Injury Hay in Eye

[thistlewriter]

So my Ziggy's habit of diving face-first into the hay has finally led to him getting hay poke. I noticed the piece of hay in his eye this evening, but I can't tell if it's in the eye or just underneath the lid. His eye looks red, and he's squinting. I'm tempted to pull out the hay before I take him to the vet, but I'm nervous because I don't know where the hay is stuck and I don't want to accidentally hurt him if I try. Should I just let the vet deal with the hay, or should I go ahead and try to pull it out? I've had my boys for almost two years, and this is the first time either of them has been injured like this.

 

[bpatters]

I'd gently try to pull it out, but if you run into resistance, stop. But do get him to the vet ASAP -- eye injuries are really painful, and infection can cause the loss of the eye. Sometimes both eyes.

 

[Smileandnod]

Unless you can visibly see the hay, and are indeed absolutely sure it is hay that you see, please do not try to pull anything from your guinea pig's eye.

One of mine over this summer had a hay poke eye injury. Our exotic vet felt there was still something in the eyeball and was tempted to try to remove it... thankfully she did not and instead referred us to an veterinarian eye specialist.

We got into the eye specialist and what appeared to be something in the eye was in fact an iris prolapse where whatever poked the eye pulled the iris out & it was protruding from they eye.

Through 2 months of eye drops and ointments that were given multiple times a day, Jasmine was able to fight off infection, avoid surgery & keep the eye. The prolapse sealed over and healed nicely.

It is now very hard to tell the difference between her eyes and the eye specialist last report was that Jasmine also kept most of her vision in the eye as well.