Hi all! I've got three boy rats and I'm having trouble with one. Bosley is 18 months old and has had some sort of eye issue for at least a couple months now. Here are a few pics of the affected eye:
That red discharge is really the only symptom. At times his eyelid looks irritated, but he doesn't seem to bother at his eye very much. His other eye looks fine.
I initially took him to my exotics vet and was given Tobramycin eye drops. Last time Bosley had an eye infection, I saw an improvement after a day and a half (3 drops), but this time it didn't seem to do anything. The vet gave me a course of Baytril to try instead (which Bosley has had before for resp issues), but that didn't do any good either. At that point the vet wanted to see him for a recheck, and ended up making up a longer course of Baytril to be given in combination with the eye drops. She called after 6 days, and when I told her there was STILL no improvement, she made up a course of Doxycycline and told me to give that with the eye drops instead of the Baytril. I stopped the eye drops shortly after switching to the Doxy, though, because at this point I think it's done all it's going to do, and it seems to hurt more than it helps - his eyelid looked more irritated when he was on the drops.
A few days ago he started sneezing, so I asked the vet if I could try the Doxy in combo with the Baytril to treat that. (The boys and I moved in with my dad on Sunday while the floor at my mum's house is being ripped up, so this may be stress-related. We're going home on Saturday.) Bosley is now on Doxy + Baytril. I took those pictures earlier today, so you can see that it's not having much effect on his eye.
Apart from the sneezing and the discharge around his eye, he's a bright and happy boy. Still eating and drinking, still active. I'm starting to get stressed out, though. The vet said there's a possibility of a mass behind his eye, which would mean x-rays under sedation to diagnose, and I hate the thought of that.
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Any thoughts as to what could be behind this? Any thoughts would be appreciated! Bosley is my best-behaved and sweetest boy, I really wish I could make him all better.



That red discharge is really the only symptom. At times his eyelid looks irritated, but he doesn't seem to bother at his eye very much. His other eye looks fine.
I initially took him to my exotics vet and was given Tobramycin eye drops. Last time Bosley had an eye infection, I saw an improvement after a day and a half (3 drops), but this time it didn't seem to do anything. The vet gave me a course of Baytril to try instead (which Bosley has had before for resp issues), but that didn't do any good either. At that point the vet wanted to see him for a recheck, and ended up making up a longer course of Baytril to be given in combination with the eye drops. She called after 6 days, and when I told her there was STILL no improvement, she made up a course of Doxycycline and told me to give that with the eye drops instead of the Baytril. I stopped the eye drops shortly after switching to the Doxy, though, because at this point I think it's done all it's going to do, and it seems to hurt more than it helps - his eyelid looked more irritated when he was on the drops.
A few days ago he started sneezing, so I asked the vet if I could try the Doxy in combo with the Baytril to treat that. (The boys and I moved in with my dad on Sunday while the floor at my mum's house is being ripped up, so this may be stress-related. We're going home on Saturday.) Bosley is now on Doxy + Baytril. I took those pictures earlier today, so you can see that it's not having much effect on his eye.
Apart from the sneezing and the discharge around his eye, he's a bright and happy boy. Still eating and drinking, still active. I'm starting to get stressed out, though. The vet said there's a possibility of a mass behind his eye, which would mean x-rays under sedation to diagnose, and I hate the thought of that.
Has anyone ever experienced anything like this? Any thoughts as to what could be behind this? Any thoughts would be appreciated! Bosley is my best-behaved and sweetest boy, I really wish I could make him all better.
