Eyes/Non-crusty Little Bear's ouchie eye

[Guinea Pig Papa]

He's come so far, through so much adversity to get to you. He's probably never been this well looked after in his life.

He sounds like such a sweet boy. I just want him to be well.

 

[4boipigs]

His eye is still not seeing improvement. Still a ton of white discharge. Not getting worse at least. I think his sneezing is getting better. I dread having to go back to the vet...will have to find a day off and see what we can do.

 

[Smileandnod]

View attachment 87639
Little Bear's eye is very runny with white stuff, and he has a ton of discharge under his eye. I also saw stuff on his nose in the pic, and upon looking at him, he actually has a ton of nasal discharge. Of course I noticed his breathing before, and he does sneeze a little but nothing that brought alarm. He can move the bad eye itself, but I can't tell if he's having issues blinking still. Again, behavior is normal and he "doesn't act sick".

Looks like he'll be getting eye drops again and baytril. He is much much easier to give medication to. My other boys fight me and have to be picked up, but Little Bear will bite the syringe while still in the cage and let me squirt it into his mouth.

I really hope it resolves and we don't need another follow up visit.

Some of that milky white discharge from the eye could be his normal cleaning fluid. I quote from the site below: "Normal Guinea pigs excrete a milky white liquid which lubricates their eyes and is used to help them clean their faces."

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

I know this doesn't explain the nasal discharge (possible URI ?) and the opaque cornea (eye injury).

Are you still using the eye drops consistently for the eye injury?

One of my older girls sometimes gets discharge in one eye as a result of a blocked tear duct. I just take a cotton ball with warm water and very gently massage towards her nose a couple times a day to clear discharge and help tear duct become unblocked.

I encourage you to consult with your trusted exotics vet though for a recheck on that eye. Good luck...I wish you both well!!

 

[4boipigs]

Eye seems better, I can see only a little scratch on his eye now, compared to back when we first went to the vet for the ulcer and it was much more visible.

As for my other boys who had threads under ChicoAndAmigo - Chico had been sneezing and had eye discharge for quite a while, and didn't clear up after meds. The other day I noticed his eyes no longer have the chunky white junk under them and they both seem clear. As my boys all seem better/fine for now.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Great news! Do keep us updated so we know if everythings stays clear? Makes me happy to know your boys are doing better.

 

[ItsaZoo]

Good to hear the boys are better and the eye seems to be healing.

 

[4boipigs]

Woke up to tons of discharge so we went to our normal vet. They showed me how he has eye paralysis in the bad eye still. Need to give lubricating eye drops again indefinitely. They went much more in depth than the other vet we had to use since my regular vet was booked. He also went from 750 grams to 679 so the vet agreed giving him Critical Care to put on weight so we can get the eye removed if needed. I rather just get rid of the eye because daily eye drops sucks for both of us.

 

[ItsaZoo]

I would agree. If the eye is paralyzed and irritated, why go through that each day. From what others have said, the surgery is relatively straight forward. I hope you can get some weight on him and get this taken care of.

 

[4boipigs]

I'm totally okay with him having the eye removed. He's almost totally blind anyway. Just wasn't sure if he could tolerate the anesthesia. He loves the critical care I have - it's Emeraid and not Oxbow, but he gobbles it up regardless. His brother doesn't care for it.

Gimbly is pretty food aggressive, but I don't feel like Little Bear is being starved because of him...he eats plenty and poops just as much as he always has. Gimbly will chase him away from food and steal food, but they don't fight and Gimbly is hardly aggressive in any other way. So LBear be getting his usual diet along with the Emeraid.

Little Bear does still have signs of a URI, so I was give a different medication - I think it's the generic form of bactrim. I have to do it for 3 weeks...luckily Little Bear is very easy to give oral meds to, and I have plenty of Benebac.

 

[Smileandnod]

Just curious if you have asked to be referred to a veterinarian eye specialist?

I had not really thought about this speciality until our vet referred us to one for one of our guinea pigs who had an eye issue.

It was a game changer! Certainly was more straight forward & effective treatment. Cost was not bad either.

 

[4boipigs]

Just curious if you have asked to be referred to a veterinarian eye specialist?

I've already thought about it with my dog, who has a very similar issue. He is a senior with cataracts, and presumably one eye ruptured from an infection before he landed at the animal shelter in 2018. He is also dealing with an eye infection in a bad eye, and he may benefit from an eye doctor visit.

Once the URI is clear and we do the 3 week follow up that the vet requested, I'll see about removing his eye. It's very possible they may refer us out as we have plenty of specialty vets in the area, but the vet I currently take Little Bear too may be able to just do it.

 

[ItsaZoo]

It's good that you have some time and some options available.

 

[4boipigs]

Little Bear is completely bonkers for Emeraid. I give it to him when it is eyedrop time. I let him eat it off treats and spoons. I'll be looking for a saucer for him.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Little Bear is completely bonkers for Emeraid. I give it to him when it is eyedrop time. I let him eat it off treats and spoons. I'll be looking for a saucer for him.

I tried Emeraid a few years ago, looking for alternatives to try and put weight on Sly. He mostly didn't care for it, until close to the end. All of sudden I tried it and he gobbled it up. It didn't last long, but it helped. I'm glad Little Bear likes it!

 

[4boipigs]

Instead of making a new thread...Anyone know what consistency I should use for Emeraid? Since Little Bear happily eats it (aka ignores all other food around him and zooms for Emeraid), I've been making it into a thick slop. I put it on a plate and let him do his thing. When I mix one part water and one part Emeraid, it's still too watery for my liking.Their site doesn't really state what the consistency should be.

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Whenever I mixed it, it was always about the consistency of melting ice cream. I was under the understanding that that's the way it was supposed to be.

 

[4boipigs]

I'll have to find a new tactic that isn't feeding off a plate. He has a ton of dried Emeraid on his chest. The liquid eye drops we have seem to be helping and are way easier to use than the gel ointment from the other vet. He had a lot of white gunk (piggy cleaning fluid?) build up on his eye, but I'm having a hard time getting it off him. He doesn't like me trying to remove it!

 

[Guinea Pig Papa]

Sly would gobble it straight from the syringe.

 

[bpatters]

If he's getting it on his chest, make it thicker. When I mixed Critical Care for my pigs to eat off a plate, I made it the consistence of thick mashed potatoes.

 

[4boipigs]

I got some syringes from work but I must be making it too thick for the syringes. I fed it to him off a spoon this time and that was easier. The eye drops are really helping. I noticed he squints a little when the eye drops hit...the vet basically showed me that when tapping near his 'good' eye, he blinked, and when the 'bad' eye was tapped, there was no blink. Either way, I'm feeling better about it.