concern about eye

Question
We have had a male guinea pig about 3 months old for a little over a week now. He exhibits normal behavior and is very affectionate...we have fallen in love with him! When I first got him, we were concerned with a "wheezing" sound we heard and felt in his tummy. It almost sounded like a "Poof!" We took him to the vet and she said he appeared ok and showed no signs of respiratory problems. (no sleep in eyes or nose, etc...) She gave us an antiobiotic to give him just in case. It appears to have helped the frequency of the sounds but I do still hear them on occasion.

But just now we noticed while holding him that his left eye appears to have swollen lids and the lids are a whitish color. While holding him, the eye will close slightly almost as if he is sleeping while the right eye remains open. When it does close, it appears watery but nothing comes out. Could this be due to a resp. problem in connection with the "poofing" sound we hear in his tummy? Or could he just be sleepy or even have a blind eye?  Please advise.
Thanks

Answer
There are a lot of eye problems that can create swelling in the lid, but by far the most common is an Upper Respiratory. Other ones are eye infections- if he has been on antibiotics it should have cleared up, corneal scratch, or something stuck up in the eye lid. The best thing to do would be treat for a URI, start him on 1/4 tsp of Robutussin DM once a day, this will help clear any drainage in either the lungs, nose, and eyes, also place a dab of Vicks Vapor Rub on his nose up to 4 times a day, this should immediatly get rid of some of the drainage. To relieve his eye get a washcloth and moisten it with really warm water and place it on the eye until the washcloth looses its heat, this will take down the swelling and get any debree out of the eye. Many times upper respiratory infections will not show itself fully until the pig is very sick, you may notice behavior changes first then in about another half a week the pig will be deadly sick. He still needs to be on antibiotics, typically Bactrim is used or another sulfur based antibiotic. Try to keep him comfortable and quiet, also add more vitamins to his diet by either in the water or fruits and veggies. If you have any more questions let me know.
Brittany