Medicine for Hay Poke on Eye

Linollieum

Post   » Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:34 pm


Thank you Renonvsparky!

I don't know if anyone will see this, but I have a question/update!

We gave the baytril and tobramycin for two weeks, and the eye healed a lot! The red and white completely left, and his eye is smooth now and a lot of the original colour came back, its just slightly cloudy now.

The problem is that now I can see the scratch from the hay poke on the center of his eye, and if I start to reduce the tobramycin, the red returns to his eye and it starts weeping.

So we have another vet appointment with a better vet (the last vet was horrific) but in the meantime I'm wondering if anyone knows what we can do long term to fix his eye, since we would prefer to at least get it stable without needing antibiotic eyedrops a few times a day every day forever to keep his eye from swelling and turning red :( or needing surgery or losing the eye.

Obviously this new vet will know best most likely, but the last vet was completely incompetent and offensive and we're worrying about getting this right for our little guy.

TLDR: how to stabilize the cornea scratch in the longterm without surgery or eye removal.

Thanks!

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:40 pm


It does sound like your best move right now is to continue with the drops until you see the vet. You want it as healed as possible. It may just be a matter of time.

Linollieum

Post   » Tue Jan 18, 2022 11:22 am


Okay, thank you Lynx!

The last vet was scaring us because we just met with him again yesterday for a solution to the redness and all he would say is "we can just remove the eyeball. But he will die because he's so old" (4 years old). And refused to explore any other options or alternatives to help the redness.

We think hes just a bad vet, he never examined or touched our piggie aside from yanking him up into the air and dangling him sideways by his neck and choking him for a few seconds... And he also got really offended that we were asking him questions about the medications and started insulting us. Also made racist comments to my wife, but we were still kind of scared now since this vet was so doom and gloom about the eye. Thank you for the reassurance!

bpatters
And got the T-shirt

Post   » Tue Jan 18, 2022 12:11 pm


New vet. ASAP.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:51 pm


New vet asap and lodge a complaint with the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), USDA, and anyone else you can think of. If I saw someone handling my guinea pig like that, I would freak out on them.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jan 18, 2022 10:44 pm


Ditto on the new vet. Poster is in Canada (Vancouver) but there should be a way to complain there too.

A poster here, Pinta, likely has a very good vet (Pinta is in Vancouver too).

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:09 am


I saw Vancouver and I assumed Washington State. I totally forgot there was a Vancouver in Canada. I'm sure Canada has regulations and certifications for veterinarians. It would be a good idea to find out which agency or agencies regulate that and report that vet before they cause undue suffering or worse.

Linollieum

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:55 am


Yeah I'm going back to my wife's old vet from before we moved with our piggie today. We know they at least specialize in guinea pigs and other exotics and have been good before when she went there a couple times.

We got really upset with the new vet when he did that, my wife said "careful, careful!" And he just ignored her. He was just very confrontational even with very simple polite questions (if we asked what the medications did specifically he would take it super personally and get offended and be really condescending, saying "you won't even understand" or start using more technical terms like calling Baytril Enrofloxin or whatever it is just to try to show off and saying "you won't even understand what that is, will you?" Little did he knew I had at least googled that much :) But aside from getting out frustration it didnt really accomplish much since he wasn't listening. He just argued with us for several minutes, refused to actually do any tests or solutions aside from "I can just take the eyeball out" until we left. His solution was to give us a referral to a vet that doesnt even take guinea pigs :p

Sorry, I'm rambling now since it was so frustrating. It was pretty clear from the start that since the receptionist had told him we were unsatisfied with how he had handled the first appointment, he just came back looking to pick a fight.

Maybe I'll have to ask Pinta what their vet is depending on how tomorrow goes, thank you everyone! I think it oddly helps with the anxiety to not feel alone on this stuff.

Linollieum

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:58 am


Renonsparky, we posted bad google and yelp reviews, like he'll care about that :D I'll have to look for some way to complain more efficiently, if he could get uncertified for guinea pigs at least I think that would be for the best. It was pretty clear he's a dog vet that thinks all eyeballs are the same but doesnt actually know anything about guinea pigs specifically.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 11:14 am


That sounds like the worst vet! A knowledgeable pet owner is what they should want. Someone who is proactive, willing to learn, and DOES ask questions!

The reason this site is here it to help people become informed about guinea pig health. Being an observant owner, looking into what might be wrong, understanding how quickly guinea pigs can go downhill -- there is a wealth of info here and vets, including this crappy vet, should be happy when people become more informed.

I can't tell you how many times we have told people to get an xray to rule out stones when there are certain signs of illness. Unfortunately, stones (for example) are much more likely than a UTI and yet vets will assume they can go the route of pretending it is a UTI (which IS possible) and skip the important xray that will provide much more accurate info to him/her and the pet caretaker.

That aside, PLEASE do contact Pinta asap for a local recommendation. She is an expert at recognizing issues in her own guinea pigs and in also educating her personal vets over the years.

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Renonvsparky

Post   » Wed Jan 19, 2022 6:33 pm


The sunshine animal hospital in Springfield was reluctant to take an xray. I don't understand why. The only thing I can think of is that they judged me by my appearance and didn't think I could afford it. I admit that I look very rough with my gray beard and the sweat pants, t-shirt, old military fleece jacket and slippers. That doesn't mean I can't afford $85 for an x-ray on my guinea pig. They weren't unfriendly, but looking back I saw that they weren't comfortable with me asking questions. They might have thought that I was second guessing them. I'll never take my pets there again.

The vet clinic in Reno was very good about listening to me and addressing my concerns. The clinic in Ava is too. They're limited in what they can do for guinea pigs. They know it and have no problem referring me to another vet who can help. I hope the vet you're going to can help your guinea pig. I also hope you can put out the word on that terrible vet. I'd have a very hard time being civil to anyone who handled my guinea pig like that and that's putting it mildly.

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ItsaZoo
Supporter in 2023

Post   » Thu Jan 20, 2022 10:19 pm


I’m getting the impression that some of the vet clinics are so busy they are purposely deterring people from coming back if they have a pet with ongoing issues.

We had the same experience with a new vet at our clinic who finds every excuse not to treat or diagnose our dog. He’s a growly little old guy with heart disease, and this vet actually told us she couldn’t take X-rays of his back because he would need to be sedated and his heart couldn’t handle that. And if they didn’t sedate him, the stress would be too much. Similar excuse when I wanted a very small wart removed. Can’t stress him with local anesthetic, can’t sedate him. I just about asked if I should stop brushing and clipping him since he gets pretty wound up about that as well.

Went to a different clinic and they got X-rays, blood work, urinalysis, and didn’t even muzzle him.

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