Help needed - possible eye injury

[Dizisdalife]

I did not see what happened, but I noticed that Chuck was stopping to rub his eye (right eye only) every few steps he took. When I looked at the eye there was some redness and what looked like a small splinter in the eye area. He wasn't too fond of me holding him so I didn't get a good look to see if it is just something in the eye are something stuck in the eye. I will try for a picture.

I called my local Vet, but of course I can't get an appointment until tomorrow. Is there something that I could or should be doing? Is there a salve or drops that I can use to sooth the eye until I can get him to the Vet to take a look at it.

 

[TortoiseBoy1999]

This might help.

 

[wellington]

You can also try to flush it out with water. However, if it is sticking in the eye, I'm not sure you should mess with it. Bump, see what others say. Good luck

 

[Dizisdalife]

I did flush the eye with water. He has stopped rubbing it, so maybe the irritation is gone. I cannot see anything sticking out of his eye, so I believe that he got something in there that irritated it and he rubbed it a bunch and it got red. That's the type of thing that I would do. make a small thing into something worse. I dabbed some Terramycin in the eye hoping it will help.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Just returned from the Vet. Chuck does have something stuck in his eye and it needs to be removed. The Vet is going to sedate him today and remove what appears to be a cactus spine. Hopefully it comes out in one piece leaving nothing behind. I wont know anything more until later this afternoon when I pick him up. It is not likely that he will suffer any long term impairment, but I am the nervous type and will worry all day that something will not go right and Chuck will lose the eye.

 

[Dizisdalife]

Chuck is back home with both eyes. The Vet (Dr. Thomas Boyer if you are in the San Diego area) removed the cactus spine (that's what it appeared to be) while Chuck was sedated. He seems to still be groggy from the sedation so I gave him eye drops and put him in his night box. I also upped the temp to 80F. Hopefully tomorrow he will be more active and want to eat. I was given a pain med to feed to him and it would be easier for both of us if his appetite would return.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

Chuck is back home with both eyes. The Vet (Dr. Thomas Boyer if you are in the San Diego area) removed the cactus spine (that's what it appeared to be) while Chuck was sedated. He seems to still be groggy from the sedation so I gave him eye drops and put him in his night box. I also upped the temp to 80F. Hopefully tomorrow he will be more active and want to eat. I was given a pain med to feed to him and it would be easier for both of us if his appetite would return.

Thats insane! Never thought that would be possible and im glad he still has vision

 

[Dizisdalife]

Chuck is doing great. This morning I soaked him and watched him take a long, long drink. His head was totally submerged with both eyes open. The injured eye shows no signs of injury. Amazing. No swelling or redness at all. I am sure he can see fine, but will never know if his vision has been affected by this. It should not have any effect on his quality of life.

I am lucky to have a very good reptile Vet just 20 minutes from home. Of course they didn't see him until about 16 hours after the injury, but it is comforting to know that there is help when i need it. There was no way that i was going to be able to remove anything from his eye and be confident that I had gotten it all out.

 

[richellesworld]

I prayed for Chuck!! I am glad he is doing well!!!

 

[jpmcclure]

Yay!! Love happy endings!!

 

[tessacat1795]

Glad he's doing better.