Swollen Eye

[Chinch&Chilla]

Hi, I came home from work today to find that my chins eye is swollen and he can only partially open it. I can tell it must be bothering him because hes trying to sleep and every 5-10 min he'll wake up and use his hands like hes trying to clean his face. I know I have to get him to a vet I'm just wondering how quickly can these things escalate?

My vet isn't open on Sundays and of course it just so happens that his hours tomorrow (10-6) are exactly my hours of working too. Is this serious enough that I should think about going to an emergency vet hospital (closest one is over an hour away)? If not I'm going to try to talk to work about coming in later tomorrow and taking him in the morning but I'm worried about getting a last min appointment and whether my work will get upset. If I'm not able to get him in tomorrow is Tuesday too late cause thats my day off? And in the mean time should I be separating him from my other chin and/or is there anything else I can do to make him more comfortable?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

It could be that he has something in his eye and is having trouble flushing it out, it could also be a scratch or the starts of an ulcer. I would start flushing the eye 4 times a day or so with saline, give it a good rinse, and that will help keep it clean. I would also book a vet appt. asap, if you can't go Monday, then go Tuesday. If it's anything other than a bit of dust in his eye, you'll need meds from the vet.

Also, be sure that you aren't leaving the dust bath in the cage all the time, as that can cause eye problems.

 

[Chinch&Chilla]

Thanks for the advice. I don't leave the dust bath in the cage so that shouldn't be the problem. I'm going to try to get him into the vet tomorrow, Tuesday at the latest. In the mean time I will try the saline and I'm going to start cleaning the cage every day till its healed to try to keep the environment as clean as possible.

 

[Godins Chinchillas]

If he/she is on shavings replace them with towels and change out daily. That will help with any dust in the shavings causing the irritation.

 

[becky12883]

If the eye is stuck shut you can use a warm damp cloth to help get it open too.

 

[Chinch&Chilla]

Thanks for the replies. The cage uses fleece liners so I changed them and wiped down the other tile surfaces and the metal inside of his wheel. I'm not giving a dust bath until I know its healed. The eye isn't stuck shut. I tried my best to flush it out with saline (he didn't like it much) and he seems to be able to open it wider and not be as bothered by it. He's still squinting it a little but not as bad.

 

[Dreamlite]

Just keep the eye and cage as clean as possible till you can get him to a vet. As long as he is still eating, acting well and not rubbing his eye to make it worse I wouldn't worry till the apt.

 

[Zoaea]

You could ask the vet if they would let you drop him off for the day and pick him up after hours? If you got the eye open I think it can wait longer unless it gets puffy or any type of drainage. Then you might want to spring for the evet. Use your instincts, if he seems off dont wait. =x

 

[Chinch&Chilla]

Thanks for the concern/replies. Tonight he's actually looking back to normal and he's been acting/eating normally. When I look at his eye all I can see that might be different at this point is just a small speck of a lighter color in his eye just above his bottom eyelid. It's so small I question sometimes whether I'm imaging it's there and that all the problem was was just dirt/dust that got in there and it's healed fine on its own. But I already made an appointment for him tomorrow morning at the vet and I guess I could go just to make sure it's ok.

 

[Dragonflye]

It's always a good idea to check and make sure his cornea isn't scratched and all looks okay. A scratched cornea can take a while to heal and the vet can give you drops to help out.

 

[Basket_of_Chinchillas]

Glad to hear that it's looking better. It's possible that he just had something in his eye and that repeat saline rinses helped flush it out. If he starts squinting again, even a little bit, or there is gunk in the corner of his eye I would get him to the vet pretty quick.