Rats eye infection???

Question

Hi Sandra,

ALL of my rats are very healthy,(7) but I just have a few questions about one of my males. His left eye often contains a lot of porphyrin and I wipe his little eye off each day with a nice warm cloth. But it dosen't seem to be going away. I don't think it's anything too serious, but his eye seems watery and a little sore, kinda half open sometimes. His other eye is completely fine.

I use aspen shavings and fleece/flannel blankets in their cage. I know aspen pieces can be pretty sharp for their eyes, do you think he may have somehow poked his eye with a piece of the aspen?

My other question is are eye drops for humans safe for rats? If yes, do you know of any you can recommend?

I clean their cage often, so I'm guessing it's not from too many cage smells.

I feed them Natural choice Nutro light dog food as a staple, and I supplement with fresh vegtebles, fruit, and various grains and cereals.

Could I get some suggestions from you, that would be greatly apprciated!!

Thank :)


Answer
Hi Shannon


Tobramycin Ophthalmic (Tobrex), and Ofloxacin eye drops are among many others including ointments that contain neomycin and bacitracin and even some that contain steroids.  As far as murine or  any OTC products, I do not suggest it.  You can use sterile saline OR even saline contact lense solution but be sure there are no preservatives in it or you cannot use it.  However, I do not recommend using anything for the eye unless a condition is first diagnosed. Certain medications should be used in certain types of infection and steroids need to be used carefully, especially if there is corneal abrasions or ulcerations and when there is abscesses.   I was just chastised on here by someone who suggested in no uncertain words that I am careless and wreckless when it comes to suggesting medications for rats, especially if the medication is human grade, which many many many of them are.  I did not, of course, defend my own actions to her and simply chose to ignore her, but I do know that more than 50% of the people that ask me about using these medications and have them on hand will do it with or without my help. There are others out there that would help aside from myself! There are at least two very popular sites for rat owners that will give you a huge list of medications that rats can take for many ailments and they include the doses as per weight and some places even offer links to purchase prescription medications for your rat WITHOUT a prescription!  I never did anything like this of course but I will tell someone when it is OK and when it is NOT ok to use a particular medication such as with your situation. Because we do not know what is actually wrong with the little guy,we would not want to ruin his eyesight by using medications that may not warrant the use for his particular ailment. I know you understand but for anyone out there that may be getting their bloomers in an uproar, just a heads up:)  Sorry to go on a rant...

Now back to your boy... It very well could be a corneal abrasion.
Squinting which in this case is an indication of eye pain along with excessive porphyrin and tearing are all signs. Also, blinking excessively is another sign.  It seems that your little guy is displaying some of these signs, if not all of them.

What you can do for him now is
apply a warm damp compress to the eye if the rat will let you. This will be really comforting for him if he would let you do it. You never know though. Sometimes they know that it feels good and they let you do things like that to them if they feel the benefits.
Keep everything clean. I would put the aspen in a litter pan and put newspapers down elsewhere and get him to use a litter pan. This is the perfect time to try!

Keep the weeping eye clean  using a damp soft cloth and you can also use normal saline to rinse it with.

Do you have a vet? If not I will be happy to help you find one!