Friend's Chin has eye problems?

[kippen2013]

A friend of mine just got 2 chinchillas a couple weeks ago. She just posted this on facebook and isn't able to find any help from anyone on there. Any help anyone? The post is below...

"I was hoping somebody could tell me! Her eye swelled up to 3X its normal size and got that white buildup on it 3 days ago. On the 2nd day it was 2X its normal size with more buildup. I started giving her an antibiotic in her water on day 2. Today was day 3. Her eye is back to normal size but has slightly more buildup on it then yesterday. When i checked on her today her eye was stuck shut and had a lot of white (stinky) goo that i cleaned off before taking the pictures (that's why she is all wet)"

 

[lauralynne]

She needs to see a chin knowledgeable vet, NOW.

Why is the fur like that? Drooling? No dust bath? There are major things going on there.

Are the chins caged together?

 

[Becky]

She has an eye infection. They can be pretty bad. Drops in the water won't help anything. She needs antibiotics from a vet.

 

[tunes]

That's going to be one of two things, either an infection like Becky mentioned, or it's her teeth. I've seen it happen with both. If it's an infection, I'm 99.99% sure she will never recover the use of the eye. I have a girl here who did the exact same thing. It required oral antibiotics as well as topical for the eye itself. If it's a teeth issue, she will end up being put to sleep because the tooth will have grown into the eye socket. I've seen that happen as well.

Get her to a vet. She will be in excruciating pain either way. She needs her teeth x-rayed first to rule out issues there. If that's not it, then she should have her eye stained to check for a corneal abrasion and she'll need the antibiotics. Make sure the instant you get to the vet that she is given Metacam before they do anything with the eye.

 

[kippen2013]

The fur is wet because when she found the eye stuck shut she used warm water to get the goop to loosen up.

 

[Claire D]

Has this poor chin been to see a vet yet? If so, what was the outcome?

 

[kippen2013]

She is not able to take her to a vet because she does not have a job yet (she just moved with her family) and the vet wont take a payment plan from someone who doesn't have a job, and her family wont help her out...