Mysterious and persistent eye watering

[Brandon]

Hello all.
Some of you know and some of you may not, that my chinchilla had and absess which was removed succesfully, but weeks later another appeared. With medication and then surgery, it was removed and we have had no further absess problems.
However, after the second sugery Binx's left eye was watering with the occasional gunk. We did eye stains, a variety of creams and ointments, and nothing seemed to work.
Now, months later after the vet said to give it tme, the fur around his left eye still appears to be wet. However, Binx does not fuss and scratch at his eye.
If it is not bothering him, do I leave it? The eye stain turned out to be normal, and it seems as though the eye ointments did nothing for him but irritate him.
What do you guys reccomend? To leave it?
Binx has been eating and drinking, basically being a normal chin with normal poops. I'm just baffled as to what this could be!

 

[Brandon]

Oh, also- we have had an x-ray that turned out to be normal.

 

[Stackie]

Some chins are known to have allergies and the most common symptom is one or two watery eyes. What kind of bedding do you use and what kind of dust?

Eye infections can also be a pain to get rid of occasionally. I fought an eye infection in a chin for almost 4 months and had to use 3 different types of medication. Finally terramycin gel worked.

 

[Brandon]

I use Blue Cloud with a fleece liner.

We treated him for months on end but nothing seemed to work.

 

[Stackie]

A few things you may want to try.

After he takes a dust bath, try flushing his eye out with saline. This will help clear the eye of any particles of dust that may be getting in and causing it to water.

For the liners, the detergent you're washing them in could be irritating. You could try washing them in a non-scented, allergy free detergent.

 

[Brandon]

I'll start doing the saline thing and see if it helps.
Also, I do wash my liners in allergy free, non-scented detergent.
The vet did say try saline so I will start it back up again.
Thank you!

 

[mishellyshel]

I have a watery eye guy too.........what is the easiest way to administer the saline? droppers or a soaked cotton ball?? he is super squirmy & very skittish, so i dont want to freak him out, but i think he will benefit from this.

He doesnt spend much time on his fleece, mostly in his enclosed house but maybe I will switch to an allergen free detergent & see how it plays out.

 

[Brandon]

I personally find holding him steady and dropping a couple drops of saline through a dropper works best for me. Yes, Binx is quite squirmish and doesn't favor being held either and it can be challenging but after awhile they get used to it if youre gentle and pick them up slowly, not chasing him throughout the cage and gripping him.

 

[Stackie]

I usually had someone hold my chin while he was burittoed in a towel, and used my fingers to hold his eye open and get some drops in.

 

[mishellyshel]

Where do you get Saline? I went to Target last night and looked in the contact section & asked the pharmacist and they dont carry it. I would like to have it on hand.

 

[Stackie]

I just got some from Walmart. I've seen it at Walgreens as well. Any pharmacy around you should carry it, too.

Brandon, if none of those things work, you may want to consult the vet again. Sometimes eye infections need an oral antibiotic along with the drops to be cleared up.