[Erin8607]

Does anyone have any advice for a baby pig with inverted eyelashes? Julian's eyes have become cloudy and the only thing I can tell that is causing it is the eye lashes are brushing the surface of the eyes. I know that the constant irritation is a problem, but how is it fixed? Is this common? Will it correct itself?

I will post pictures later today.

[Josephine]

It's genetic. More common in Teddies, Rexes, and Texels (both origins). Entropion.

I had a pair of Crested Satin sows from a huge inbred colony (started with two pigs living in a chicken coop and turned into more than 30). Depending upon the degree of problem, BNP can and should be applied. Artificial tear ointment at the least to minimize corneal abrasion. One sow corrected herself giving it a couple of weeks and a steroid ophthalmic. The other had bilateral entropion. She had one eye that got better with the steroids and one that required surgery. The procedure went really well. I lost her to wave jaw a couple of years later.

I'll see if I can pull up the old thread. It is a painful condition, so pain meds should be considered if it is going to be more than a few weeks to surgery. It is difficult, though since you don't want to give NSAIDS. Sometimes a topical anesthethic preparation (proparacaine) can help.

There are several schools of thought on this one. Some vets will "tack" the eyelids when they are very young to prevent going to the full surgery later. It has to be done while they are small. Some wait and do the full surgery later if indicated.

[Erin8607]

He's just 5 days old, would that be too early to start pain med's, steroid ointment, etc? He's an american satin, also from the mass of pregnant (inbred) pigs that I have here.

[Josephine]

[address invalid]/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1500&highlight=myrtille

This was all I could find. I wonder if the posts were on the old GL board or CG. Probably CG. It was about 1999 I think.

It is important to get the eyes stained to see how much corneal damage there is. You don't want to use steroids if there is any.

[Josephine]

I would definitely start on Artificial Tears +/- BNP like yesterday.

The rest has to wait until he gets his cornea stained.

[Josephine]

If he needs surgery, my vet has done it before and could consult. It was pretty much similar to a canine entropion surgery on a very small scale.

If I had to do it over again, I would have done the surgery a bit earlier. To think my sow was uncomfortable for the first 6 months of her life! We were worried about anesthesia, but many people are getting the pigs neutered at like 3-4 months of age, so it could be done at the same time then.

[ottosmom]

I had a foster bunny that had it in both eyes. He had to have surgery to correct it.

[Josephine]

Oh, I did want to add that both sows were approximately 3 days old when I acquired them.

Older pigs (greater than 4 weeks old) with entropion definitely need surgery. If it is going to correct itself, it will do so before them.

[Erin8607]

He was started on BNP last night along with artificial tears.

I'll have to call and get him in this week. I'll call the same vet that Michele had her pigs eye removed at.

[Evangeline]

Erin-
Dribble had that surgery done on one of her pigs. Maybe you could email her for her experience with it?

[Erin8607]

Here is a picture showing one eye, two close up shots to follow.

[Erin8607]

[Josephine]

Oh poor guy. He's so cute! His right eye is one of the worst I've seen. It only looks like one lid is affected in each eye, which is better than both. I don't know that he'll grow out of it.

Definitely continue the BNP. If his eyes look like that, I'd strongly suspect corneal breach. Secondary infection would make matters only worse.

[dribble]

Geez Evangeline. Your memory is unbelievable!

I dug up my paperwork on Lily. She was 10 months old when I realized she was squinting a lot in one eye and it was cloudy and red.

The regular vet stained it and saw abrasions so they sent me to an ophthalmologist.

In November 2001 she had a "temporary tack" and we used neomycin-polymixin-dexamethasone and "ophthalmic solution." I can't remember what it was, probably artificial tears.

I'm having trouble remembering exactly why we didn't do entropion surgery at that time -- probably because it was more invasive. I do remember seeing the little stitch in her lid -- the temporary tack. It did not bother her at all.

But it didn't hold the lid in place either. In January 2002 she had unilateral entropion surgery. She has been fine since. The affected lower lid appears droopy because it hangs farther away from her eye, but her eye itself has looked normal since the surgery. The entropion abrasion didn't cause any blindness.

It cost $157 for the temporary tack and $180 for the entropion surgery, so I should have just gotten the full surgery at the outset.

[dribble]

Cute piddy, by the way. Love the little feet.

[lisam]

When one of my miniature horses was born with this problem, my vet tacked it up with superglue.

[Lynx]

Well, at least he didn't use duct tape. :-)

[Erin8607]

Julian had his eye stained today, he's got some surface abraisions. Nothing too bad, but definatly not good. He's got an appointment on Thursday afternoon with a specialist to see where to go from here. His right eye looks as if it's improved mildly with BNP, but it's still cloudy.

[cacosta]

Sending healing vibes to Julian's eyes. Poor little guy.

[Erin8607]

I've run into a little problem. I seperated Shelly with Julian all day yesterday and half the day today while Veeta managed her other two babies along with her own 4. Today, I put Shelly's other two back with her and she's not letting them nurst and is biting them when they try. Should I put them back with Veeta? I'm worried that V's 4 will not let them get enough, there is almost a week age difference between Veeta's and Shelly's pups. Shelly's two are eating and drinking on their own, but they are just 8 days old now.