My baby has a swollen eye

[cajf]

Good evening everyone. My 9 year old Sulcata David came out of his underground cave this afternoon with something wrong with his eye. It looked like he had a piece of grass in or piece of skin hanging over it but when I washed it away I could tell it was still swollen. Any ideas what it could be? He still has a good appetite and does not seem lethargic. These are the best pictures I could get. One of the pictures is of his unaffected left eye.

 

[spud's_mum]

Poor boy, sorry can't help
I have no idea

 

[ZEROPILOT]

@Yvonne G

 

[Alaskamike]

My 30 month old sully "Tiny" had a eye issue last month. Developed overnight, and was only one side. I have pics on the thread

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/well-my-sulcata-has-an-eye-infection.121588/

Took 14 days to clear with ophthalmic cream applied daily. I have to say, I never really figured out what caused it. I cleaned his hide and sterilized it just in case - got a fecal check; all was well. With Tiny, it was a swollen nictitating membrane (3rd eyelid). What I found out from research was-
-If its only on one side, its usually NOT a compromised immune system
-Stress can cause this
- They can get particles under it like sand, or a scratch (I thought even an ant bite in corner of eye might get him to scratching it - who knows)
- Usually corrects with time
- He didn't want to leave it alone and kept rubbing it with his spiked front leg, so I rinsed his leg and put some antibiotic cream on his leg so he would rub that on the eye instead of dirt.
- Ophthalmic anti-biotic cream (Terramycin) is helpful. I ordered some from pet supply after I used what vet gave me, to have on hand in case it ever happened again. My vet was no help really, just charged me $60 and said he has an eye problem, (I already knew that LOL) he thought the pyramiding I got him with was "cool". After that, I found a good reptile vet.

Yours looks different, but I would rinse and apply cream to start healing process. My Tiny didn't like it, and I had to set in front of him with a pile of his food, a dab on my latexed gloved finger and slowly get it closer and closer to his eye as he ate till finally it brushed his eye and left the cream.
It really freaked me out because he has a good clean (course he poops us a storm) environment. I clean out his hide weekly now just in case - was doing it once a month before.
I expect it will clear with a bit of care.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi cajf:

Your tortoise's eye isn't the same problem as Alaska Mike's. It looks like your tortoise has suffered a minor injury. Maybe a poke or a speck of dirt, etc. There's a good product you can buy in the pet store:



...or you can get this one from a vet or at a feed store:

First, flush the eye with sterile saline solution, then dry it and dab on a bit of ointment. You can do this two or three times a day. It should take care of itself in a few days.

Distract the tortoise with some sort of motion on his good eye side so he's not paying attention to his bad eye side. Then, reaching over from his carapace so he can't see you coming, you can quickly tend to the eye. It might take two people.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Thanks "DOCTOR" Yvonne.

 

[cajf]

Thanks Yvonne. I'm heading to Academy Feed to get some and get started. I had some saline solution so I rinsed it this morning. I'll rinse and add the medicine so we can get it cleared up.