eye swollen shut

just got a message from my boyfriend that our chins eye was swollen shut so he cleaned it out and gave him some eye drops. but i have a question. i was told he may have allergies by the vet. have u guys ever heard of this and can you give them anything to help with allergies if so? noticed minor sneezing as qell

i'd get another vet opinion, and have them check for both a URI (upper respiratory infection) and for tooth problems, especially problems with the teeth in the upper jaw, since they are in such close proximity to the eye area and can cause eye issues.

have you seen your chin grinding his teeth at all? was he off his food/hay any before your bf noticed the eye?

Was the eye swollen shut with puss? Or is it just swollen and watery?

If it truly was allergies you may want to look into using fleece liners which will help with the dustiness of some shavings. I know some people also need to keep an eye on their chin after dust baths and sometimes have to wash out their eyes with saline eye solution to wash the dust out.

But if it were swollen shut with puss then it would be an infection and not allergies. And the sneezing may indicate an upper respiratory infection.

Also checking on what type of eye drops were giving as human eye drops cannot be given to chins. I was informed a chinchillas eyes are not connected to their respiratory system so most likely a URI is not causing the eye issues. Sometimes a piece of hay or dust can irritate their eyes and cause watery eyes or a closed eye. Also if the chin is kept up high with no ventilation this can also cause a watery eye. Best thing to do is to always see a chinchilla knowledgeable vet and post any medications prescribed on the forum so we cn assist you.

well i had him to the vet a month or so ago for a URI and the eye drops that i am giving him are the same as then not sure of the name but i have posted it up here before and everyone ok that. But now i am a little worried. I havent had him long because i recently got him from someone else but i have noticed that he has always kinda grinded his teeth but i also think the vet checked him for mal. at the last time because we were having problems getting rid of the URI. after the eye drop his eye is looking better. Im going to call vet in the morning and see if they did test him for mal. but anything i can do over night to help him along? I'm slightly freaked out about this as i have him in a FN 142 above my female and dont want her sick as well!

I don't know if this is relevant but when my chin had one eye closed, I took her to the vet and they found that she had scratched her eye. They gave antibiotics and pain medication. They had put a chemical in her eye and viewed under a blacklight I think they could check if there was any injury. They told me it was small and it healed fairly fast. I found that it was from one of her dome shaped chew toys she had chewed on it to the shape of the tip of a sharp pencil. So maybe she could have actually hit or scratched her eye. Or it is possible something got into her eye kind of like when you go to the beach and the sand blows in your eyes etc. also I really hope you didn't give human eye drops. If you were to use anything for their eye before you can get your chin to a more knowledgable vet I would recommend is sea salt water they have a saline solution (simply saline wound wash brand not any saline eye drops) you can get at the store that says it's used to clean wounds. I actually used it when Jazmine had a small cut on her nose which healed nicely where I couldn't use ointments because it was on her nose. I even used it when Gucci had some eye crusties and so far his eyes have been clear since. I find it safe and gentle to use.

It's possible he never got completely over the URI from a month or so ago and the symptoms are back. He may need a longer dose of antibiotic or a different antibiotic all together. Conjunctivitis is also pretty nasty sometimes and takes a longer time to heal than you'd think. I'd call the vet and see if they can get him back in for a follow-up.

ok serious question then if it is mal. do you guys think it is better off to put the baby down? I dont want him to be in pain!:tantrum:

I personally don't put a chinchilla down if there is a chance of recovery or if there is no diagnosis.


To answer the original question, chinchillas can get allergies just like humans and if it gers bad enough they can be treated with benadryl. This is just a general answer, not saying this is what this chin has.

As far as the malo goes, if the vet didn't x-ray the chin, it would be hard for them to truly tell if the chin has malo.

But many times malo shows up with other symptoms like pawing at the mouth and drooling. My one malo girl had watery eyes, but I knew something was really off when she would take a treat, try to eat it, drop it and paw at her mouth.

I didn't see an answer to my one question, is the eye swollen shut with puss or is it just watery?

oh sorry i thought i answered that. i was not home when this happend but my boyfriend said it was puss. looks the same as when he had his uri though. we have the drops the vet gave us not human drops. i dont use anything unless i know if is safe. also he does paw at his mouth some like maybe once a day if that. if it was malo wouldnt he be in pain? he chews on ANYTHING in sight and always has since i have had him. he has never really showed signs of being in pain. could him grinding his teeth just be something he does? cause it almost seems like he does it while he is relaxed or sleeping.

thanks for all the help sorry for all the questions

Chins do grind their teeth on occasion, and will swipe at their mouth even if they don't have malo.

I've never had a chin with an URI so I can't really advise on that.

i have a feeling that maybe he never got over it. i will go to the vet once i get home.
after cleaning out his eye with a q-tip it looks better but still looks swollen. can i use a warm wash cloth to better clean the eye? and also if he just scartched the eye would there still be puss?

i have a couple chins that have had eye issues, one with an infection and another irritation to dust. i buy the 100% cotton cosmetic pads and i usually moisten slightly with warm water and put a few drops of saline in it and wipe their eye. sometimes i have to do this after dusting to make sure it doesnt get in their eyes. i would do that & use the drops until you get to the vet and get an antibiotic. typcially you would use the method of cleaning the eye with saline, using the drops & administering the antibiotic.

knj102690 said:

oh sorry i thought i answered that. i was not home when this happend but my boyfriend said it was puss. looks the same as when he had his uri though. we have the drops the vet gave us not human drops. i dont use anything unless i know if is safe.

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If these eye drops have antibiotics in them and the vet did not inform you to start the eye drops again, you should not use them. This is one of the reasons we have problems with antibiotic resistance.
I hope the vet can tell you what is going on.