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Injury 2-year-old male piggy has red lump growing from bottom eyelid.

sauteedsatan

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Hey, guys! First time poster on this site, long time lurker. I've always come to this place for non-medical related reasons but today is the day, I guess, that I join that club. I was hoping anyone could enlighten me as to what's going on with my piggy. I will be calling the vet as soon as they open today to book an appointment but knowing that place, it'll be a week before I can get anything.

I have a 2-year-old male guinea pig, Nibbles, that started growing a red lump from his bottom lid 3 weeks ago. At first I figured it was hay poke and used dry-eye relief drops once a day for a few days. I couldn't tell if it was getting better or staying the same, but figuring it was hay poke I thought it just needed time to heal. It wasn't growing up until this week. I stupidly thought it was a sty and went out to get him drops for that thinking it would help get rid of it. I gave him one drop two days ago and then another drop yesterday and it did not help one bit. In fact, it made it worse. Not knowing what to do early this morning, I put a warm compress on his eye and gave him the normal dry-eye relief drops. That seemed to help soothe it a lot.

He is eating well, drinking water, going to the bathroom plenty (as he usually does.) His vocalization hasn't changed, and he still comes up to the side of his cage to boop my nose.

Little bit of background towards the last month:

I don't know if this is relevant but there have been a lot of changes revolving him lately. As he was developing this eye problem (barely noticable at that point but something I was paying attention to), my first guinea pig of 6 years died. This one was Nibbles' cage companion. They weren't buddy-buddy with each other but they didn't hate each other either. I'll admit, this is when my negligence towards him started. I was so caught up in the other one's death that I didn't give Nibbles the proper medical attention. He did get his normal fruits, veggies, pellets, hay, and water for that week, but that was mainly it. I moved him into my room to make sure he had company but my mind was so clouded that I set his care back a week.

A few days after my other guinea pig died (of old age) I got another cage companion for Nibbles. This time a 1.5 month old male guinea pig. I kept them separate (thankfully) and long story short, a day after getting him I took him to the vet, found out he had pneumonia, the 2nd day into treatment he passed. That was the second blow to me, and another setback for Nibbles.

The day before Thanksgiving I got a 2.5 month old male guinea pig. Nibbles and him immediately hit it off. I made sure the new guy was healthy and they've been living together since. They do everything together: eat, sleep, cuddle, play. He's like the big brother and I can tell he enjoys it.

Besides the mess that this month has been, Nibbles has been fine. I'll post a picture of his eye and hopefully someone can give me advice on how to treat it until his vet appointment. Thank you.
 

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bpatters

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Take a look at this link: https://www.guinealynx.info/eyes.html#pea

There's some anecdoctal evidence that pea eye and heart conditions are related, but nothing has been proved. And there are plenty of pigs with pea eye and no heart problems, and plenty with heart problems and no pea eye. But it's worth knowing about so you can keep an eye on things.
 

sauteedsatan

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I also thought it could be pea eye but from the pictures I saw, I didn't think I was that lucky. Nibbles' looks sort of bumpy, red, and meaty to me, whereas the pea eyes I was seeing were smooth and pink. I managed to get an appointment for today and I'm crossing my fingers that it is pea eye or something similar that I don't need to worry about. Whatever it is, thank you for the information; I appreciate it.
 

spy9doc

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Doubt that it is pea eye.......that's not what pea eye looks like. I'll see if I can find pics of my Maya who had a classic case of pea eye.


Maya's pea eye.jpg
 
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sauteedsatan

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Update: Turns out he had conjunctivitis and the vet also found an ulcer in the same eye. Yikes. Looks like he got some debris in his eye and it got infected. I got some ointment to apply on his eye and we have a follow-up appointment next week. I hope he gets better soon.
 

bpatters

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Glad you got a diagnosis and some meds. Keep us posted on how he's doing.
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Poor Nibbles, that does look painful.

Glad the vet gave you a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Waiting to hear some good news!
 

sauteedsatan

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It has been ~4 days since Nibbles has been on his medication and thankfully he's a lot better. I can barely see where the inflammation was, even when I pull his lower lid down a bit to check on it. He's still going to be getting the ointment on his eye to make sure the conjunctivitis is entirely gone, and we have a follow-up appointment on Thursday. I'm certain he'll be all good by then with the progress he has made.

Thank you for the concern and I'm glad I was able to update with good news!
 

Guinea Pig Papa

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Thank you for the update, and I'm glad it was good news!

Glad Nibbles is feeling better!
 

bpatters

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You go, Nibbles!
 

sauteedsatan

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Hello, everyone.

I'm having another issue with Nibbles and would like some advice. I know the rules ask to edit the thread for an existing piggy so I hope I'm doing this right.

I noticed Friday night that Nibbles was having trouble eating. He was trying to pick up his food but kept dropping it, so I immediately jumped on it and concluded he might have overgrown teeth. I gave him critical care for the night, and called the vet the next morning. His appointment was today.

Unfortunately the vet I go to does not have the proper equipment to trim his teeth (turns out all of his teeth are overgrown to some extent, but mostly his molars.) I have a few questions regarding this but the vets have been difficult to communicate with.

I was told by the vet that if I wanted his teeth trimmed, he needed GA, and would recommend that the vet I take him to (the one recommended by the current vet) does a CT scan on him. I've looked into this and have seen on some forums that using GA is not necessary and I should be straying away from vets that use GA on guinea pigs. Is this true or does it vary?

I was also told that if the procedure is done, he will need it again for the rest of his life, every couple months. Is there a way to prevent his teeth from growing back this way again or is it something having to do with him and the way his teeth are?

The vet basically told me there's nothing they can do unless I go through with the surgery, and even when speaking about the surgery the vet didn't seem to want to recommend it. I'm trying to give Nibbles the care he needs but money is also an issue right now, and the vets I have near me are charging an arm and a leg, it seems. $120 for the vet visit to tell me his teeth are long and they can't do anything, plus a $180 consultation fee with this new vet to see if they can perform the surgery, with no information being provided besides that it's a consultation and the price for it.

Any information or suggestions on this would be very appreciated. Thank you.
 

bpatters

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He will need anesthesia to have his teeth trimmed, but it's usually a fairly quick procedure so they aren't under very long. He shouldn't need a CT scan, but he would need side and top view skull x-rays.

He may or may not need repeated planings. If his molars are overgrown because he wasn't eating enough hay, or because his mouth was sore for some reason, once may do it. But they could be overgrown because of malocclusion, and that would probably require repeated treatments.

What city are your vets located in?

Unfortunately for your pocketbook, it's something that must be done. His molars will trap his tongue, he'll be unable to swallow, and he'll starve to death.
 
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