Eye injury! Help!

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Joined
Sep 21, 2021
Messages
14
Location
Kentucky
Hi guys! this is my first thread and I’m really worried about my rat Nami. About 5 days ago she injured her eye somehow and she can barely open it. I took her to the vet and they said she has a puncture in her eye and gave eye drops and I’ve been putting them in for the past 4 days now. It’s still barely open and I also have been giving her pain medication. I was mainly wondering do these kind of injuries heal on their own or will she have to have her eye removed?

Thank you!
 
Can you get a pic so we can see the extent of the damage?

If the eye was scratched only it should heal up with that treatment. If there was any actual puncture to the eyeball the vitreous fluid will slowly drain out, the eyeball will change shape and shrink to just a a bit of flesh in the eye socket. The danger is if the eyeball starts to swell up and the rat is unable to close it's eyelids. Or if infection sets in (you can sniff over the eye for that foul smell). These are the 2 reasons you might need a surgical removal (enucleation).
 
This is about the best picture I could get. The vet said she has a puncture in her cornea. She’s eating and drinking fine but I’m just scared that she going to end up losing her eye. It does look better than it did but I was just looking for some advice.
Thanks!
 

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It's hard to tell with how much she's squinting but you'll know within a week if it's a true puncture. You are giving her meloxicam (Metacam)?

Even if she loses the eye, rats adapt really well to it. They don't dwell on things like humans.
 
its hard to tell if its changing shape under her eyelids. Is she uncomfortable? Has excessive porphyrin (red discharge) around her eyes, cleans/rubs over it more than usual, or seems to be having trouble opening that eye?
 
its hard to tell if its changing shape under her eyelids. Is she uncomfortable? Has excessive porphyrin (red discharge) around her eyes, cleans/rubs over it more than usual, or seems to be having trouble opening that eye?
She seems to be pretty comfortable.. the only thing is I think she’s stressed out because the vet did put a little plastic cup around her neck while we were there and she absolutely hated it and couldn’t hold her head up so I’ve just been watching her and making sure she isn’t scratching it or anything. She hates the drops that I have to put in her eye also. So seems to be a little stressed but I’m trying to make her as comfortable as I possibly can. The eye isn’t changing shapes or anything, she just can’t open it all the way. She’s just squinting it all the time. She is cleaning and rubbing over it when I put the drops in but other than that there isn’t any red or any colored discharge coming out of the eye.
 
Put your nose over her eye and sniff. You will smell infection if something else is going on.
As for the drops, I would put the rat on my lap with their butt firmly pressed against me. I would restrain their shoulders and flood the drops over the crease of the eyelid then let go. The rat opens their eyes and it gets in. Apologize and give a treat.
 
Put your nose over her eye and sniff. You will smell infection if something else is going on.
As for the drops, I would put the rat on my lap with their butt firmly pressed against me. I would restrain their shoulders and flood the drops over the crease of the eyelid then let go. The rat opens their eyes and it gets in. Apologize and give a treat.
 
Will do! Thank you so much for your advice. I smelled around her eye and smelled nothing so that seems like a good sign. I took her back to the vet on Saturday and they told me to wean her off the drops and give them to her every other day and then eventually just stop. They also told me that she’d be blind in that eye for forever now :( and said that she should be fine as long as nothing changes and her eye doesn’t swell or get worse. Do you think her eye will heal even though she’ll be blind and everything will be fine like they said?
 
Rats lose eyes or vision all the time. I've had many rescues arrive half blind. The rat adapts well but you have to remember they cannot see on that side so you'll need to tell them you are there before touching
 
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