# Prickles dug her eye out! HELP



## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

I'm taking her to the vet first thing in the morning. I came home to find blood on the floor of her cage and this huge red mass on what used to be her right eye. I don't know what happened and what made her do this to herself. Can anyone shed some light into this?


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

There are many reason why she might have done it. There could be a tumour behind the eye. She may have bonked her eye on something causing it to proptose. Perhaps she was scratching. Sometimes it's genetic. Unless it's a tumour, you will probably never know why. 

Poor girl.


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## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

Thanks Nancy. Is there anything I can do about it for now? It's going to be a long night.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Has it stopped bleeding? Keep her calm if you can. Is the whole eye gone or is there still part left? If there is still eye they, she may continue to dig at it.


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## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

It's stopped bleeding and is already starting to clot. There's a bit of her eye hanging out of her socket.


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## moothecow (Jun 4, 2011)

Oh nooo, that sounds terrifying. Poor you and poor Prickles! I hope she is alright. Please let us know how the vet visit goes.


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## schmelderz (Jul 7, 2010)

The vet mentioned a few possibilities like some wood shavings getting into her eye or her bumping into sharp objects. Anyway her eye is gone  all there's to do now is to prevent the infection from spreading. Vet prescribed some Enrofloxacin and Tobramycin. 

It seems unlikely though as she's been on the same bedding for over a year and her cage is plastic, there aren't any sharp protruding edges. What do you guys think?


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## Kalandra (Aug 25, 2008)

Is she on wood shavings? A splinter getting in the eye while burrowing around in the shavings is likely. I've seen it mentioned before as a possible cause of damaged eyes. Shavings are, in my opinion, evil. They can get stuck in very sensitive areas (like eyes and penile sheaths) and can cause quite a lot of damage from a splinter getting lodged. If she doesn't live on cloth liners, I would get her moved to them as soon as possible. Especially now that she has a wound, it will be much easier to keep it clean, and a light colored cloth will make monitoring for blood and seepage from the wound much easier.

With that said, partially blind and blind hedgehogs do very well. Hopefully once she heals up, this will be just a momentary blip in a long life for her.


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## PJM (May 7, 2010)

I'm so sorry!! I hope that she heals soon. I can't imagine how scary that must have been for you!


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