eye infection...need ideas?

[sangel4you]

Hello everyone,
I hatched out chicks on Christmas day and a few of them had their one eye closed. All have gotten better except one that was much worse even in the begninning. I have pics included below of it today. One day I tried a warm compress and that seemed to help a bit- at least it opened its eye a bit. Then it wouldnt open it at all and it got more swollen which brings me to today. The whole time when I do manage to get the lid pried open (not an easy task with a tiny chirping creature who swings his head around like a mad man) I can see there is a cloudy spot on the eye as well as a white spot that looks like it should wipe right off which I can't get to wipe off. IDK if it's because it WONT come off, or if because as soon as I touch his eye, he whips his head around and out of my hand and pecks me like crazy. I can't seem to hold hid tiny head still without breaking his neck and that's making it much harder to get anything done with his eye. Today after trying to wipe the spot off again, and wiping it with a warm compress, I used a saline syringe and dropped a few droplets on his eye ball. which actually seemed to quiet him for the first few drops. Then after the first few he just chirped and shook them off. After this, I put bacitracin on both the lid area, and managed to open the lid and get a bit on the eye itself. He seems to be able to open it a bit now (probably because of the lubrication) and is now quarentined bc I dont want the others to continue to peck at it. It's bad enough that he frequently scratches is with his foot. I cannot get to TSC until sat eve at the earliest and Idk what I should get when I go? Vet is not an option. It doesn't seem to be spreading to the other eye, and he is not sneezing or showing any difficulty breathing. Here are the pics:

now after treatment with it open

while I was working on him:

 

[vpeterson]

I have the same problem. I think that my chick was possibly pecked right above the eye causing it to swell shut. I have tried drops for dry eyes which clears it up temporarily, but then it becomes shut again. Not sure what to do and I don't want to cull as it is chick i want to keep.

 

[chilling in muscadine]

Try terramycin eye ointment. Its an antibiotic for the eye. It is avaliable at feed stores but also you should be able to get it easily from the vet. The tube is small and the price is under $15 dollars the last time I purchased some. If that doesn't work I don't know what will. Be sure and seperate the injured chicks so that it isn't getting pecked in the eye and getting all kinds of germs in its eye. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[sangel4you]

thanks, so basically what I am doing...I'll do the bacitracin until I can get terramycin in a few days, and asI have him seperated he is loneyl but I have him where he can at least hear and see everyone else. I still dont know what to do about him scratching it with his foot...? Any ideas? Thanks for the info so far!

 

[chilling in muscadine]

Quote:
I don't know what to suggest for the scratching but you can keep the eye flushed out with saline {contact lens cleaner} until you can get the terramycin. Its usually cheaper if you purchase it at the feed store. Good luck to your baby chick.

Sara

 

[sangel4you]

thank you!!! YEah our feed store doesnt carry meds as they mostly deal with horses and cattle, but the nearby city has a TSC which I think I've seen Terramycin there before. Once the snow is cleared out and holiday is over, I'll head there. Thanks! And I do have a lot of saline flushes laying around from my dads illnesses. Do you think that it's a scratch or an infection or what? I mean since he was born with it, IDK what to think it came from... I just would like to know what started it

 

[AmyBella]

Here's a picture of my dearly departed roo and his boo-boo eye. The cloudy cataract was a permanent feature, it did not move or change. It also didn't swell up as bad as your chick's.

Do you think the bacitracin could be irritating the eye? Is it just regular or an opthamalic preparation? If it isn't specific for the eyes I would wait to get the terramycin and just do a sterile saline rinse until then. Poor little thing!

 

[AmyBella]

We think Wheezy got pecked in the eye when he was about a week old.

 

[chilling in muscadine]

Quote:
IDK why all I can say is try the ointment and if you do put the chick with the others they will peck its eye for sure. You were right to seperate it. When you do get the eye to open do you see any kind of white or yellow mass in the corner of the eye closest to the beak?

 

[sangel4you]

It isnt opthalmic, but I dont think it's irritating it as this is the first time I've used it, and he seems to be opening his eye now more than before.
I don't think he got pecked only because it was there when he was just drying off.
I will not put him back with the others until he's healed, that much I've decided already.
Thanks for posting that pic Amy! I don't think it's a cataract now because the spot on his eye looks nothing like that. And no it's not towards the front corner, its actually more towards the back lower corner and it looks almost like there's a peice of white thread stuck on his eye. The eye is watery, but no pus or discharge. I fear there is pus underneath where it is swollen and tried to rub it to loosen it but with no result. I hope that the wash will make it better until I get the ointment. Does that ointment go on the eye or the lid or both? Sara, why did you ask about that specific location of the spot?