"Bloody" eye discharge - any advice?

[Rykat]

Hi all

I'm a newby and sorry that my first post is to ask for help but I'm stumped with where we go from here with my young syrian.

Back in August I was asked to help with fostering some baby hamsters for the RSPCA, one of them had a problem with her eyes, she was on Fucithalmic eye drops. When she came to me I took her back to their vets and she had a 5 day course of Baytril in her drinking water and I was told to continue the eye drops.

Things improved for a day but they then became bad again so I decided to take her to see my vet instead. He gave her 2 Baytril injections (a week apart) and she was fantastic, no eye problems at all, but a few days ago the one eye flared up again and last night they were both really bad, in fact the worst they've been. They are open but the lids are swollen, and they had a brown/red discharge although they don't appear to be bothering her.

She was orginally on shavings but has been on Megazorb for a month, but I have also just given her the soft paper bedding in case there was an irritant in the megazorb.

She's fed Harry Hamster food and at the moment has no treats in case it's an allergy.

The strange thing is that the only time she is bothered by it is after I have bathed her eyes and given her the eye drops and even then she just washes her face then goes off to cause mayhem in the cage again.

Here's a photo of her the last time it flared up but she was too wriggly to get a photo last night ....



Any ideas folks?

Thanks

[internet_nobody]

Hamster's "eye gunk" is a reddy brown, so it probably isn't blood. I would guess from the swelling she may have an eye infection though, that is causing her to produce a lot more discharge. Fucithalmic eye drops in my experience are a bit hit and miss, i've not had them work on recurring eye infections. Kanamycin eyedrops (e.g. Optrex Infected Eyes) work like a charm, but you would need to ask a vets advice about these.

[souffle]

As IN says hamsters have glands behind the eyeball called Harderian Glands which prduce this reddish material and it is produced more when a hamster is unwell and particulatly in response to viral infections. You can bathe it daily with cooled boiled water but she dose need a check for underlying infection or other illness not only in the eyes but generally.
Sometimes when a hamster has had an eye infecion the tear glands are affected and produce tears that are 'sticky'. Initially treament with Maxitrol eye drops which are a steroid and Antibiotic can be effective but you may need to use artifical tears (very cheap from the chemist - isopto tears) to keep the eyes lubricated.
I hope she gets better soon.

[Rykat]

Many thanks for the info. The confusing thing about it all is that in between the treatments she was ok one day, had a play around and they became sore again, then the next day they were fine? Allergy? Although I haven't seen her scratching them.

When it next flares up I'll pop her back to our vets and ask about trying the eye drops you have suggested.

Thanks again