Oh goodness, your poor piggy! :(
I have absolutely no idea, I am sorry - just wanted to say that I Hope you get some answers soon and that Ginger is feeling better before long! I can only imagine how worried you are!
Mystery eye issue! Ginger's Thread
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Lynx
- Celebrate!!!
Here is your pic (since it didn't display - let me know if it's okay to add it to your thread):
I have to say, it does not look good at all. I do not recall an eye looking like that. I would have guessed an infection or a tumor within the eye. It does not at all look like cataracts.
The review of info you found sounds like what we have here. Enucleation can heal well or can be difficult to resolve. Please keep us updated on this. Hoping for the best.
I have to say, it does not look good at all. I do not recall an eye looking like that. I would have guessed an infection or a tumor within the eye. It does not at all look like cataracts.
The review of info you found sounds like what we have here. Enucleation can heal well or can be difficult to resolve. Please keep us updated on this. Hoping for the best.
Yes please do add the picture Lynx, it will help others of they ever come across this again. Although the material *looks* like pus it isn't, and it started when Ginger was about 6 months old as a little white spot, not where a cataract would be, more towards the upper part of the iris. In her first photo, you can see it, although it looks like a reflection in her eye. Ginger is now just over 4 years old.
She also had the ring of white around the iris as appears in Osseous Metaplasia, but this very quickly deteriorated into what you see now.
The eye retained normal shape until just a couple of weeks ago when it has started to bulge slightly.
I regularly check to see if it is causing pain, and Ginger allows me to touch the area, the eye feels very solid and hard like a dried pea.
I hope it comes out 'in one' and there is nothing attached to it. Friday can't come quickly enough so we can get started on recovery (hopefully)
She also had the ring of white around the iris as appears in Osseous Metaplasia, but this very quickly deteriorated into what you see now.
The eye retained normal shape until just a couple of weeks ago when it has started to bulge slightly.
I regularly check to see if it is causing pain, and Ginger allows me to touch the area, the eye feels very solid and hard like a dried pea.
I hope it comes out 'in one' and there is nothing attached to it. Friday can't come quickly enough so we can get started on recovery (hopefully)
Update:
Saw Amir the vet today, I’d hoped he’d be able to do the op today, but couldn’t fit me in with his other surgeries and so it is happening tomorrow.
He’d never seen anything like it either.
I’ve done some more researching, hoping to find the article about the dog which had the most similar looking eye condition, and I think I found what it is.
It isn’t good news though.
I already knew that this kind of tumor is usually secondary. However now I feel I should have had the eye taken out sooner. This appears to be advanced stage retinoblastoma. It’s likely that the cancer has spread on to the optic nerve due to its size. I’m hoping it’s only in the retina. Left untreated, this kind of Tumor will eventually burst out of the eye and continue to grow, like a second head! So it’s the right thing to have the eye removed. It’s possible there are already tumors in the brain and lymph nodes, though I have felt for lumps in her lymph nodes before.p and found nothing. I have noticed a very slight loss in motor control very occasionally, a sort of limp on one side, but only very slight, which might be nothing. I had another guinea pig who gradually lost motor control probably due to a brain tumor, so I will keep a watch on this.
I’m hoping the operation will be simple tomorrow and there won’t be extra material attached to the optic nerve as I don’t think there is any way of removing that easily. I will speak to Amir before he starts tomorrow, the eye has to be removed regardless and we’ll have to see what happens after that. I will ask him about retinoblastoma as well, as I’m fairly certain that is what it is, but he may think otherwise.
Saw Amir the vet today, I’d hoped he’d be able to do the op today, but couldn’t fit me in with his other surgeries and so it is happening tomorrow.
He’d never seen anything like it either.
I’ve done some more researching, hoping to find the article about the dog which had the most similar looking eye condition, and I think I found what it is.
It isn’t good news though.
I already knew that this kind of tumor is usually secondary. However now I feel I should have had the eye taken out sooner. This appears to be advanced stage retinoblastoma. It’s likely that the cancer has spread on to the optic nerve due to its size. I’m hoping it’s only in the retina. Left untreated, this kind of Tumor will eventually burst out of the eye and continue to grow, like a second head! So it’s the right thing to have the eye removed. It’s possible there are already tumors in the brain and lymph nodes, though I have felt for lumps in her lymph nodes before.p and found nothing. I have noticed a very slight loss in motor control very occasionally, a sort of limp on one side, but only very slight, which might be nothing. I had another guinea pig who gradually lost motor control probably due to a brain tumor, so I will keep a watch on this.
