8m/o rat started discharging porphyrin from one eye this afternoon? (Photos)

[Olympia✨]

Hi all,

I’m a little worried now and I’m looking for someone to guide me in what may be happening to my little man.

This afternoon I’ve discovered that one of my boys was discharging porphyrin from his right eye. The eye itself doesn’t look infected or scratched. I’ve cleaned it off twice now to see if it’ll stop, but it hasn’t. His behaviour is the same, eating and drinking fine too. The porphyrin isn’t overbearing, only bits in the corners.

The only reason I’m worried is because he’s never had porphyrin discharge from his eyes, only his nose. His cage mate seems well as usual and no extra porphyrin discharge from him.

The only thing I’m thinking might have caused this is the fact I’ve been giving him a few drops of olive oil for the past two days (for his buck grease) so maybe that could have caused the extra porphyrin?

If not, what could be wrong with him??

That’s his eye:

 

[Olympia✨]

A small edit: I think it may be a blocked tear duct? If anyone has any experience with those, please share!

I read that massaging the eye with warm water a few times a day should help, as well as warm chamomile or green tea.

 

[Luna&Ralph]

I don't have any personal experience with blocked tear ducts, but I assume that holding a warm washcloth to his eye a few times a day would help.

I do however have personal experience with eye injuries in rats, and I'm wondering if there is any possibility that it's been injured? I can't remember if you could actually see the injury on my rat's eye, but I know that it was bleeding quite a bit when this happened. It turned out that there was a loose piece of wire poking into her cage and this is what caused the scratch. Are you sure that it's porphyrin and not blood? Blood would be a little but of a brighter red and would smell metallic rather than smell somewhat unpleasant like porphyrin does.

Either way, I would suggest either taking her to a vet or trying the warm compresses in case it's a blocked tear duct or finding antibiotic eyedrops to administer twice or three times a day in case it's an injury. In a pinch, I have found out that Polysporin eyedrops have the same active ingredients as eyedrops that I've gotten at the vet. If you don't have that brand in your country, they have a decent website that shows the active ingredients in their products so you can compare the eyedrops to those that you have available to you.

 

[Olympia✨]

I'm wondering if there is any possibility that it's been injured? I can't remember if you could actually see the injury on my rat's eye, but I know that it was bleeding quite a bit when this happened. It turned out that there was a loose piece of wire poking into her cage and this is what caused the scratch. Are you sure that it's porphyrin and not blood? Blood would be a little but of a brighter red and would smell metallic rather than smell somewhat unpleasant like porphyrin does.

I’m 100% sure it’s not an injury, it does have the smell that porphyrin does. I did also have a serious look at his eye and it seems well, no scratches or injuries. I’ll try the warm washcloth for a few days and if it doesn’t help I’ll take him to the vet by the end of this week

Also, do you know any similar brands to the polysporin eyedrops that are available in the U.K.?

 

[Olympia✨]

Oh wow, I just checked his eye this morning and there’s no porphyrin! I’m definitely relieved but will keep an eye on it to see if it comes back.

Maybe he just got it a little irritated yesterday? A piece of hair could have gone into it? I will clean it with the washcloth just in case.

 

[jorats]

A leaky eye is quite common in rats. It could very well be a blocked tear duct or it could be some form of stress. I'd give him a few days before worrying. I've had rats with leaky eyes all their lives without being sick.

 

[Luna&Ralph]

That's great to hear!
So I've done a Google search to try to find a UK equivalent of Polysporin eyedrops, and it looks like Polysporin ointment is not sold in the UK because of the possibility of antibiotic resistance. If this is the case for the ointment, it is likely the case for the eyedrops or anything else of this brand. This leads me to believe that you can't buy over the counter antibiotics in any form in the UK. You would only want to to use the eyedrops if the eye were injured or if there was cloudiness in the eye that would suggest infection.
Obviously you're no longer in immediate need of information on where to get antibiotic eyedrops in the UK, but for future reference it seems like you would need to get them from your vet after having an appointment for an eye infection or injury.
In my experience, eye injuries in rats are quite uncommon, but I've found that once you do have a tube of antibiotic eye ointment, you'll have it for a very long time in case you need it in an emergency.

 

[SQ]

Some types of eye ointment or eye drops can be painful or irritate the eye
Keep a watch on her eye and on her (weekly health checks are important for rat owners to do) If her eye seems to bother her have a good vet knowledgeable about rats, examine her
Likely it was just a blocked tear duct as others have suggested
http://ratguide.com/health/eyes/porphyrin_secretions_red_tears.php

 

[Olympia✨]

Some types of eye ointment or eye drops can be painful or irritate the eye
Keep a watch on her eye and on her (weekly health checks are important for rat owners to do) If her eye seems to bother her have a good vet knowledgeable about rats, examine her
Likely it was just a blocked tear duct as others have suggested
http://ratguide.com/health/eyes/porphyrin_secretions_red_tears.php

It doesn’t seem to bother him which is a relief, I haven’t seen any new porphyrin since two nights ago which makes me believe he must have irritated it with a hair or maybe something in the air

I have been cleaning it with warm water once a day just in case though