# Proptosed eye



## J.C1021702 (Sep 10, 2012)

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum but I've been keeping Hedgies for 2 years now. My male hedgie, Jack, is suffering from a proptosed eye, this has been going on for about a week now. In my opinion his eye is too far off to save his vision but I do want the infection to subside. I called the vet and she said the only option is remove the eye because necrosis has already set in but unfortunately she and her husband(who is also a vet) don't know how to do the procedure, she said I should consider euthanasia but, of course, I refused. Was it a right decision? I hate to see the little guy suffering. Are there any topical antibiotics for humans I can use on him to help with the infection?


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## casxcore (Jul 28, 2011)

Go to another vet?


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

I'm sorry I can't help much, I don't really have any experience with this kind of thing. Hopefully someone else, like LizardGirl or one of the members who've had their hogs lose eyes, can come along with suggestions/advice. It might help to look around and see if you do have any other vets in the area though, just in case. I'm sorry I can't help more!


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## Immortalia (Jan 24, 2009)

From what I remember from reading on here, I think Nancy is the one who had one with a prolapsed eye, and they just got antibiotics to keep infection down and the eye eventually just shrivelled up on its own. I'm on my phone now, so it's sort of hard to do a search. But if Nancy doesn't see this by tonight, send her a PM. I'm almost 100% sure she's the one with that experience.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Immortalia said:


> From what I remember from reading on here, I think Nancy is the one who had one with a prolapsed eye, and they just got antibiotics to keep infection down and the eye eventually just shrivelled up on its own. I'm on my phone now, so it's sort of hard to do a search. But if Nancy doesn't see this by tonight, send her a PM. I'm almost 100% sure she's the one with that experience.


Yep that was me, but Peaches didn't have infection in her eye. She was put on Metacam for pain and antibiotic eye drops to prevent infection.

With infection already present, probably that is why the vet says to remove the eye. I would think removing a hedgehog eye would be no different than a rat or other small animal. Is there another vet in your area that would be comfortable doing the procedure?

I wouldn't euthanize him because proptosed eyes are very common in hedgehogs because they have shallow eye sockets. Getting the infection under control is more of a concern because he will dig out the eye and it will heal on it's own. Metacam would control the pain until it's healed.


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## J.C1021702 (Sep 10, 2012)

Hey thanks everyone!  @nancy yes there are other vets but unfortunately no they don't handle hedgehogs, etc. they mostly specialize in Dogs and Cats and farm animals. Could I use betadine to treat the infection? if not could you recommend some medicines I could use?


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## Jborutski (Apr 28, 2015)

*Someone help!!!!!!!!*

So I was on my laptop and I noticed someipthing on my hedgie Shadow's face. When I took a closer look at it it was bleeding . I don't know if its blood or poo or even her eye . There is a hair caught in it and I don't know what to do . Someone please help I don't like seeing my hedgie in pain and I don't want her to die


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## nikki (Aug 28, 2008)

This thread is over 3 years old, next time please start your own thread. If you can't tell what's going on with the eye and you see blood there is nothing you can do at home you need to take your hedgehog to a vet asap.


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## sakitnyatudisini (Apr 4, 2015)

welcome to this forum


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## paigebethany22 (3 mo ago)

Nancy said:


> Yep that was me, but Peaches didn't have infection in her eye. She was put on Metacam for pain and antibiotic eye drops to prevent infection.
> 
> With infection already present, probably that is why the vet says to remove the eye. I would think removing a hedgehog eye would be no different than a rat or other small animal. Is there another vet in your area that would be comfortable doing the procedure?
> 
> I wouldn't euthanize him because proptosed eyes are very common in hedgehogs because they have shallow eye sockets. Getting the infection under control is more of a concern because he will dig out the eye and it will heal on it's own. Metacam would control the pain until it's healed.


Nancy,
sorry for the somewhat random message but I don’t really know who else to turn to re my hedgehog. This is a bit of a lengthy one but I’d appreciate your input more than anything.

She is just over 4 years old and recently I noticed that her tear duct on her eye was slightly floppy. Nothing too drastic.It looked like a tear in the skin.

Anyway, I took her to the vet the morning after and was prescribed anti-inflammatory medicine and antibiotics (also Metacam).

a couple of nights later, I got her out just to check on her and for her evening run. The eye seemed fine/the same.
however, I could hear/sort of see from a distance that she was scratching something, and when I looked closer, she seemed to be scratching near to her injured eye, potentially even right on it. (And I’ll point out that the rest of her behaviour was normal).

a few seconds later I noticed blood (quite a lot of it) and the eye itself was a bit bulged. (It wasn’t bulged before this). So basically, she had scratched her eye and injured it further.

the following morning I took her back to the vet because it didn’t look any better by the morning. It was still bloody, raw and bulging. I explained this situation to them like I’m explaining it to you (and as we talked, she was as alert as ever, huffing at everyone, which is normal for her!).

the vet had a deep look at it with his magnifier light torch, but she was obviously quite wriggly during this. He told me there were 2 options at that current moment, he told me that they could either gas her to further look at it, or give us proper direct eyedrops to take home with us and apply for a few days before returning again. Due to the nature of her age, and how alert she continued to be, I really did not think gassing her was the best idea. Naturally, I wanted to try all the lower-risk options first to see if they would help. And I figured - there’s a potential the drops may work if the vet is offering them as a choice.

anyway, she’s been on the drops for a couple of days and still has some of her original medicine left from the prior visit which this other vet told us to still continue with. However, I’ve only noticed a small, very minor improvement in that time. But the overall buldginess of the eye has not subsided and it’s still relatively inflamed/bigger than the other eye.
She does not appear to be in pain. I have gently dabbed it and cleaned it with wet cotton buds which she gladly allows me to do. Her routine still relatively seems to be the same and she’s eating/drinking.
i was told if there was no improvement with the drops, go back to the vet and they will gas her as a last resort. (I was told it’s like light sedation), and from there they will choose whether to operate or not I suppose.

however, due to her age, I’m thinking, do I really want to even have her gassed in the first instance? Will she even come bouncing back from that? But at the same time, I feel like I owe it to her to just double check there’s nothing more sinister going on which they can only check if they gas her supposedly. then if they do choose to operate, I know it’s essentially my choice but it’s like - I know the chances of her survival are much lower considering she’s older. And I just keep thinking. Is all this medical procedure necessary when it’s quite common for hogs to actually sort out the problem themselves (ie scratching out the eye themselves)? But then I think about how neglectful I must sound by saying that.

quite frankly I feel like her life is on my shoulders and I am so scared and just saddened everyday when I look at her, as much as it doesn’t seem to bother her (aside from some potentially now partial sightedness).
I’m worried about surgery but equally worried that she’ll bleed out to death if she were to try and claw out the problematic eye. However, you’re not the only person who I’ve seen that has said their hog has done this.

i just really related to your issue because it is indeed very similar to mine. Anybody with eye issues in hedgehogs has younger hedgehogs who don’t pose as much of a risk when it comes to surgery. So whilst I appreciate them saying “my hog was fine when she had her eye removed!” I’m almost like, “your hog is 3 years younger than mine though.”
I’ve also never met or read anywhere that anybody else has been sent home with drops/chosen not to operate, yet still had a somewhat successful outcome. So your comments about this (albeit a while ago now!) where reassuring.

i really don’t want her to be put to sleep either if I personally decide against surgery. (Unless of course there’s a massive underlying issue - I don’t think there is as she essentially caused the worst part of the injury herself by scratching at it). It just seems v cruel to euthanise her if she’s by other means, fit/well? If she’s just a bit old and that’s all?
Please let me know your thoughts. I can’t stop getting upset. Or thinking about what I need to do next. Or how much of a bad hog mum I’ll be if I don’t do this or that etc.

really sorry to pour my heart out onto you.
Take care.


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## benjaminbreed36 (4 mo ago)

YAY! I can help, I had taken pinky top a vet who diagnosed him with WHS and I was devastated. After he got worse three days later and want moving anymore at all I called to have him put to sleep sadly. I noticed some head shaking and researched the cause and found that it was an inner ear infection and not WHS. I ran quickly to PetSmart and purchased him some antibiotics. hogs can take pretty much any typical antibiotic like amoxicillin etc so I
found him some fish Doxisylyn (bad spelling) and started him on it by putting the powder in his food. It has been 5 days and I have my old hog back!! IT works for any infection but with the eyes add some saline drops as well.


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