scratched eye!

[g4byy]

Hi.
I'm reaching out about my 3-year-old squirrel, Bagel.

She has always been a very healthy and energetic squirrel, never any problems *knock on wood*. However, I came home yesterday and noticed that her left eye was squinted and that she kept trying to scratch/itch it with her paws. I keep her claws in check so that she doesn't scratch me or herself. The eye doesn't have any discharge, nor do I see any puncture wounds or redness, just minimal swelling, barely noticeable. I immediately cleaned it with a wet cotton ball.

I haven't noticed any major behavioral changes in her, in terms of activeness. However, whenever I pet her head she puts that down on my palm. She does let me touch it which makes me hope that it is not painful, and I have put terramycin on it this morning, but I am not sure of what to do next. Also, today, I have not seen her touch the eye with her paw, only after the application of the terramycin. I think that she may have injured herself on a branch that I gave her to chew, but I immediately tossed it after finding her like this. In the light, I thought that I saw a line outlining a layer difference between her iris, kind of like a lifted area? But I am unsure.

Does anybody have any suggestions?! I can attach photos if necessary. I am really worried for my girl.

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi.
I'm reaching out about my 3-year-old squirrel, Bagel.

She has always been a very healthy and energetic squirrel, never any problems *knock on wood*. However, I came home yesterday and noticed that her left eye was squinted and that she kept trying to scratch/itch it with her paws. I keep her claws in check so that she doesn't scratch me or herself. The eye doesn't have any discharge, nor do I see any puncture wounds or redness, just minimal swelling, barely noticeable. I immediately cleaned it with a wet cotton ball.

I haven't noticed any major behavioral changes in her, in terms of activeness. However, whenever I pet her head she puts that down on my palm. She does let me touch it which makes me hope that it is not painful, and I have put terramycin on it this morning, but I am not sure of what to do next. Also, today, I have not seen her touch the eye with her paw, only after the application of the terramycin. I think that she may have injured herself on a branch that I gave her to chew, but I immediately tossed it after finding her like this. In the light, I thought that I saw a line outlining a layer difference between her iris, kind of like a lifted area? But I am unsure.

Does anybody have any suggestions?! I can attach photos if necessary. I am really worried for my girl.

Hello g4byy and thank you for your love and care for Bagel! Welcome to the Squirrel Board! Photos would be potentially very beneficial for those reading your thread. Please take several closeup views of BOTH eyes and also a view from somewhat at a distance from Bagels head so that both eyes can be seen along with the head. Also, do you have any other eye antibiotics? It's not that terramycin is necessarily a suboptimal choice of antibiotic but I'm just making a general inquiry as to the availability of other antibiotics!

Squirrels often inadvertently scratch or even perforate their eye with their claws or their eyes can get scratched or perforated by a branch or even a thorn or other objects! This can involve the sclera (the white portion of the eye that is covered by a thin membrane called the conjunctiva or the cornea which is the clear part of the eye. The conjunctiva stops are the rim of the cornea and does not cross it.

Ideally, an animal with an eye injury should be seen ASAP by a Veterinary Ophthalmologist! This is a Veterinarian who has done specialized training in the eye! It would be best to be proactive and check locally or nearby to see if there is a Veterinary Ophthalmologist and if so, they will need to be contacted about seeing Squirrels. A possible alternative would be a well trained Exotic animal Specialist or even a Veterinarian who has some extra training and the equipment for evaluating eyes.

One component of an animal's eye injury exam is for numbing drops to applied to the eye and then a special stain is called fluorescein is applied to the eye and is picked up by damaged cells from the injury and this will "glows" when a "black" light is shined upon the eye preferably in a darkened room. This dye can also be utilized to help determine if the eyeball is perforated as under the black (ultraviolet) light, fluid from the anterior chamber of the eye can be seen flowing through the fluorescein.

Please post the photos and check for any other ophthalmic antibiotics.
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[Milo's Mom]

https://www.amazon.com/Ophthalmic-Ac...s%2C165&sr=8-9

Get a black light too!

[g4byy]

Hello g4byy and thank you for your love and care for Bagel! Welcome to the Squirrel Board! Photos would be potentially very beneficial for those reading your thread. Please take several closeup views of BOTH eyes and also a view from somewhat at a distance from Bagels head so that both eyes can be seen along with the head. Also, do you have any other eye antibiotics? It's not that terramycin is necessarily a suboptimal choice of antibiotic but I'm just making a general inquiry as to the availability of other antibiotics!

Squirrels often inadvertently scratch or even perforate their eye with their claws or their eyes can get scratched or perforated by a branch or even a thorn or other objects! This can involve the sclera (the white portion of the eye that is covered by a thin membrane called the conjunctiva or the cornea which is the clear part of the eye. The conjunctiva stops are the rim of the cornea and does not cross it.

Ideally, an animal with an eye injury should be seen ASAP by a Veterinary Ophthalmologist! This is a Veterinarian who has done specialized training in the eye! It would be best to be proactive and check locally or nearby to see if there is a Veterinary Ophthalmologist and if so, they will need to be contacted about seeing Squirrels. A possible alternative would be a well trained Exotic animal Specialist or even a Veterinarian who has some extra training and the equipment for evaluating eyes.

