Emergency - Eye Injury!

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truffle_truffle

Guest
My rat today has something really wrong with this eye. I took him to the vet.

1. one of his eyes bulges out, as if due to high pressure in the eye
2. his eye is so bulged out that he can't blink over it. he's developed a corneal ulcer as a result, and I'm applying antibiotic eye drops regularly to prevent it from drying out.
3. his third eyelid is sticking out and visible over about a third of his eye.
4. he has a large white-ish/gray-ish region on his eye.

Does anyone know what might have caused these symptoms? The vet mentioned that it could be an injury to the eye, but that an injury doesn't explain why his eye is bulging out. She mentioned other possibilities including glaucoma or a tumor, but both are strange because symptoms appeared so suddenly.

Thanks so much for any help. I'm so worried for the little guy... I've scheduled two appointments with vet eye specialists, but they're not for five whole days. I feel like by that time, either he's all better or his eye has already fallen out....
 
Can you post a pic?
How old is your rat?
Is your rat a nakie? (Nakies are prone to debris getting stuck under the eyelid and abrading the eye).
Did they give you metacam for pain/inflammation?, if not do you have infant liquid ibuprofen, or in a pinch, 200 mg ibuprofen tablet, syrup and a medicating syringe?
Is there any smell when you sniff near his eye (rules infection in or out)
 
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I can't post a picture really unfortunately... He's 1.5 years old, and I'm giving him metacam for now. I don't notice any smell near his eye. His entire eye looks glazed over in a layer of gray, and I'd honestly be shocked if he's not blind in that eye already. I feel so helpless right now about not being able to bring him to a vet who can examine his eye with the right equipment.

The vet suggested the eye could be surgically removed if it doesn't get better. He's being treated with Baytril orally and Ofloxacin in an opthalmic solution. Does this sound like the right antibiotics, if it does happen to be an eye infection?
 
It's good but if the eye is swelling you need an NSAID like ibuprofen. It will help.with discomfort and bring down swelling. If the eye is normal but just an opaque grey it may have been scratched and might heal. If the eye starts to swell out of the head, look bloody, or infected then you might need to have an enucleation done. If the eye changes shape, starts to shrink then the eyeball was punctured and the vitreous fluid is leaking out. If no infection occurs these can resolve down to a nub of tissue in the eye with no surgery needed. I'll dig up pics of each circumstance to you can see what I mean.
 
He lost 100 grams without us realizing at all. I feel really bad about not noticing before...but I guess he was so chubby before that the difference wasn't obvious. If it's related to the eye, is it probably a pituitary or brain tumor? Are there any other things that could cause both a bulging eye and extreme weight loss?

Is there anything treatable or curable that could possibly have caused such severe weight loss?
 
Usually trauma to the eye doesn't cause weight loss but if you said he was fat and now looks normal I wouldn't worry too much. Keep weighing him to see if the weight loss continues or he's stable.
 
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