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Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes?

Posted By: gryphon214

Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 05:09 PM

Hi, all,

First let me start by saying that this glider is currently being treated by my vet for this condition. In fact, I am awaiting a call from the vet today to find out if I need to bring this glider in again today. However, I would just like some opinions on possible causes of this condition.

My glider, Bruno, has developed this red, round swelling above this eye.

Here is a picture showing how it looks today



Notice the protrusion of the swelling out of the corner of the eye. It's hard to tell from this picture, but he has about a pea-sized swelling next to the upper corner of his eye.

It might be easier to see the size of the swelling in this picture



This did not happen overnight. This all started two weeks ago today (Friday). Two weeks ago, during the day Bruno was fine. Later that night I packed up my sugar gliders and headed out of town with them to visit my parents for the weekend. When I went to feed them Friday night I noticed Bruno did not come out to eat like the others. This is when I noticed the swelling on his face. Unlike the picture above, this swelling was more diffuse, along the entire side of his face, with no redness.

By the following Sunday morning the swelling had not gone down so I called my vet. Due to the sudden apperance of the swelling this looked like an infection so my vet called in a prescribe of antibiotics to a nearby pharmacy (remember, we were out of town, hours away from home, and this was Sunday, when the office is closed anyway).

Here is how it looked two weeks ago



Notice how the whole right side of his head is swollen, both the side of his face and above his eye This picture does not quite capture how bad it was. He looked quite monsterous! The lower corner of his eye is reddened, might be the third eyelod exposed and irritated. Interestingly, though, the only part of his face NOT swollen was the area at the corner of his eye where the swelling is now (in the first picture).

Once on antibiotics, the swelling began to go down and Bruno was getting his energy and appetite back and seemed to be on the mend. By a week ago Friday the swelling was almost completely gone. Then Saturday he started to get this little red swelling in the upper corner of his eye. The skin is red and there is also a bit of a protrusion of red skin/membrane at the corner of his eye.

Here is what it looked like last Saturday (almost a week ago)





By Monday, even though he was still on antibiotics, this had not changed so I took him to the vet on Tuesday where the vet examined him. After a good look at his mouth and teeth, he found nothing there to explain it. He thinks it may be a gland that has swollen up and gave Bruno a shot of penecillin that it supposed to last about 5-6 days, with instructions that I call him today for an update on his progress. He also said he would likely need another shot.

So, I have called and left a message at my vet's office to let him know that the eye has actually gotten worse since Tueday. I am waiting for a call back from him.

In the meantime, I was hoping there may be some of you who have seen something like this before and if so, what was the cause? How was it treated? How long did the treatment take?


Thanks in advance!

Posted By: gryphon214

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 06:01 PM

I just updated the original post with a new picture from today.
Posted By: Dancing

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 06:03 PM

some facial infections are VERY difficult to get cleared up. This could be a sinus infection or could be eye related.

Often with facial infections, longer courses of antibiotics are needed than other infections because of how long it takes the blood to circulate through the area.

If it has puss in it, your vet might be able to take a sample and have it cultured.

Just my guess here, but if the first round of antibiotics seemed to be helping, perhaps he just needs a longer dose schedule of it?

That first pic looks like the cherry eye that dogs get. Don't know if gliders can get that or not.
Posted By: jen102375

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 06:04 PM

You should go to www.thesweetspot.fourmotion.net it is a sugar glider website that is based on medical issues with gliders you may have a much better chance on getting some answers there. I am not sure if gliders have adnoids but if they do then that could be a possibilty but I really don't know. Go to the sweet spot.
Posted By: gryphon214

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 06:12 PM

Originally Posted By: Dancing
That first pic looks like the cherry eye that dogs get. Don't know if gliders can get that or not.


Interestingly enough, that is what my vet thinks it might be. He said if that is the case Bruno will likely require surgery to remove the gland. With dogs and cats, once they get the cherry eye it generally cannot be completely curned w/out removing the gland. When I've seen dogs and cats with it, thought, it's been in the lower corner of the eye...

Thanks for the advice! It's comforting to know that facial infections are slow to respond to antibiotics smile


By the way, he is also still on antibiotics, by the way... he just got the injectible penecillin instead.

I just heard back from my vet and he wants to be to also put him back on the original antibiotic since that seemed to help before. Depending on this goes, he said we may be making a decision about whether or not to do a surgery by Sunday or Monday...
Posted By: saturngirl

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 06:47 PM

Poor little Bruno. Hugs & prayers going out to both of you for a fast recovery for him. hug2

I'll be following this post to see what happens or what is found to be the cause. It almost looks like cherry eye that I've seen dogs get?
Posted By: gryphon214

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/19/10 11:35 PM

Originally Posted By: saturngirl
Poor little Bruno. Hugs & prayers going out to both of you for a fast recovery for him. hug2

I'll be following this post to see what happens or what is found to be the cause. It almost looks like cherry eye that I've seen dogs get?


