don't improve.

 

[mikkysaur]

Thanks so much for your quick reply!

Yup that’s a picture of the eye. As a first time guinea pig owner everything scares me lol. Thanks, I’ll give it a go!

Do you have any tips on making sure the piggies eat more pellets? I give them 1/8 cup each (so 1/4 cup in one bowl). They gobbled the kaytee ones up, but don’t seem to like the oxbow ones as much

 

[bpatters]

They'll get used to the Oxbow ones. I wouldn't worry about it. But when the time comes to buy more, try KMS Hayloft pellets -- most pigs gobble them up.

 

[mikkysaur]

Hi! Apologies for the late reply, I wanted to make sure things were ok with Ginny before updating.

We ended up gently wiping away her eye crusties with a damp tissue every night (which is when they were the worst), and massaged her in case it was a blocked tear duct. After about 2 weeks they went away! So i guess it was blocked tear duct or excess cleaning fluid? It’s been 2 weeks since then and no more crusties!

Thanks so much for your advice

It was spot on!!!

Theyre still a bit picky about the pellets but eating a bit more now. If they start losing weight I’ll definitely try your recommendation