Losing An Eye?

Hello everyone. I work at a petstore as a lot of people know and today I came in to find a rat with one eye. He is with me now because work gave him to me knowing my love for rats. I cannot tell if there's an eye in there or not. He is a PEW and when I try to open his eye all I see is skin color pink. So either the eye is dying/dead and fading? Or there is no eye at all. Since it is a holiday in the US the vets are closed, but I have my vet's cell number and texted him. I wanted to prevent infection until my little Mordecai's eye. He went to his office and left me out some antibiotic eye ointment. I put some in his eye for now. How does one tell if there is an eye in there or not? It's kind of hard to open his eye and I don't want to hurt him. Thank you! Right now he is sleeping on me in a snuggle sack I sewed. Should I give him some ibuprofen or motrin?

[Me and my baby are snuggling (he is in a snuggie sack that is laying on my tummy). He is sooooo sweet. :heart:

This missing eye could be an old problem then, right? Is it stinky at all? Is it red and swollen around the eye socket? Is he bothering with it, always rubbing it or grooming it? If not, then it may be fine and no treatment is required.
I rescued nine nakies a couple of years ago, and several had infected eyes from being on pine bedding. Once the infection was treated, the eyes just shrunk up. They still have the eye socket and lids and tears, but no eyeball. It has been fine. The affected eyes are blind but my ratties get along just fine.

Without any sign of infection, I don't think I'd be too worried. My mom adopted a rat once with two missing eyes. He was born without them. He had occasional porphyrin but nothing much. It can't hurt to have your vet check it out to make sure everything is ok.

Eye smells fine. He was afraid and before I put him with Matteo, my adult male, I brought his brother home so he has another baby to play with. They are two very scared boys but with snuggling and TLC I'm sure they will come around
I am such a worry wart. Hopefully I don't annoy you guys! :heart:

Just checked him and there is a little blood around his 'eye'. No fight's happened, I've been watching them

Could it be porphyrin and not blood? They will still get eye goobers, etc.

It was definitely blood. He cleaned it, I put more antibiotic on it, and it stopped. No idea what happened :/

So we had an emergency visit to the vet today. Mordecai was breathing horrible so we went in. He has pneumonia. She did a nebulizer treatment and he and his brother are on antibiotics. She said he has a good chance, so I feel a little better. The nebulizer seemed to help a lot! I'm impressed. $110.00 later however. :hang:

What about the eye?

There is not one in there at all. She said he was attacked because there was also a puncture wound above it. It is pretty much 'mush' behind his eyelid. Hopefully we won't need surgery. We are going back in 10 days to check his eye for infection and make sure he is over the pneumonia. I will be going back for a nebulizer treatment/more meds if he gets worse. There is already a huge improvement with his pneumonia. I'm impressed.

I'm glad to hear he is responding to treatment for his pneumonia. Hopefully his eye will just shrink up and heal. The meds for his pneumonia will help prevent infection in his eye.

I honestly thought I would be leaving the vet with one rat (Brought his brother Marlowe for support). I've never dealt with pneumonia before. It's scary. But I think we are doing okay. Hoping for the best. He is acting like he feels a lot more like himself. They both look very young. They fit in my hands. Poor babies. They're loved now :heart:
It's funny how when one leaves your life another one finds it's way to you. :toothy2:

Should I go back for another nebulizer treatment? We have only done 1

Zanya said:

Should I go back for another nebulizer treatment? We have only done 1

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If he is acting more normal (feeling better) and is not in distress, I would not. Most rats find it stressful, so if he is recovering with the oral meds, then I don't see the advantage.

Alright, I won't then. Thanks so much, Joanne! :thanks: