Something Stuck in my RT's Eye?

[Oxalis]

The past couple days I've noticed his left eye is slightly more closed than his right, and I've seen his left eye watering a bit on its own. His right eye looks big and alert in comparison (as usual), so I'm thinking maybe he got something stuck in his left eye, maybe even a tiny bit of the sphagnum peat moss he has in his enclosure. I gave him a warm soak this morning thinking the extra hydration would help. I tried to very lightly dab his eye with a soft, damp washcloth. His left eye is still more closed. I would assume it's just some mild irritation but I'm also slightly worried since he recently woke up from hibernation on 1/1/16, but I don't think it's been bothering him that long. He doesn't seem to be in pain or especially discomforted (as much as I can tell with a tort). Should I keep trying more soaks and maybe spritz the enclosure with some water to keep the humidity levels up? Any other helpful pointers would be much appreciated! I know I'm probably just a worrisome tort mommy! Thanks!

 

[Yvonne G]

You can flush the eye with sterile saline solution. There's a pretty good product you can buy at some pet stores:



Or you can buy Terramycin eye ointment from your vet:

They usually close their eye when you try to apply it, but just putting it on the lid is good.

 

[Oxalis]

Thanks, @Yvonne G. I tried the Vetericyn and he did not like that experience at all! His eye looks a little puffy and red now (some of which I'm sure is stress) so I'm going to call the vet tomorrow just to be safe. He seems to be closing that eye a lot now (even before the Vetericyn) so I'm just worried it's an eye infection. I tried giving him another soak too. His eye's still watering while he's walking around. He seems fine in every other way though. He decided to go to bed early; it's been a tough day for him.

 

[Oxalis]

My fiancé suggested I wait to see if Steve's eye cleared up on its own since there was no white coloring over his iris. So he didn't think it was infection but instead maybe just a scratch on his eyelid. I've been frantic ever since but he seems better. The eyelid is still a little puffy compared to the other one but I think it's cleared up for the most part.

 

[Jodie]

Glad he is better. I imagine it may take a couple days to completely heal.

 

[Oxalis]

Us crazy tortoise parents, always worried about the littlest things!

 

[ileoyu]

Us crazy tortoise parents, always worried about the littlest things!

So true

 

[Oxalis]

His top eyelid is a little red; looks like maybe he scratched it and irritated it. Overall, he's looking much better... finally!

 

[Pearly]

His top eyelid is a little red; looks like maybe he scratched it and irritated it. Overall, he's looking much better... finally!

Thank you for sharing your experience. I always worry about those little eyes too. Glad Stevie's doing better

 

[Oxalis]

It does still look irritated; and I can't imagine his scaly arms are the best material to wipe his own eyes clean! But the eye itself doesn't look like it's been damaged, it's just his top lid. He did get to experience the strange sensation of a carrot juice bath! He wasn't very hesitant to try his beloved Mazuri when I soaked it in a mix of water and carrot juice either. Thanks, @Pearly!

 

[Pearly]

It does still look irritated; and I can't imagine his scaly arms are the best material to wipe his own eyes clean! But the eye itself doesn't look like it's been damaged, it's just his top lid. He did get to experience the strange sensation of a carrot juice bath! He wasn't very hesitant to try his beloved Mazuri when I soaked it in a mix of water and carrot juice either. Thanks, @Pearly!

And one more thing from human medicine: any type of eye problem like scratch injury, irritation, foreign body, always FLUSH FLUSH FLUSH! With clean lukewarm water, flush away! I use that with my kids, cats and dogs, and imagine would try to do that on torts. Then there are eye drops and ointments that help with lubrication. To me eye pain is one of the worst types of pain

 

[Oxalis]

And one more thing from human medicine: any type of eye problem like scratch injury, irritation, foreign body, always FLUSH FLUSH FLUSH! With clean lukewarm water, flush away! I use that with my kids, cats and dogs, and imagine would try to do that on torts. Then there are eye drops and ointments that help with lubrication. To me eye pain is one of the worst types of pain

Thanks for the tip! He has been getting more soaks lately. He doesn't enjoy them, but I'm sure he'll be thankful later.

 

[Pearly]

My babies were freaking out every bath time! Drove me nuts! Then one day I was about to scrub the bathtub in kids' bathroom that only gets used as shower tub and told my daughter to throw the babies in there for their soak. Omg, they loved it! Walking around Pandora just chilling. We've been doing it this way ever since

 

[Pearly]

My babies were freaking out every bath time! Drove me nuts! Then one day I was about to scrub the bathtub in kids' bathroom that only gets used as shower tub and told my daughter to throw the babies in there for their soak. Omg, they loved it! Walking around Pandora just chilling. We've been doing it this way ever since

"Pandora"????!!!! What the heck?! Darn autocorrect=autoscrewup