One component of an animal's eye injury exam is for numbing drops to applied to the eye and then a special stain is called fluorescein is applied to the eye and is picked up by damaged cells from the injury and this will "glows" when a "black" light is shined upon the eye preferably in a darkened room. This dye can also be utilized to help determine if the eyeball is perforated as under the black (ultraviolet) light, fluid from the anterior chamber of the eye can be seen flowing through the fluorescein.

Please post the photos and check for any other ophthalmic antibiotics.
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Thank you very much for your response! I have cats, so I also have floxal, oculenis ocular repair gel, neomycin and polymyxin b sulfates, and just an antimicrobial ophthalmic solution. I just applied the terramycin again. The eye is definitely a bit irritated around the area, but she rubbed it a lot last night. A bit unsure on how to attach images directly because I'm new to this community, so I will just use imgur. The first few are her left, the second the right. https://imgur.com/a/ffLFVBl

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Thank you very much for your response! I have cats, so I also have floxal, oculenis ocular repair gel, neomycin and polymyxin b sulfates, and just an antimicrobial ophthalmic solution. I just applied the terramycin again. The eye is definitely a bit irritated around the area, but she rubbed it a lot last night. A bit unsure on how to attach images directly because I'm new to this community, so I will just use imgur. The first few are her left, the second the right. https://imgur.com/a/ffLFVBl

Thanks for the excellent photos of beautiful little Bagel! as far as the photos, it appears that there is a conjunctivitis (a redness indicating infection/inflammation of the conjunctive). I don't see any cloudiness of the cornea (the clear par of the eye) but as I am only looking at photos of the eyes and your are looking the eyes themselves, can you confirm these observations of mine, please! Of the antibiotics listed, the Terramycin, IMO would be as good as any with the possible exception of the unnamed "just an antimicrobial ophthalmic solution." What is this?

By the way, is the Terramycin in the ophthalmic ointment form or is it ophthalmic solution? The standard dosing frequency is 2-4 times daily.

Do you have a Veterinarian who has before or will see Bagel now about her eye issues or is there a Veterinary Ophthalmologist nearby who might be able to see Bagel?

Please keep on with regular updates!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[g4byyy]

Thanks for the excellent photos of beautiful little Bagel! as far as the photos, it appears that there is a conjunctivitis (a redness indicating infection/inflammation of the conjunctive). I don't see any cloudiness of the cornea (the clear par of the eye) but as I am only looking at photos of the eyes and your are looking the eyes themselves, can you confirm these observations of mine, please! Of the antibiotics listed, the Terramycin, IMO would be as good as any with the possible exception of the unnamed "just an antimicrobial ophthalmic solution." What is this?

By the way, is the Terramycin in the ophthalmic ointment form or is it ophthalmic solution? The standard dosing frequency is 2-4 times daily.

Do you have a Veterinarian who has before or will see Bagel now about her eye issues or is there a Veterinary Ophthalmologist nearby who might be able to see Bagel?

Please keep on with regular updates!

Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

Ah! I'm so new to this site that I got logged out of my other account lol. And thank you! She is my little beauty. In person, I don't see any cloudiness of the clear part of the eye either.

To answer your question, the ophthalmic solution is by the brand Vetericyn VF plus, it's a solution to flush the eyes and it says to use it for redness & irritations, tear staining, discharge & drainage, and allergy symptoms.

Further, the Terramycin is an ointment! I will apply it one more time before bed, making today's application 3 times. And unfortunately, there is no veterinarian that can see Bagel nearby. Thank you for your responses, you've calmed me down a ton.

[g4byyy]

Hi all!
Just woke up and applied Terramycin once more. The eye looks much better, she didn't even touch it after I put the ointment on. She's keeping it around 90-95% open which gives me hope that it isn't anything bad.https://imgur.com/a/cjOpxlN

[SamtheSquirrel2018]

Hi all!
Just woke up and applied Terramycin once more. The eye looks much better, she didn't even touch it after I put the ointment on. She's keeping it around 90-95% open which gives me hope that it isn't anything bad.https://imgur.com/a/cjOpxlN

Thanks for the update and please post more! The eye looks very good!
Regards,
SamtheSquirrel

[g4byyy]

So, Bagel has just woken up from a nap and I have applied the Terramycin for the second time today.

Unfortunately, I did catch her rubbing the eye again and the openness of the eye fluctuates, sometimes it's fully open, and other times when she's dozing off it is much more closed than her right. I've attached photos of the eye and I cannot figure out what that indentation on the eye around the iris is.

For extra measures, I tried to flush her eye out with the antimicrobial solution I mentioned earlier, wetting a cotton ball with it and squeezing the liquid out into the eye as well as going over it a few times.

I've been thinking about what it could be, I did have the AC turned towards her cage and the cold air was blowing on her when it was very hot here, I don't know if this could've caused conjunctivitis??

Regardless, she is still thankfully acting normally, but I am a little anxious again. https://imgur.com/a/MYxpYXh