Why are my piggies getting sick?
The eye is about the same today, which isn't a bad thing only one day out from treatment. As long as it doesn't get worse. The flushing and cleaning causes him more discomfort that the eye issue. He really gets mad and throws a fit in his cage every time I have to do the flush or wipe the drainage from his cheek in between the flushes. When I say throw a fit, that's exactly what I mean. He does the squeak of irritation and shoves his hut all over his cage. When he's done with that, he goes in it and glares at me. I use carrots or grass treats to earn his forgiveness. It really is very cute. He's quite the character. I wonder if the whole fit throwing is his way of getting treats. Guinea pigs are smart.
Mr Bubbles eye is still getting a little bit of crusties, but nothing like it was. The fluid runs completely out of the eye now and dries on his cheek rather than gathering in the corner of his eye so I'm able to clean it with a soft paper soaked in saline. He still doesn't like it, but it's better than drops into his eye.
Mr Bubbles eye was cleared up, but it's back to getting crusties again. I'm still flushing it out and keeping it clean. I hope this isn't going to be the norm for him from here on out. He's still otherwise healthy and other than when he goes into his hut to pout after treatment, he's still pretty lively and active. I think I'm going to call the vet to see if they recommend a steroidal eye drop to help reduce the little bit of swelling he's developed in his third eyelid.
The thing is that other than the boogey eye, he's otherwise doing great. No loss of appetite, no weight loss, no decline in activity. If you didn't notice the eye, you wouldn't even know anything is wrong with him. He has all of the vital signs of a young and strong piggie. At his age, even the smallest thing can escalate quickly, so I am keeping that eye clean as much as I can.
Nothing dry about Missouri. I cleaned and flushed Mr Bubbles eye last night. It wasn't a lot. There was next to nothing in his eye today. Just a couple of very small crusties on his cheek. The vet never got back to me. I assume it was because the exotic vet doesn't work weekends. They're closed for the holiday on Monday. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to find out about the drops.
In the meantime, he's still going strong in every other way. He's been moving his hut around more than usual. I think it's because his neighbors, Gilligan and Skipper have been arguing over the hammocks more since I changed them out for clean ones. They don't fight or try to hurt each other. They just get very vocal towards each other. It usually ends with Skipper yielding because Gilligan squeaks louder than he does. Guinea pigs sure are so touchy.
In the meantime, he's still going strong in every other way. He's been moving his hut around more than usual. I think it's because his neighbors, Gilligan and Skipper have been arguing over the hammocks more since I changed them out for clean ones. They don't fight or try to hurt each other. They just get very vocal towards each other. It usually ends with Skipper yielding because Gilligan squeaks louder than he does. Guinea pigs sure are so touchy.
Mr Bubbles eye hasn't improved much. I spoke to the vet and told them about the poofy third eyelid and about how the discharge is mostly clear when it first comes out and turns white as it dries. They gave him Terramycin to administer once daily following his eye evening eye flush. It has Oxytetracycline Hydrochloride and Polymyxin B Sulfate. I am supposed to put a quarter inch line in his eye. That should be fun. I will have to use a Qtip to apply it so that I dont hurt his eye with the tip of the tube. He doesn't sit very still.
Sort of. Its a little bit thinner than a cream and thicker than an eye drop. It dissolves fairly quickly and spreads out on his eye. I didn't see this medication on this site, but I looked it up before I administered it and it has some pretty good reviews on the LA guinea pig rescue website and a couple other ones I looked at. Guineapigcages.com said it was deadly, but from what I could gather, the user was concerned about the pig ingesting by wiping it out of its eye and licking it off of their paw? Mr Bubbles doesn't do that and its such a small amount once a day so I'm not too worried about that. It's a very old post from 15 years ago and a little hard to follow. I think it's working because it drew out some nasty looking gunk and the 3rd eyelid is not as swollen. It was very easy to administer and Mr Bubbles didn't even put up a fight. We'll see how it goes over the next few days.
Here is the website for the LA GP rescue:
https://www.laguineapigrescue.com/store/p83/Terramycin_Antibiotic_Eye_Ointment.html
This stuff is supposed to be good for anything from a stye to a hay poke. If it works on Mr Bubbles, perhaps we could gather more information on it and add it to the list of medications for guinea pig eyes.
Here is the website for the LA GP rescue:
https://www.laguineapigrescue.com/store/p83/Terramycin_Antibiotic_Eye_Ointment.html
This stuff is supposed to be good for anything from a stye to a hay poke. If it works on Mr Bubbles, perhaps we could gather more information on it and add it to the list of medications for guinea pig eyes.
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Sef
- I dissent.
It's a gel. I have used it several times over the years for general eye irritation in our guys, and it has been well tolerated. If you do a search here in the medical forum, you should find a number of references to it. Glad to hear it is helping.
I have done several flushes of Jethro's eye and *knock wood* haven't seen any more discharge.
I have done several flushes of Jethro's eye and *knock wood* haven't seen any more discharge.
I only looked for it under the medications and didn't see it there. Is is worth adding to the list?
After 2 treatments with the Terramycin, Mr Bubbles still has some swelling in his third eyelid, but it is noticeably less. Less discharge too. I'm not sure if its the medicine. It has come and gone over the last couple of weeks, so it'll take a few more applications to know for sure. It does appear that he's getting some relief from it since he isn't as grumpy when I have to flush and clean his eye. I'll take that as a good sign.