Goopy eye and Terramycin

KarasKavies · Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 1:23 am

Last night I noticed that the fur below Ginger´s eye seemed oily. No other symptoms. Tonight when I re-checked it, her eye had little crusties all around it and her fur was more oily. Still no other symptoms. Nose fine, breating fine, other eye fine.

I have some Terramycin antibiotic ophthalmic ointment a vet gave me a year ago to use on a skin sore Penny had. It has not expired yet. Can I use this for Ginger´s eye? With no other symptoms, can I assume it is NOT a URI? Or should I treat for a URI too?

OK... I just noticed that oxytetracycline is unsafe for cavies. Would that include a topical use of the drug? Geeze... I used a dab of it already on her eye. Do I panic?

Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 8:35 am

A single eye? Probably safe to think it isn´t a uri. If it was prescribed for pigs before, I imagine it would be fine. An antibiotic in the eye is not the same as one taken internally. I would guess you´d be okay. Maybe someone else has a suggestion (oh, you could call your vet in the morning if you had any questions).

Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 10:46 am

I´ve used terramycin before, for pigs and horses. If you are in doubt, though, you can always get triple anitbiotic eye ointment at a feed store, without a prescription.

kleenmama · Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 12:44 pm

Some ointments for skin problems are not meant for the eye. It will say opthamolic ointment if it´s meant for the delicate area of the eye. Might want to check that.

Josephine · Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 3:00 pm

Terramycin ophthalmic ointment is fine to use in an eye. She may have gotten some sort of dust or irritant in it. I occasionally have cavies with hay stuck in their eyes. While my drug of choice is BNP, Terramycin is fine to use. If the eye looks worse in the next day or she shows other signs, I would address those then. Until then, I see no reason to do URI tx.

P.S. I will sometimes grab the BNP ophthalmic to put on a cut or something on myself, if it´s convenient. It is more expensive than regular BNP, but it works. It doesn´t work, however to put Neosporin in an eye. Only if it´s labeled for ophthalmic use. I don´t think there is a Terramycin "regular" topical, only the ophthalmic. The vet probably grabbed that since it´s safe.

Oxytetracycline is not the safest to injest, but it can be used with extreme caution in cavies. That is probably why the caution is there. I wouldn´t worry about putting that topically or in an eye.

KarasKavies · Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 3:36 pm

Thanks guys! Yes, it is FOR THE EYE. Has stickers all over it!

Anyone know how often to apply it and for how many days?

Josephine · Post » Sun Aug 25, 2002 8:22 pm

Try BID (every 12 hours) for 7 days. If it doesn´t look better in a day or two, you should have someone look at it.

KarasKavies · Post » Sat Sep 14, 2002 1:56 am

Update on Miss Ginger Piggy ... that cutie at the top of the page : )

I took her to the vet a week ago because her eye would get better then worse again. The one eye was still crusty at the inner corner and the other eye seemed to have a red conjunctavia (sp?) Vet agreed that both eyes had red, lower, inner lids. He used Fluorescein dye in them to check for any cuts etc. They were clear. Gave me Gentamicin Sulfate dops to put in her eyes. One drop per eye twice a day for a week.

Today is day #7. The redness is better, but the one eye is still crusty. Vet mentioned that if it didn´t clear with the drops that it could be allergies. He suggested if that were the case to try bedding her on towels and to keep the hay more in a rack where she couldn´t sleep in it. It is going to be hard to do that with 7 other pigs wanting their hay beds!

Have any of you had any eye problems with your pigs? She shows no other signs. I´m going to call tomorrow and find out if we could/should try another antibiotic. The redness is better, however, so this antibiotic may have done all that can be done with meds.

tabby · Post » Sat Sep 14, 2002 4:45 am

Hello again, some of you may remember I was on a couple of day´s ago with a query relating to my 7wk old females eye. I took Furbie to the vets and she had no abrasion or URI. It was conjuntivitus because of a blocked tearduct or it could be an allergy. The relavence to this is she was prescibed Fucithalmic ointment. In my experience I would agree not to use an old medication on either a different animal or if it has been hanging around for a period due to contamination from dust and possible pathogens. I´d get some fresh ointment. An alternative eye bath would be cold camomile tea. My youngest daughter had continual conjunctivius for 2 years due to the size of her tea ducts and thats how I controled it until she grew out of it.

KarasKavies · Post » Sat Sep 14, 2002 1:52 pm

She has been on new medicine for a week. When I took her in a week ago, he gave her the Gentamicin. So, I was not using an old medicine.

My youngest son had his eye duct probed open at a year because of a tear duct that was blocked in 3 places. It was a year of hell, 10 minutes of a procedure and it was all over!

Becky · Post » Sat Sep 14, 2002 10:54 pm

KK, when Chippy was little, she had one eye that was crusty on and off for about six months. I used the ointment and it helped, but didn´t take care of it, so I quit using it. Then one day it was gone and it hasn´t come back since.

Don´t know if this is the same as your case.

KarasKavies · Post » Sun Sep 15, 2002 12:39 am

How old was Chippy when it started and ended? Ginger is about 6 months now and it´s been going on for about 3 weeks. I guess it could be a blockage of some sort. The other eye was very red though. The redness seems to be gone. I agree with you that the drops seem to help, but the crusty is still there.

Hopefully, it will clear in time. That would be great.