Hard white area below one eye

coltond

Post   » Fri Feb 02, 2018 7:17 pm


Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I am hoping to ease my mind until my vet appointment on Monday. We recently lost our 15-month-old guinea pig during the recovery of anesthesia from a surgery to remove a bladder stone. Our 18-month-old guinea pig, Dilbert, has been terribly upset that his best friend hasn't come home. We made the decision to purchase a new male guinea pig, 4-week-old Nigel, from a breeder registered with the American Cavy Association. We looked high and low for any guinea pig available to adopt within a 700-kilometer radius and I didn't come up with anything, so we made the decision to purchase one from a very reputable breeder. We met with the breeder, met Nigel's parents and the rest of his herd (who were all in great health), gave Nigel a quick exam and brought him home. After we got home we noticed a raised white area below one of his eyes. He's currently in quarantine. I was hoping that someone might know what this raised white area might be? None of his siblings had this below their eyes (I still have access to all of the pictures). His eye is pretty white, but directly below the white space looks like some raised scar tissue. Does anyone know what this might be? Thank you!

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bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:49 pm


I really don't know. But my suspicion would be that it's a fungus.

OliCavies

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:12 am


Oh that, don't worry.My boar had the same thing when he was 2 months old.We treated with tea.If you want to know how all you have to do is follow these steps.

1) boil water and pour into small cup
2)get as much of the tea out of the tea bag into the water.
3)let it cool for a couple minutes (until it is luke warm)
4) take a q-tip and put the tea on the white stuff(scrape some of with q-tip if possible) and drop A little in the cavy's eye
5)do this every day and it should get smaller and smaller, Then eventually disappear.

I hope this helps out.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 12:25 am


I would definitely NOT treat it with tea. Eye infections can spread to the other eye and cause the loss of sight in both.

I think you should notify the breeder and let him arrange for the pig to see an exotic vet.

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Kimera

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 6:13 am


I would say it is his fur hardened with exudation from the irritated eye. It needs to be treated carefully, since it is so near his eye. Certainly visiting an exotics vet is recommended.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 9:51 am


He is cute! I'm on the likely fungal side with a possible aggravation from exudate from the eye (they may be interrelated).
Let us know what the vet says. Oh, and let me know if I can add your photos permanently to your thread for future readers.

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mmeadow
Supporter 2004-2022

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 10:49 am


Absolutely looks like fungus. Very common and treatable, but agree with everyone that the supplier must be notified--this is not OK!--and cover a vet appointment. In my experience, giving the pig two or three baths with an anti-fungal shampoo is a better way to get rid of fungus than just using a topical medication on the infected areas.

Guinea Lynx page on fungal infections.

coltond

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 1:43 pm


Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to respond to my inquiry, I greatly appreciate it! My vet was able to squeeze me in first thing this morning. She said it looks like it could be ringworm, but she would prefer to grow a culture in the lab before prescribing oral medications (due to his weight, and how harsh they can be on the little guy's system.) She also looked at a sample off of his skin under a microscope and she treated him for mites with an ivermectin injectable. She advised that she wouldn't want to treat the area around his eye with a topical antifungal medication due to the close proximity of the eye. Has anyone experienced any issues with this?



Lynx wrote: Sat Feb 03, 2018 9:51 am Oh, and let me know if I can add your photos permanently to your thread for future readers.
You can definitely add the photos permanently :)

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:24 pm


There are ophthalmic antifungal drops/creams/whatever. If it were me, I'd want to at least try those before giving an oral antifungal. The oral meds are pretty awful for any animal, human or four-legged, and I'd want them to be the last resort.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 3:26 pm


Your vet is right that you'd need to be very careful with topical fungal treatments near the eye. It would depend on how well you think you could apply it (would be applied very thinly). bpatters suggestion to use anophthalmic antifungal is the best.

Here are some closeup crops of your pics (thanks for letting me add them - what happens is remote hosts fail and then no one knows what a medical issue looked like):






coltond

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:36 pm


Thanks for the feedback. I spoke with my vet again just a couple minutes ago and she said that she believes it's a skin infection, not an eye infection, so she won't treat it with an ophthalmic drop. She also stated that I shouldn't put any medications near his eyes... I'm a bit frustrated because I want for him to feel better rather than wait another 3 weeks for results of his culture.

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Sat Feb 03, 2018 4:49 pm


I agree that it's a skin infection. But the eye drops have the medication in them that would treat the skin infection and wouldn't hurt the eyes, whereas any skin medication might damage the eyes.

I'm not a vet, nor do I play one on TV (to quote Talishan). But I can't see why it would hurt to try an antifungal eye drop and see if it helps. You'd know much quicker than three weeks if it were doing anything. And if it doesn't, you could then try an antibiotic eye drop. As I said, I'll do most anything to keep from giving an oral antifungal med. And like you, I wouldn't want to wait three weeks.

I would, however, be raising hell with the breeder and demanding that he pay for all treatment.

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