# Porphyrin Around One Eye?



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

Hey Rat Forum,

One of my boys is producing extra porphyrin in his right eye, I was wondering could this just be from irritation to the eye or is there something else I need to be on the look out for with it?

He's just got a bunch of it around that eye, and I did catch his eye 'watering' during playtime one night, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. He's not squinting on that side, or fussing with his eye that I can really see. There's no porphyrin build up around his nose, and even the affected eye looks clear and bright, he's acting normal and is eating/drinking as normal as well.

He was nesting with some paper towel and corn husk, as well as food dust, is it possible he maybe just has gotten some crud in his eye from how he was sleeping?

Could it be allergies? His brother is known to have allergic reactions pretty easily. I'm going to see if this cage clean will reduce his symptoms, I did a major bedding change and did extra wipe downs of all their toys.

The boys have been playing a little rougher lately, did he maybe get kicked in the eye or something?


----------



## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

One of mine has chronic porphyrin on one eye which neither me or my vet could pin down any reason for, despite treating for infection and looking for any injury. And of course he isn't sick and has had this problem for months despite changing substrates and detergents and everything in case of allergies. Digging around on old forum posts basically just brought me to an anecdotal "some rats just seem to have overproductive glands" so that's what I'm stuck at. 

But until you're driven to that head-scratching conclusion it is a cause for concern. You mentioned he was nesting in corn husk and could have gotten food dust in his eye. To rule out irritant like food dust you should rinse his eye the best you can. Keep his eye (gently) cleaned in general. And yes, it could also be allergies especially around this time of year. But I wouldn't fall back on that reasoning until addressing the possibility of a more serious issue first.

If this could be an infection that hasn't blown up yet, you can apply ophthalmic ointment to the eye such as polysporin until the vet can look at it. And really, a vet should look at it sooner rather than later since eye injuries and infections can and will go downhill very fast. Porphyrin isn't generally a huge cause for concern on its own but if you're seeing it persistently in one eye then you should get that eye looked at or it could get much worse. In the meantime would rinse the eye and keep it clean, apply opthalmic ointment to the clean eye if you can. Do some shuffling around, maybe try to wash with a different very gentle detergent, do your cage clean and schedule a checkup from the vet so that they can look for injury or infection.


----------



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

That's so strange! It's good to know that's a possibility, but of course I agree with you I need to work with my vet to identify if it's something more serious first.

I've done their cage clean and what I'm going to do is clean their shelves/ledges more often with just some water/vinegar mixture to see if there's a possibility something was just extra gross and he got it in his eye. Somehow between the last clean (I do a major clean every week on Sunday to remove soiled bedding and wash their fabrics, spot cleaning daily-ish if I'm being honest) and this clean the cage got a little extra gross, which is why I'm thinking it may be something like that. When I do their fabrics I typically just wash in hot water with no detergent then dry with whatever setting it is I use for my own clothes, if maybe a small spray of an enzyme based cleaner but I try to use very little of it because it does make my boys sneeze, but it may be worth investing in a safe detergent!

What would be the best way to clean the eye of a rat who is hard to keep a hold of? I can keep him in one spot pretty well with some baby food, would rubbing his eye area down with sterile saline solution or just warm water be helpful? 

I'm planning on keeping watch on it for a few more days, if it goes on any longer than that I'm going to get in touch with my vet for sure, I just wanted some feedback from other rat owners to get a better idea what I'm dealing with. I'll actually probably give my vet a call later this afternoon.


----------



## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

shibezone said:


> That's so strange! It's good to know that's a possibility, but of course I agree with you I need to work with my vet to identify if it's something more serious first.
> 
> I've done their cage clean and what I'm going to do is clean their shelves/ledges more often with just some water/vinegar mixture to see if there's a possibility something was just extra gross and he got it in his eye. Somehow between the last clean (I do a major clean every week on Sunday to remove soiled bedding and wash their fabrics, spot cleaning daily-ish if I'm being honest) and this clean the cage got a little extra gross, which is why I'm thinking it may be something like that. When I do their fabrics I typically just wash in hot water with no detergent then dry with whatever setting it is I use for my own clothes, if maybe a small spray of an enzyme based cleaner but I try to use very little of it because it does make my boys sneeze, but it may be worth investing in a safe detergent!
> 
> ...


A saline solution would be great for flushing the eye to try and remove possible irritation, I'd recommend doing that and then just doing some maintenance wipes later. I haven't found a super great way of doing it but I've had the easiest time by giving them something they love to sit and eat (the baby food works!), then cupping my hand under their chest and lifting them just enough that they don't get annoyed but so that I can reach their eye without them closing it. If they start wiggling then it can go all over the place. For maintenance cleaning I generally will just use a clean towel or damp paper towel and gently wipe the eye in one direction with lukewarm water until it looks better.


----------



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

Thank you so much! I'll probably attempt it in that same position, that's one of the most common ways I end up giving them baby food so keeping it routine is probably a good idea for them!


----------



## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

My girl, Lotte Laserstein, has had porphyrin around her one eye since we adopted her in February (she's over 2 now). We had our vets look at it and were told to just do Chamomile tea compresses. We did it, but it didn't work. With her it's just cosmetic, she can see out of that eye and doesn't have any other issues.


----------



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

I'm glad Lotte's issue isn't anything to be too worried about! (Great name by the way!!) I wonder if it's just a weird genetic thing for her and Coffeebean's rat too.

I rubbed Aramis's eye down as best I could with some saline on a cotton pad last night, while he objected to it pretty staunchly, and his brothers tried their hardest to steal the cotton pad away from me, it seems to have helped a bit already. I'm going to try that with a combination of the cleaning and see if it works, his brother Jindosh also had some eye porphyrin from allergies that's cleared up so I'm hopeful. Like I said though, if it keeps up or he ever seems uncomfortable I'm getting in touch with my vet right away.


----------



## Coffeebean (Jan 6, 2017)

shibezone said:


> Update! Called the vet after my own doctor's appointment and they had a cancellation opening so I took the boys in. Aramis does indeed have a minor eye infection, like I suspected it was probably from whatever he was nesting with. No scratches or anything on the eye, though, which is great! He's got some eye drops, so it's getting taken care of! Thank you all for your feedback, I appreciate it!!


Oh good I'm glad you caught the infection early! Those can get pretty nasty if they're left alone. Hope he feels better soon!


----------



## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

Good that they found out what was going on! Never hurts to get it looked at.


----------



## shibezone (Feb 5, 2018)

Thank you both, I absolutely agree it's worth checking with the vet and I'm glad I didn't wait much longer! Now for the hard part, putting eye drops in for a rowdy little man!


----------

