Pigs eye

Question
We just got a male guinea pig on Sunday and it's now Thursday, so we've only had him 4 days now. We bought him at a pet store and our son picked him out and named him Oreo (he's black & white).  We were told he's a baby, and he is little so we assume that's the case.  He was doing great up until today.  We had been playing with him a lot, hand feeding him fresh veges to get him used to us, and he seemed just fine and happy.  Today I came home and one of his eyes is almost shut. At first I just thought he was sleeping, but then I realized the other eye seemed open and normal.  What do you think this is?  Could he have injured it or bumped into something?  He's still eating and drinking and walking around.  So far I haven't noticed anything really unusual but his eye.  We have never had any pets except for a dog so we're very skeptical about his care.  Thanks for your help!

Answer
Hello Lori,

He could have injured it or he could have an infection. Hold him firmly and try to gently open his eye to see if you can see anything lodged in it. If so VERY carefully pull it out. If there is nothing in his eye, look for other signs of injury or illness. Then, even if you don't see anything, go to a local feed store and ask them for Terramycin Ophthalmic Ointment. They SHOULD have it as it is often used on larger farm animals and dogs. Then go to a pharmacy and pick up sterile saline solution. To administer, hold him still (have someone help you if you need to) and gently hold his eye open. Flush his eye with the saline solution to clean it out. Then squeeze a stripe of the ointment across it. If he manages to blink at the wrong moment and you get it on the edge of his eyelid, usually opening his eye again will cause the medicine to go in. Do this about 2 times a day for about 2 weeks (if there is a scratch or injury, do this until it heals). If it doesn't improve, or if it gets worse, take him to the vet. For most problems the Terramycin works well, but some may need a different antibiotic from the vet. It's important that you get these meds soon and watch the eye very closely so he won't lose his sight. If you can, I would still reccommend a vet visit just to make sure, the meds will most likely solve the problem, but always better safe than sorry. Good luck with him!

-kkat
www.geocities.com/abyssinianguineapigs