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[BrightEyed]

I have a chin that isn't in breeding that has what we (the vet and I) think is an eye allergy. I took him to the best vet around for exotic animals and she said she thinks he has sensative eyes and gave me an triple anti-biotic eye ointment to get any bacteria out and clear it up. She did a complete  physical and says he is very healthy and is not worried it is anything more then allergies.

The problem I am having now is some of the ointment gets wiped onto the fur around his eyes and it hardens and looks horrible. You can tell it bothers him and I tried using a wet wipe and it wont help it come out. If anyone has any experience with the eye problems- is there a way to keep it from caking up or will I just need to let it come out on its own? It looks gross and his actual eyes look better already. But the fur around it is what seems to bother him now.

[ChinchillAZ]

You may check with the vet to see if there are drops available instead of an ointment.  This may help to keep the fur from clumping as severely.  It's VERY hard to get the ointment out, but it can be done...  You just have to kind of hold a warm, moist cloth on the eye area so that it gets softer and then work at it.  It takes time and very few chinchillas will just sit there for the process.

[Lori Ramsey Earle]

We've used both eye drops and eye ointments in the past, and I gotta tell you, drops are the way to go with chinchillas. Ointments attract dust and fur and end up clumping around the eye. Also, if your chin has any cagemates - we've found thay they're fascinated by the ointment and try to lick it off, thus introducing more bacteria.
Wrap your chin in a comfy towel before you decide to clean the eye. Have a warm, wet(but well-wrung out) washcloth waiting. Wipe the eye gently with the washcloth a couple of times. This only takes a minute - do it like 3x/a day for a few days, and the worst of it should be gone. Once the eyes have healed, and your chin can take dust baths again, you might consider flushing his eyes with natural tears after each dustbath as a precaution.
Lori

[Debbie.nl.ca]

Sometimes tear ducts get sealed off after an eye infection, and a continued used of true tears maybe required.
So what looks like eye infection is realy a lack of tears.
Something to mention to the vet.

[BrightEyed]

Frank is seperated from the whole herd. I didn't know for sure if he could pass anything along to the others so I wouldn't take any chances.

I didn't know that about the true tears. Is that something you get from the vet also?

If I come across this eye problem in the furture I am def. going to ask for drops. I think the chin will thank me too.

Do any of you have any chins who have a little eye allergy off and on like this? And can they pass it to another animal? I'm not breeding him (I don't know if his eye problem is genetic and could be passed) and my sister loves him but also wants to take home a male kit this coming year. I don't want Frank to pass anything to the male she was going to end up getting.

[Abby W.]

I do have a female who has eye problems exaclty like you described.  Every other month or so she randomly gets some eye irritation.  Her eye will actually get swollen and seal shut.  I have had her treated for eye infections with every medication the vet could think of.  They have done the flourisceine stain test on her eye and a blood test to see if there is anything viral going on.  So far, nothing.  It seems to occur after she has bathed sometimes.  So, I rinse her out every day with a sterile eye rinse.  When it swells up I treat it with a warm wet washcloth to ease it open again.  Those things seem to help a great deal, but the vet says it may be a problem that she will just have on and off.  The only thing we can do is treat her symptoms.