Left eye crusted shut

[rainey]

I was checking on Snoops a few minutes ago and his left eye was completely crusted shut. I was able to pull some of the crust off gently, so that he could open his eye again, but I couldn't get it all off and I'm very worried about him now. The area below his eye was slightly pink, and his other eye was completely fine. Could it be from having dusted for the first time in Sweet PDZ a few days ago? Shavings? Hay? I've been giving him hay from a bail I bought about a month ago, but this is the first time I've noticed a problem. Does it look like fungus? I've never dealt with eye issues before so I am at a loss.

Snoops had a heat stroke last summer and has been dealing with various issues ever since..mainly he has trouble running and will fall over sideways if he tries to run too fast. As a result he gets dirty pretty quickly (falling into his own excrement) so I clean his cage daily. For right now, I sanitized his cage and took everything out except for a few clean paper towels.

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[rainey]

here's a picture

 

[Airyn]

If that were my chin, he'd be at the vet already. Maybe I'm overcautious, but I wouldn't trust yellow crusties and white goop in the eye. Good luck!

 

[Cuddlebug]

I, too, would take him to the vet ASAP.

 

[rainey]

I called every vet I know of in MA and no one has anyone that can treat chinchillas. Tufts Foster no longer has an exotic specialist, nor does Sager Animal Hospital. Neither of the VCA hospitals in Mass. have anyone who can help for a few days, and the Odd Pet Vet in Weymouth is closed. And I will never go to Angell Memorial again because they claimed to have a specialist when they didn't, and it resulted in my chinchilla dying when I took her there.

I just made an appointment at the Ocean State Vet. Specialists (RI) at 4:30 on Wednesday (earliest appointment when I also have access to a car)....but this seems too far away. I am so worried

 

[rainey]

I will call Odd Pet Vet in the morning and can maybe take a cab there, but I can't think of any other option?

 

[ysy]

It looks like conjuctivitis to me. Kelly had a similar issue while she was recovering from her surgery last year, the vet gave her antibiotic eye drops (gentamycm i think - not sure about the spelling) and it cleared up in about 3 to 4 days.

Is Snoops still eating, pooping, and playing fine? Kelly was pretty much herself except that she couldn't see. I wiped down her eyes and removed as much of the gunk as I can with saline. It doesn't help clear it up, but at least she's more comfortable and can open her eyes.

Hope everything goes well at the vets!

 

[rainey]

ysy- thanks for the reply. That is great to hear because that means I can probably wait until Saturday to take him in to the vet that is nearby. Snoops has absolutely no other symptoms, so I will just keep it clean with the saline and see what the Vet says on Saturday.

It is terrible that there are no emergency vets in the area that see chins; I need to figure out my options for what I can do in the future..

 

[Shooper]

Just took my Inca to the vet yesterday with same thing and he has conjunctivitis in both eyes. Got a shot and came home on antibiotics and eye drops. If you have multiple chins, beware, it's contagious!

 

[chin_gal]

That is the same thing that just happened to my chinchilla Charlie a few weeks ago. The vet diagnosed him with conjunctivitis in his right eye and put him on some eye medication for 2 weeks. It's now been a week after he completed his treatment, and it's definitely gone! I'm not sure about waiting so long to get him to the vet though... seems like an awfully long time. If it is conjunctivitis, he could possibly spread it to his other eye as well. Hope he gets to the vet soon!

 

[ysy]

I agree with chin_gal, the sooner you can get him to a vet the better actually, because it's easy to clear it up if you start treatment early, otherwise it might take a while or it might lead to something else, I'm not sure. I pretty much took Kelly the next day, poor baby looked so pathetic running around without being able to see.

 

[Airyn]

How's Snoops doing?

 

[rainey]

I used eye wash twice a day on it and yesterday when I checked on him his eye looked completely clear. I guess it's not conjuntivitis. I'm still cleaning his cage twice a day and not giving him dust, but I wonder if his issue had to do with the Sweet Pdz that he dusted in for the first time last week. I put some of it in his cage since he can't use dust in small containers, and so he had it for several hours. I'm never using that stuff again regardless because it made ME sick too.

I'll be bringing him to the Odd Pet Vet on Saturday since his eye's better and I was going to have to skip work or class if I brought him this week. I'll let you all know how it goes!

 

[rainey]

Sorry for the delay. The vet gave me Terramycin and told me to apply it 1x a day for a week. It already looks better! Oh and he said it was just a case of Conjuntivitis, probably from the dust getting in it.

 

[AZChins]

That's great news! I'm so glad to hear that his eye is clearing up.

One of my girls has a eye that is looking goopy tonight. I cleaned it and gave her some drops...if it doesn't look better by Thursday, we're off to the vet...yippie.

 

[Airyn]

I'm happy to hear he's doing better! Simple solutions are always nice!

 

[SmileX3]

Any recommendations on eye meds for conjuntivitis? I've taken 3 in and they were all dif symptoms and none had been around the other and I washed hands and changed clothes to not spread. One had jumped out of a cage and without a doubt it is a cut. Another was watery and seemed red on the inner corner. The other was yellow crusties. The vet did stains on all, checked with the blacklight on one, and only sent me home with ciprofloxacin drops to be given 3x daily. That was over a month ago and I even had to go back and get 2 more refills after the 3 bottles were gone! It obviously isn't helping and I don't know what other meds would be a great idea to suggest bc my vet is an hour away and I don't want to continue getting something that isn't working.


I am glad Snoops is better! I can't wait to report the same!