Charlie's eye is glued shut :(

[chin_gal]

Hello everyone,

I know I'm not really active on here anymore but I do need some advice. I was just feeding the chins and I noticed that my chinchilla Charlie's one eye is completely sealed shut. There is a lot of goop I can see in between his eye lid. His other eye looks completely fine, just the one eye is really gross. Looks like conjunctivitis, but I'm not sure if there's anything else that could cause this. My question is, is this an emergency or can it wait until the morning? It is 11:50pm right now and the only emergency vet is all the way out out Falls Rd (about an hour from me). Is this something I can wait for until the morning when I can take him to my regular vet? Or is this something that is urgent? His eyes were perfectly fine last night and this morning, I JUST noticed it. My poor boy. Any advice will be very much appreciated!

 

[feistychins]

It sounds like it can wait until tomorrow. I would wet a gauze pad with warm water, squeeze out the excess and hold it on the eye to soften what is crusted shut. Then carefully remove any of the discharge. It will give you a better look at the eye itself and give the chin some relief.

You can get him into the vet asap tomorrow.

 

[ChinnyMom]

hopefully it is just something in his eye causing irritation/discharge and not an infection!

and keep us posted )

 

[chin_gal]

Thanks you two! I didn't want to go to bed until I got a response. I just got his eye cleaned out and it is open now, but he still has it only about half way open. It's clearly really irritated. I am going to go get some sleep now and I'll let you know how it goes in the morning!

Thank you!

 

[Awesome Kristin]

Another thing you could do to dissolve it is soak a tea bag and moosh it onto the eyes.

 

[chin_gal]

He's got an appointment today at 11:40. Luckily when I checked him this morning his eye didn't seal shut again, but he still only has it half open and it's very "ouchy" looking. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Claire D]

He may have a slight infection, have gotten some dust or something in his eye &/or scratched his cornea.
Good luck at the vets.

 

[chin_gal]

Sorry for the double post, I was just getting Charlie ready in his carrier a while and took a few pictures. I'm thinking it's probably not a URI since all that is bothered is one eye. He is eating and drinking normally. Also, please excuse his slight greasiness, I have bad asthma so don't dust bathe regularly (he IS due though, just don't want to give him one with his eye like this).

His "bad" eye:

His good eye:

I'm hoping it was just an irritant, or at the most conjunctivitis. But I'm thinking if it is conjunctivitis, it would still be pussy/goopy? Right now it's just really swollen. I'll be leaving in about an hour for the vets, so I guess I'll find out soon. Wish us luck!

 

[mishellyshel]

awww good luck. he is super cute!

 

[chin_gal]

Ok, back from the vets! He did say it looked like conjunctivitis but did an eye stain just in case (poor boy has a lime green stain around his eye now, lol). The stain showed that there were no ulcers or anything so he prescribed him some eye ointment. It doesn't really have a name, it just says on the box "Neomycin and Polymyxin B Sulfates, Bacitracin Zinc and Hydrocortisone Ophthalmic Ointment USP (Sterile)".. so not sure if anyone knows what it actually is, lol. I know Neomycin is safe so I'm assuming this ointment is going to be ok. I have to give him a 1/4in in his right eye 2 times a day for 14 days. Poor boy's so upset. Can't wait until he's better.

Thank you for your help everyone! ) So glad that it just seems to be an eye infection and nothing worse.

 

[mishellyshel]

if it doesnt clear up with just the drops the vet can prescribe a mild antibiotic like the Septra (pink stuff). i would still wipe it with a saline soaked cotton pad, especially to wipe off the stain. i thinkn it is easier if you put a drop of the ointment on a qtip or something soft instead of using the metal tip of the tube.
i hope charlie feels better soon!

 

[xcdnchinx]

Glad to hear that it is treatable. I hope your little guy gets better soon =)

 

[alli713]

I believe hydrocortisone is a steroid, and not necessarily the best thing to use with chins, but I'm not an expert on meds. I just know when one of my chins had an eye infection and was prescribed an eye ointment with a steroid, I was told by the chinvet Angie not to use it because if ingested it can cause ulcers (I believe).

Eye drops are easier to administer too.

Perhaps someone with more experience will weigh in for you.

 

[ticklechin]

I use neo-poly-dex which has a steroid in it, since its a drop the chin can't ingest it.

 

[Randy-Chin]

I use Silver Biotics (Ultimate Immune System Support). I have one chin with bad tooth problem and his left eye has completely closed a few times. I just give 3 drops in the area of the eye and in 2 to 3 days it is back to normal.

 

[chin_gal]

Oh wow, thanks everyone! I didn't know that. I'm going to be really careful to only get the ointment into his eye and clean up the fur around his eye after application. That way, he can't ingest it.

 

[chincinnati]

Randy-chin, Silver Biotics? I remember researching that or a like product a couple years ago but can't rememebr what I decided. Would you share more about it?