Degu red eye??

[hpdegus]

Pickett's eye is red. Its the eye that had a cataract, but now its red. I'm assuming that means some sort of bleeding? He's acting completely normal at the moment. Sorry, I'm kind of freaking out.

[hpdegus]

photos.app.goo.gl/KTN5fbkwb7aEA5FS9

Hopefully this is a clear enough picture. Does it look like hyphema? If so, do I need to take him to the vet, or observe and see if there's any improvement.

It wouldn't surprise me if he accidentally banged his head, his vision was pretty much gone in that eye due to cataracts.

[savvy]

Is it red in artificial light, or any light?

Is he squinting or is it causing him any irritation?

Is there any discharge?

It may be worth a check up at the vet, just to make sure.

[savvy]

Sorry, cross posted with the photograph.

It does look like he may have banged it, but I can't enlarge the photo enough for a better look as I'm on a tablet.

See how he goes, but I still think a check up would be warranted, if only to put your mind at ease.

[hpdegus]

I unfortunately just noticed it, but since its such a huge change from the white cataract, I imagine it truly is red.

Nope, no squinting. No signs of pain or irritation either. He just shoved his brother so he could get more of his favorite seed mixture.

No discharge either. It honestly seems like everything is normal, expect for the blood/red coloring.

I'll call and see what they can do. Ironic that I was just in there today!

[savvy]

It's usually the way, lol.

I've just Googled and apparently cataracts can bleed if they slip out of place. But you'd need a vet to confirm this.

[hpdegus]

Haha, of course! I'm going to put so many miles on my car this week!

Ah, that would make sense. Well, I'll see if they can fit me in tomorrow, or if they just recommend watching/antibiotics. Since he's acting normally I think he'll be fine for the night?

[savvy]

There's little you can do overnight except monitoring him.

Keep us posted on what the vet says.

[hpdegus]

Just called in, unfortunately neither of the exotics vets are on this weekend. The tech is going to leave them a note, they should respond by Monday at the latest. They're really the only ones who have degu experience in the area and I already drive 2 hours round trip to get there. I don't think anyone would be willing to do a phone consultation about a degu they've never seen, and I know the emergency vet has no experience with degus.

He's still behaving completely as normal, so I'm not as worried as I could be. He's currently happily grooming Newt.

Thoughts?

[moletteuk]

I would wait to see the right person since Pickett seems ok in himself.

[teemu]

If he's behaving normally and his eye does not seem to be causing issues right now, it's probably better to wait for a vet with more training in these animals than to take him to a vet right now.

Looking at the picture, the lower eyelid and the fur surrounding that look a bit strange to me, or at least different from my degus. Seems like there's some swelling there when I compare to my degu with the same coloration. Does it always look like that, or has it gotten like that now?

Sadly I'm mostly red-green colorblind so I'm really not helpful for actually estimating the eye redness right now, but I think I can discern the redness you are talking about, mostly in that there's uneven coloration in the ye and it's not as black as it should be. Of all the things that cause acute redness in an eye like that, something like a hyphema would be the only one (I know of) that doesn't come with any discharge or swelling or other signs that would indicate infection. If his vision is bad anyhow (and we all know how clumsy degus can be even with perfectly good vision), it would make sense if he banged his eye into something. Fortunately from my understanding, hyphemas are not usually dangerous and the blood will drain given time (since it's essentially kinda like a bruise in the eyeball), but a vet visit is still a good idea of course.

[hpdegus]

Thanks all! I'll wait until he can see his regular vet.

That weirdness under his eye is actually from a fight a year or so ago with his brother, the fur never grew back. Sorry for the confusion Teemu! And honestly if he didn't have a cataract in that eye I'm not sure if I would have caught it myself! It only looks really red to me with artificial light.

[hpdegus]

Good news (I think)! I can see the cataract in Picketts eye again. Looks like the blood is draining towards the corner of his eye.

[hpdegus]

Just heard back from the vet! She recommended continued monitoring, especially since he is acting normally and the blood appears to be draining.

[teemu]

That is good news! If the vet also agrees that it doesn't sound acutely dangerous, we can probably let out a sigh of relief over it

[hpdegus]

Well, now the eye looks completely red again. Still seems to be functioning and in no pain though.

[deguconvert]

Hmmm! Do you see any swelling around the eye, or is the eye protruding at all?

[moletteuk]

Did the vet offer any suggestions as to what might be going on?

[hpdegus]

No, eye looks completely normal other than the whole blood red thing.

The vet said that cataracts can fluctuate or slip? Sorry, don't remember the exact words. She also mentioned trauma and infections.

[hpdegus]

So it seems cyclical? Could see the cataract yesterday and blood seemed to be draining. But just got Pickett out for playtime and his eye is completely red again.

Thoughts? I feel like I should call the vet again, see what they think, especially when it comes to time line for this kind of thing healing.