Thanks for the well-wishes, Tara!

It's interesting that everyone that has seen Bruno or these pictures of him mentions "cherry eye". This is what my vet suspects, actually. I've never heard of gliders getting this and I've never seen an animal get it at the top/outside corner of their eye (rather than the bottom/inside corner), either, which makes this so weird (at least to me!) Does anyone have experience with and/or pictures of gliders with "cherry eye"?


-Kerry
Posted By: Dancing

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/20/10 03:28 AM

I've never seen or heard of gliders getting cherry eye. You might want to see if your vet is willing to do some phone consults with some other vets. Dr. Teresa Bradley (in Belton MO) and/or Dr. Tim Tristan (in Corpus Christy TX) both are willing to do phone consults (ONLY) with other vets.
Posted By: Dancing

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/20/10 03:43 AM

I talked to Bourbon on this. Also Mary. Neither have ever heard of a glider getting cherry eye. Some possible causes could be spider bite, mursa, infected scratch (by something in the cage, by a cage mate or even by himself).

At this point, the best thing would be for the vet to lance it and see if he can get a puss sample to have a culture and sensitivity done to determine the best antibiotic to use. Also suggested an eye ointment/antibiotic to help protect the eye from getting infected as well.
Posted By: mary h

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/20/10 04:37 AM

...I talked to Teresa and have looked at the pictures...Please...before your vet does anything to Bruno, have him call Natalie Antinoff 713-693-1133. She is in Houston and is the best vet here. She is more than happy to consult with another vet. She has helped me many times.

Mary
Posted By: Gizmogirl

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/20/10 06:28 AM

I agree. Try to avoid surgery and clear this with more opinions first.
Posted By: gryphon214

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/21/10 02:08 PM

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I will talk to my vet about this and see if he will consult with some of these other vets about this. With the size and location of the swelling, my feeling is that there is something more going on than an issue with a third eyelid. I will keep you all posted on future developments.
Posted By: Berg

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/21/10 04:54 PM

It looks like the sweetspot web site is no longer available, at least not at that URL.

Posted By: Paani

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/21/10 04:56 PM

There was a typo. The URL should be http://thesweetspot.forumotion.net/index.htm
Posted By: Gizmogirl

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/21/10 05:29 PM

Good luck and keep us posted!
Posted By: Dancing

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/22/10 03:21 PM

Because this is so "different" than what we've seen before, I really hope you do keep us updated so we can learn. That way, if this happens to another glider, we will know what to try, what might work, what probably won't work etc.

I hope for a speedy recovery for your little one.
Posted By: hwh4ev

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/22/10 03:48 PM

kerry,
i have been going thru a similar situation with my glider-sugar. she has an abcess above her eye, it was lanced and a culture and sensitiviy test was done to determine the correct meds. to be taken. That was last year, since then the abcess has come back 4 times, so my poor sugar has been on meds off and on for a year now.
my vet said that she will probally have to be on a maintenance med plan for the rest of her life.
she is fighting this last abcess, as we speak, but i can tell it is taking its toll on my girl (lancing/being put under).
i am going to ask the vet this time to try something i just found on the internet (for abcesses).
i dont believe a glider can survive continous meds. because of the liver and or kidney damage it causes.

hopefully, your vet can help your glider.

regards,
nancy in detroit
p.s. sugars abcess is in the eye socket, vet said it is very hard to get rid
of this sort of abcess. no cherry looking eye though.

Posted By: Gizmogirl

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/23/10 02:52 PM

How is Bruno doing? Did your vet consult with another vet?
Posted By: gryphon214

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/29/10 11:34 PM

Finally have an update for you guys. As much as this looked like a "cherry eye", this was in fact merely an abscess. It has been drained and Bruno will continue on the antibiotics and also has an eye ointment to prevent an infection in the eye itself.

Hopefully this will heal up quickly and permanently. From the stories I have heard, though, I am concerned this may not be the case. Has anyone heard of a glider with facial abscess that was treated where it did NOT come back and/or require months of treatment and re-treatment?

Here are some more pictures, taken before the abscess was drained, that better show the shape and size of this abscess (I tried to edit the original post was unable to).





I'd post "after" pics but really he just looks back his normal self. If anyone is interested in seeing them, though, let me know and I will post some.

Thanks, everyone, for all of the information and advice. If anything more happens with this I will keep you all posted.
Posted By: Dancing

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/29/10 11:39 PM

Thanks for the update. I've been worried about him. Some facial abcesses need long duration of antibiotics (21 days or more) because of how the blood circulates around the face. Hang in there!
Posted By: Gizmogirl

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/30/10 05:08 AM

I've also been worried about Bruno. Glad he is on meds now. Hoping for a speedy and full recovery.
Posted By: Bozeman

Re: Red Swelling Above Eye. Possible Causes? - 03/30/10 05:58 AM

Sending prayers for a speedy recovery.
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