Conjunctivitis - UPDATED

[Orlaith]

Xander has conjunctivitis!

When we woke up this morning his eye was half-closed and weeping so we checked him out and couldn't see any pieces of hay or anything, but we flushed it with saline anyway. But after a few hours it hadn't gotten any better so we took him to the emergency vet who said he had conjunctivitis. We have little drops to put in for the next while so hopefully that'll clear things up.

Does anyone have any idea how long it will take before it starts looking better?

[Orlaith]

Just to let everyone know, Xander's eye is getting much better. He's getting a drop of Fucithalmic ointment twice a day and it's improving. His eye is almost fully open now and the redness of his lower eyelid has gone down a lot.

[Orlaith]

Argh, now Hilda has it! We've kept Xan separate since his diagnosis but she has still managed to get it. Grrr!

[twistedsymphony]

both of mine had it when I bought them, Its really contagious, the vet gave me drops to put in both of them, and told me to put it in both eyes for both guinea pigs until neither of them had symptoms, the good news is that it only took 5 days to clear.

[Orlaith]

Cool, five days isn't too bad at all!

It turns out that Hilda doesn't have conjunctivitis, she has a corneal ulcer. So essentially, she has somehow scratched the surface of her eye, maybe with hay or by another pig, and it's really hurting her now. We got gentamicin drops to put in as well as a lubricant to stop her eye being so sore and we have to just wait it out. Her cornea has gone a bit milky and she's in pretty bad form, but she'll get better soon. Worst comes to worst, she'll have to have an operation but I'd really prefer it didn't go that far. Poor baby!

[samantha]

Thats nice to hear and thank for the update. I love reading stories of others little pet so I know what to do with mine when it comes to that.