Guinea pig eyes swollen. Please help!
Hi everyone, I just adopted a new male guinea pig. After a few days I noticed his left eyes are slightly less open than his right eye, which is seems completely healthy. I took a closer look and felt that his left eyelids are swollen with a bit of hair loss in the front area close to his nose. There seems to be tiny lumps on his eye lids that feels hard to touch (harder than regular skin). Other than the eye, his behavior seems completely healthy. Still plenty of energy to run around playing with other cage mates and a healthy appetite to match.
I live in Vietnam, and have called all the vets around here. None of which seems to be familiar with guinea pigs at all. So I did my research and think it might be conjunctivitis but not 100% sure. I have been administering eye drops with gentamycin since yesterday.
What would be my best course of action here? Just want to be sure my piggie will be ok.
I live in Vietnam, and have called all the vets around here. None of which seems to be familiar with guinea pigs at all. So I did my research and think it might be conjunctivitis but not 100% sure. I have been administering eye drops with gentamycin since yesterday.
What would be my best course of action here? Just want to be sure my piggie will be ok.
Thanks for the advice bpatters. I rolled up his eyelid and there seems to be no hay underneath. The drops are for them so I think it'll be ok.
I do notice he has a tendency to scratch that area of his face with his back claws. Maybe that's what causing the swelling? Im not too sure. I'll keep using the gentamycin on him for now. He's still eating and energetic, although a little scared of his treatment at this point.
I do notice he has a tendency to scratch that area of his face with his back claws. Maybe that's what causing the swelling? Im not too sure. I'll keep using the gentamycin on him for now. He's still eating and energetic, although a little scared of his treatment at this point.
- CavyDad
- Supporter in 2018
When doing eye drops, our vet recommends doing the treatment for 3 weeks as opposed to 2. In her experience, the infection seems to come right back when you stop after 2 weeks. In some instances, I've been told to treat the healthy eye too as a preventative measure, but if you do that, you really need to make sure you don't accidentally touch the eyes with the bottle of drops.
Thanks for the support. I've been treating him with the drops and notice more carefully that the area around the eye looks like it has some sort of fungal infection. Hard to get a picture of up close, but its like this:
The dandruff like stuff in present. And everymorning, there seems to be a slight bloody discharge from his eyes. Should I start treating him with miconazole cream as well?
The dandruff like stuff in present. And everymorning, there seems to be a slight bloody discharge from his eyes. Should I start treating him with miconazole cream as well?
It looks like a very typical fungal infection. In guinea pigs it is quite often centered around eyes, then stretches towards the nose and mouth. There may also be isolated patches on ears, abdomen or even the back.
Good food, vitamins, stress free surroundings and clean and dry bedding are the most important factors in treating fungal infections. Medication is only a half of the treatment, the other half is strenghtening the immune system by proper nutrition and lack of stress. Guinea pigs are very nervous and timid animals.
Good food, vitamins, stress free surroundings and clean and dry bedding are the most important factors in treating fungal infections. Medication is only a half of the treatment, the other half is strenghtening the immune system by proper nutrition and lack of stress. Guinea pigs are very nervous and timid animals.
Thanks all for the kind advice.
I just want to quickly update so maybe the next person can find some helpful info.
I got him June 13 and started noticing the swollen area June 15. So I started treating him routinely from June 16 with first padding the infected area with natri clorid 0.9% follow by gentamycin drops 3-4 times a day. I ceased treatment after 10 days because the skin area looks better. July 5th (19 days since first treatment) I started seeing hair growing back in the affected skin area.
As Kimera mentioned about diet, I suspect his diet wasn't good enough before I picked him up. At my home, he's been given fresh lettuces, bell peppers, and other fresh veggies to boost his C intake. Unlimited timothy hay. Clean cage and regular cleaning of course. Even during the infection, he was energetic and always hungry.
Now that his skin is healed, his only problem is being horny. XD
I just want to quickly update so maybe the next person can find some helpful info.
I got him June 13 and started noticing the swollen area June 15. So I started treating him routinely from June 16 with first padding the infected area with natri clorid 0.9% follow by gentamycin drops 3-4 times a day. I ceased treatment after 10 days because the skin area looks better. July 5th (19 days since first treatment) I started seeing hair growing back in the affected skin area.
As Kimera mentioned about diet, I suspect his diet wasn't good enough before I picked him up. At my home, he's been given fresh lettuces, bell peppers, and other fresh veggies to boost his C intake. Unlimited timothy hay. Clean cage and regular cleaning of course. Even during the infection, he was energetic and always hungry.
Now that his skin is healed, his only problem is being horny. XD