Eye Injury After Fighting - Advice Needed Please

[floozybot]

Hi, I have 4 boys aged roughly 4 months old that I got 2 months ago. I assume they are from the same litter as these 4 were together from the day they went on sale at the pet shop.



A few days ago I noticed that Frodo was sitting strangely, and then after looking closer I could see he had sustained an eye injury. There was no immediate sign of blood, but his left eye was half closed, it was weeping slightly and the skin around it was sore. I could see no sign of damage to the actual eyeball.

I’m 95% sure that the injury was inflicted by Hugo (the alpha) as they have been fighting and avoiding each other since this happened.



The morning after the injury, Frodo’s eye was firmly closed/glued shut so you can imagine the worry it caused seeing that. Aside from his eye, Frodo seems his usual self; he’s eating and drinking normally and seems perfectly healthy, but the closed eye was really concerning me.



I called a local vet for some advice, but all they really suggested was taking Frodo in, which I’m reluctant to do in case this results in Hugo attacking him on his return several hours later.



Yesterday, I managed to get Frodo to sit in my partners hand munching seeds long enough for me to gently dab the area around his eye with salt water. Needless to say, he hated getting wet and immediately went for the sand bath to remove the water. After bathing, and grooming himself, the eye opened about halfway and stayed this way for the rest of the day, which was a huge relief. This morning however, his eye is firmly shut/gunked-up again.



The advice I’m seeking is whether I am making a mistake by wetting/cleaning the eye to open it? Instinct tells me that it’s shut for a reason, so it can heal itself, and it will open eventually? I read something terrifying elsewhere about injured eyes drying up if left alone and having to be surgically removed!



I’m sorry this post is quite long, but I’m new here and not sure what to leave in/out etc...



Any advice will be gratefully received 

[moletteuk]

How long ago was the injury? And has it improved overall since then? Is there swelling or any other sign of infection? If you are getting up to 4 or 5 days with no improvement, then I think it's worth risking the vet visit. The vet would give you some appropriate eye drops that could speed up the healing. If you allow Frodo to sand bath thoroughly before he goes back into the group it should help a bit or rub him with soiled bedding if his eye is gunky and sticky. Or you could always take another degu with him, so he isn't the only one that smells funny on return.

I'm not usually one to recommend bathing, but I think Frodo will probably be more comfortable if you do bathe it once a day. Are you using cooled boiled water to make your saline? Perhaps dampen the eye and then wait a couple of minutes for it to soak and soften the crustiness, and then dab again gently. Also, the bathing will allow you to inspect the eye close up and see if it is improving. Take the sand bath out at least until his eye area is dry again, perhaps leave it out if the eye is weepy.


If they are starting to squabble it is worth thinking about increasing you cage size, 4 degus need an area equivalent to almost 4 levels of 100x50cm. Check out our beginner's guide for more info deguworld.proboards.com/thread/19754/beginners-guide-degu-keeping

[deguconvert]

Totally what I would have said, Moletteuk! So, ditto!

[deguconvert]

Also going to add that if you have the typical P@H Thickets cage for your four boys right now, the sooner you can get a cage that fits the dimensions that Moletteuk described above, the better it will be for your boys. They are now very near entering into their adolescent/young adult stage and it can be rife with battles and fighting. If they are in a cage that is pressed for room, they will fight more and harder because of the lack of space.

[floozybot]

Thank you so much for your advice and comments. Literally as I was about to start writing this reply to your questions molletuk I had a text from home with an update on Frodo (I'm still at work) to say his eye is now fully open and he's running around like normal, so fingers crossed he's on the mend.

The injury happened on Friday evening. It was Saturday morning we first noticed it was stuck closed, and later that day that I bathed it (I did indeed boil the kettle and allowed the water to cool). It stayed mostly open for the rest of Saturday, but overnight had become stuck again.

We'd already decided that if it were still closed tonight we should get him to the vets for a look, but thankfully he's doing better now.

I think any kind of infection from the attack would have taken hold by now, do you agree??

Also, we didn't get our cage from P@H as it was TINY, and overpriced. I have this one:
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005CNSA1Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've removed the mesh floors and replaced them with kiln dried pine planks, the only downside being that their poos bounce off the floor like bullets and get everywhere!

I think they generally have enough room and hiding places to avoid each other, but I'm so worried that Hugo will go for Frodo again and cause him further injury. Hugo has never been aggressive towards Rick and Morty, but I think those two know that they are firmly at the bottom of the hierarchy and don't challenge Hugo's position, whereas Frodo does.

I had no idea Goos were such complicated little animals!

[deguconvert]

As I am registered with the Canadian version of Amazon, it won't let me look at your link for the cage. Does it have a name?

[moletteuk]

It's the lazy bones 3 tier. Well done for avoiding the PAH cage, but they are still going to need more space, they need around double what their current cage offers. You could just get another one the same and fix them side by side, we have a couple of members who have done that and been happy with the results. You can fit kickboards to your shelves to keep the mess in, you can use something like this www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Whitewood-PSE-18-x-69-x-2400mm/p/9000036444 It should be really easy to attach to wooden shelves with little 'L' shaped brackets.

Hopefully that's him over the worst of the eye injury, just keep checking it.

[bouncy]

Every time I've had a rodent with an eye injury, the vet has given me ointment to put in the eye twice daily. Where the eye has been damaged, it's aided healing. When the injury has been to the soft tissue, it's aided healing and coated the eye from any scratching or irritation.

[uglibug]

We have lazy bones cages for our girls. We connect them with pipe to make one giant cage. They love it and it was really easy to do.

[bouncy]

Oct 1, 2016 9:02:02 GMT uglibug said:

We have lazy bones cages for our girls. We connect them with pipe to make one giant cage. They love it and it was really easy to do.

Agreed! Three of mine are in some, and I love the flexibility of what I can offer them.