I’m hoping the operation will be simple tomorrow and there won’t be extra material attached to the optic nerve as I don’t think there is any way of removing that easily. I will speak to Amir before he starts tomorrow, the eye has to be removed regardless and we’ll have to see what happens after that. I will ask him about retinoblastoma as well, as I’m fairly certain that is what it is, but he may think otherwise.
Today's update:
Ginger's eye has been removed and we are home and she is recovering.
What the vet found:
The eye had completely calcified, he does not know why. Clearly he had tried to slice the eye either before removal or after and found it was more like a stone than a tumor. This may mean it is not retinoblastoma, but he wouldn't know for sure unless it could be analysed by a lab.
He asked me if I wanted to take it, so it did. On the outside it looked like an eye, but when I looked closer, it had all the colouration but the whole eye was calcified. There was very little eye tissue left, perhaps the lens, surrounding membrane, tissue which connected to the optic nerve and a little of the jelly substance in a small hole in the back of the 'stone'.
I asked the vet if there was any intrusion into the optic nerve or surrounding bone and he said no, so the outlook for other tumors is good.
There is one correlation I can draw though - Ginger also gets very large bladder stones, which she seems to have no trouble passing on her own. I wonder if she has some predisposition to calcification/plaque.
I have taken pictures of the removed eye and can upload them for reference if anyone wants to see them. I'm going to keep the calcified part! I had also kept all 2 of her large bladder stones but I think my partner accidentally chucked them out when sorting through some things recently, I'd love to know if they have the same composition.
So glad all this is done now. Ginger wasn't so good when coming out of the anasethetic, and was twitching and shaking her head a lot, but she seems to have settled down more now and is eating hay happily. I've got pain meds for the next few days.
I recently watched a video of a guinea pig enucleation and they seem to cut the eye before removing it, and leave the eyelid intact, finishing by sewing it up or gluing it. I think as Ginger's eye could not be removed this way, the eyelid has been removed and she has quite a large incision which has been stitched. I will add a picture of this too. This looks good so I'm just keeping an eye on the healing here. I will post pictures later as I'm going to eat dinner now!!
Ginger's eye has been removed and we are home and she is recovering.
What the vet found:
The eye had completely calcified, he does not know why. Clearly he had tried to slice the eye either before removal or after and found it was more like a stone than a tumor. This may mean it is not retinoblastoma, but he wouldn't know for sure unless it could be analysed by a lab.
He asked me if I wanted to take it, so it did. On the outside it looked like an eye, but when I looked closer, it had all the colouration but the whole eye was calcified. There was very little eye tissue left, perhaps the lens, surrounding membrane, tissue which connected to the optic nerve and a little of the jelly substance in a small hole in the back of the 'stone'.
I asked the vet if there was any intrusion into the optic nerve or surrounding bone and he said no, so the outlook for other tumors is good.
There is one correlation I can draw though - Ginger also gets very large bladder stones, which she seems to have no trouble passing on her own. I wonder if she has some predisposition to calcification/plaque.
I have taken pictures of the removed eye and can upload them for reference if anyone wants to see them. I'm going to keep the calcified part! I had also kept all 2 of her large bladder stones but I think my partner accidentally chucked them out when sorting through some things recently, I'd love to know if they have the same composition.
So glad all this is done now. Ginger wasn't so good when coming out of the anasethetic, and was twitching and shaking her head a lot, but she seems to have settled down more now and is eating hay happily. I've got pain meds for the next few days.
I recently watched a video of a guinea pig enucleation and they seem to cut the eye before removing it, and leave the eyelid intact, finishing by sewing it up or gluing it. I think as Ginger's eye could not be removed this way, the eyelid has been removed and she has quite a large incision which has been stitched. I will add a picture of this too. This looks good so I'm just keeping an eye on the healing here. I will post pictures later as I'm going to eat dinner now!!
**WARNING** this is a graphic post of a removed eye!
The removed eye from the front The removed eye from the back The remaining eye tissue - membrane, lens, soft tissue at the back (I removed this): The calcified part of the eye with the soft tissue removed (front): The calcified part of the eye with soft tissue removed (back) - the 'hole' had the only remaining vitreous humor:
The removed eye from the front The removed eye from the back The remaining eye tissue - membrane, lens, soft tissue at the back (I removed this): The calcified part of the eye with the soft tissue removed (front): The calcified part of the eye with soft tissue removed (back) - the 'hole' had the only remaining vitreous humor:
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