Eye Problems

[Sasami]

What is it with degus and eye isses?!

Anyways, apparently Ichigo is sick .

Last night I went to go let out the degus and noticed that Ichigo didn't seem too interesting in coming out. A closer examination revealed some discharge coming from her left eye. She was acting normal otherwise...she just had some discharge and also didn't want to be handled. It took me nearly twenty minutes to catch her and when I finally did I saw she had a bit of discharge coming from her nose too. Once she was out of the cage she calmed down and sat on my shoulder as I tried to figure out what to do. It was after hours and the emergency vet doesn't know much about degus...plus it wasn't exactly an emergency. So I decided to just keep an eye on her until morning. In case it was contagious I seperated her from her sister, Hikaru. I'll never do that again...it was horribly depressing.

Today when I woke up I checked on Ichigo and she was playing and had no discharge. It was like she had recovered overnight! She was being friendly again, too. I had to run some errands and when I got back a few hours later I went to go put her back with her sister...and saw a little more discharge coming from her eye . I put her back with her sister anyways because the stress from being seperated could make her worse. Plus, if it was contagious Hikaru will probably get it already anyways . I'm not sure if it was the right thing to do but it's too late now.

Now she doesn't appear to have much discharge coming from her eye...she's blinking and sometimes it gets a bit watery but that's it. She has a little discharge coming from her nose but only sometimes. It seems like it's an on and off type of thing...I'm so confused .

I could bring her to the vet tomorrow morning but what if she has no symptoms? Because half the time she looks normal. But if she isn't acting sick can the vet even diagnose her? Also, I would have to go our regular dog vet who sees degus but doesn't know much about them...I'm worried he'll give Ichigo the wrong kind of medication. In fact, I don't even trust him with the rabbits anymore!

There is one vet who knows about degus but they are only there on Mondays. Think it can wait until then?

I'm so terrified of losing Ichigo . I don't know what to do! If I don't bring her to the vet she could die but bringing her there can do the same!! Or maybe I'm just over-reacting...I don't know. I've been so paranoid since Rosie died.

[andreaS15]

<hugs>
How stressful!
Is she eating and otherwise acting normal?
If so I say chance it till monday. Only you for sure know your Goo and wether or not she is in need of emergency care or not.

Could this be an allergy related thing?

When i mentioned i used an aspen mix with my goos my friend told me they had rats on aspen who has terrible eye irritations, ended up the aspen is so fine that it actualy got into their eye and was building up in the lid causing the reaction. So tomorrow i'm going to clean the boys cage and just try the pellet litter i have, or try the corn cob with them which i use for all the other critters.

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by andreaS15 <hugs> How stressful! Is she eating and otherwise acting normal? If so I say chance it till monday. Only you for sure know your Goo and wether or not she is in need of emergency care or not. Could this be an allergy related thing? When i mentioned i used an aspen mix with my goos my friend told me they had rats on aspen who has terrible eye irritations, ended up the aspen is so fine that it actualy got into their eye and was building up in the lid causing the reaction. So tomorrow i'm going to clean the boys cage and just try the pellet litter i have, or try the corn cob with them which i use for all the other critters.

Yup, she is eating and everything.

I've had Ichigo for over two years and have always used aspen bedding so I wouldn't think that would be the cause but it's possible. I actually had wondered if allergies were the problem...

Next time I clean the cage I'll try using Yesterday's News but I just cleaned it out today using more aspen so I'd like to wait a bit and see how she is...I washed everything really well in case something in the cage was giving her allergies.

Oh, and guess what? Right now she has no discharge . I just don't get it! I bet later she'll have more again!

[Sasami]

Right now I checked on her and she looks completely normal . She's not even blinking a lot or anything now.

I wonder if something in the cage had been bothering her and when I cleaned it she felt better?

[Amethystbelle]

I think it could be an allergy, Basil used to exhibit simular symptoms when i used a plug in air freshener in a room he wasn't even kept near. Are you using anything new in the environment she is kept in?

[Sasami]

Quote: Originally Posted by Amethystbelle I think it could be an allergy, Basil used to exhibit simular symptoms when i used a plug in air freshener in a room he wasn't even kept near. Are you using anything new in the environment she is kept in?

That's what I'm thinking. I'm not using anything new but it might've been something in the cage because since I've cleaned it she's been fine.

I've switched foods but this one is actually better as it is more timothy-based and there really aren't any ingredients that she would be allergic to. Plus, I switched a week ago and she most likely would've been sick earlier if it was the food.

I'm just glad she seems fine now . I'll be keeping an eye on her, though, just to make sure.