Hay Poke, probably not a serious problem but still...

Jazzbox

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 7:54 pm


Okay, we just returned from the vet. The vet not only looked at her injured eye, but gave her a general exam, and examined her for lumps. Going Merry did not appreciate the attention, not even one little bit, but she got over it. Eventually.

The vet gave her an eye stain, to get a better idea of the extent of the injury. She said that there was significant inflammation, and will take longer than 5 days to heal. She also said that pain medication was not needed, as Going Merry was showing no signs of pain, although she did advise us to be alert for such, and if necessary she will give us Metacam. (We will also be monitoring going Merry's weight, which we will record daily.)

She prescribed Ciprofloxacin at least two or preferably three times a day. (We will have no trouble administering it three times a day.) The vet also warned us that it will look worse before it starts to look better. But right now it is looking pretty bad indeed, but that is because of the red eye stain she used to examine the eye. She also said that some pigs react badly to Ciprofloxicin insofar as it stings their eyes but the first administration seems to have gone well, with no ill effects on Going Merry. We can expect that to continue, I should think.

Saturday, i.e. the day before yesterday, we had made an appointment for another one of our pigs with this same vet, for this coming Sunday (i.e. six days from today), so that appointment will now be for two pigs, conveniently saving us a trip there. Although really at this time of year, going there is a reasonably pleasant walk.

Well that's a pretty full report and I do not think that there are any glaring omissions, except for the fact that someone came to the vet's office with a very friendly bulldog, and he greatly amused everyone with his antics and the wide array of entertaining sounds he made!

And of course the girlie and I and Going Merry want to thank everyone for their advice in this matter!

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angiemthomas

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:32 pm


Good job Jazzbox!

Jazzbox

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:38 pm


Awww, wuz nothin'. Besides, there were some people here who were kind enough to give me a few subtle hints.

:)

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iastate09
Supporter in '15

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:44 pm


Good news. I would still watch for signs of pain, which I'm sure you will! :) Amazing how bad these guys can hurt themselves with hay isn't it?

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PinkRufus
Contributor in 2020

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:49 pm


Sending best wishes for a speedy recovery for Going Merry!

Those eye stains can make things look worse for a while. My vet used a green stain on my pink eyed pig and it looked terrible for days afterward.

Please be sure to update with her progress.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:03 pm


Ciprofloxacin as eye drops?

Hope it heals quickly!

Josephine
Little Jo Wheek

Post   » Tue Feb 28, 2012 1:47 am


Yeah, pretty common nowadays, Lynx. Actually my dad was put on them about 10 years ago when he had his lenses replaced. Actually, most vets are on to oofloxacin. The next generation. I suspect cipro is so dang cheap that some vets still use a lot of it.

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skinnypigs1
Supporter in '12

Post   » Tue Feb 28, 2012 9:32 pm


Cipro is what I've been given as well for Barnaby.

That is good news that your piggy will be feeling better soon!

Jazzbox

Post   » Tue Feb 28, 2012 10:24 pm


Well thanks to all for the good wishes!

I would say that she is feeling better but honestly I don't think that she has felt any discomfort at all except for the moment when she actually got the hay poke. Her appetite is good, her weight was 1044g on Sunday night and is 1042g now (i.e. 50 hours after the injury occurred), essentially unchanged. No behavioral changes, no ominous signs or symptoms, nothing.

So everything is progressing as well as could possibly be hoped for!

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caruba
Supporter in '10

Post   » Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:11 pm


I had a very similar experience today - it was my day off and I was going to give one of my piggies some lap time when I noticed something was "wrong" with one of her eyes. Sometimes they get a bit of hay stuck in it and "blink" it out, but this time it seemed more serious, with her normal ruby eye color almost turned purple, and a deep red where it's usually white.

So off to the vet we go, thankfully we got an appointment right away. They did an eye stain, flushed the eye, and retrieved a hay seed that was embedded deep in the corner of the eye and caused an ulcer. I was sent home with gentamicin sulfate eye drops to use twice daily.

I am glad they were able to retrieve the culprit, and while Mocha is very shaken, she seems much better already. She's happily munching with the rest of the herd. Moral of the story, don't delay, see a vet right away :)

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AldenM1
Supporter in '21

Post   » Sat Mar 03, 2012 1:27 am


When Snick poked himself last year, we used two kinds of ointment, alternating. This time we too got ciprofloxacin drops. Dr. A said she hadn't given them to me before because she had been out, but she prefers them -- and so do I. They were so much easier to be sure I was applying correctly.

Hay pokes suck, and some pigs seem more prone to them than others. They look super-nasty about 12-24 hours after they work. But they seem to clear up really well.

FWIW, I asked Dr. Ahearn about the rule of thumb that one doesn't remove impalements, and she said "Yeah, except for eyes, ALWAYS pull stuff out of eyes immediately."

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CharmeC

Post   » Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:01 pm


We brought Going Merry back to the vet today and her eye has healed completely over the past 5 days! The vet said the scar tissue inside her eye will continue to remodel but she doesn't need eyedrop anymore.
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