# Porphyrin staining on one eye - what's wrong with my rattie?



## zmashd (Dec 25, 2013)

Hey guys!
During the past couple of weeks one of my ratties (Pop) has had a bit of porphyrin staining on his right eye, on and off.He's about 1 year old, and he's never had this problem before... I don't know what's wrong, and what I can do to help. :/

There have been some days where it's quite "dramatic" (teary looking eye and a porphyrin all around it), but most days it's just a small little rim or a couple of dots. A couple of times it looked like it had sorted itself out, only to come back again. His left eye is perfectly normal.
I think he's acting like his usual self - doesn't seem particularly lethargic (he's as lethargic as any 1-year-old male rat. haha) and he definitely has an appetite. He doesn't seem to scratch at his eye or anything like that either. My partner says he's a bit slower in his movements, but I don't agree, tbh...

Here's all I came up with in terms of changes to his environment:
- DST. I live in Sweden, so the days are really short and dark all of a sudden.
- Central heating is on now, but it's been on for well over two weeks, I'm pretty sure of it. It's been freezing.
- I deep cleaned their cage and everything around it a few days/a week before the eye problems started. I didn't use any chemicals on the cage itself, but I did use some Mr. Muscle on the wall and floor around the cage. I washed it thoroughly afterwards though, of course!
- I refilled their homemade food mix. The ratios might vary a bit, but I have a pretty steady selection of ingredients. Nothing weird has been added.

My other rat, Stig, is perfectly fine. He's his usual happy, healthy, chubby little fella.

I've cleaned Pop's eye with cotton and warm water a couple of times when it looked more uncomfortable, but mostly I let it be rather than stress him out further (he HATES IT when I clean it). I have also been giving him echinacea on and off, since it helped him before when he had the sneezies, but I'm not sure if it helps with whatever is wrong now.

His eye doesn't look too bad at all today, but since the problem has been persisting I can't just hope that it won't be worse again tomorrow... Here's how his eye looks now.

I'm really at a loss here. I would have taken him to the vets by now, but our financial situation makes that really really difficult... I though I'd ask here if anyone has any clue what might be the problem - if it's something serious I can try to pull some strings to get him treatment. I just want him to feel OK, the poor little thing... I feel like a bad rat mommy.


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## zmashd (Dec 25, 2013)

Here's a somewhat better picture that my boyfriend took.
The poor thing... His eye looks so red. I really need some pointers on how to make it better for him.


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## zmashd (Dec 25, 2013)

No one?


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## CosmicKat62 (Nov 24, 2014)

It sounds like his eye is infected. Keep cleaning his eye, and maybe take him to the vet if it persists. Are you brushing his eye when you pet him? That could cause irritation. Sorry, I know this isn't a lot, but my boy's eye used to have porphyrin on one of his eyes, and I realize I had been accidentally touching his eye when I petted him. hope it clears up!


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## erikablanchettexo (Nov 25, 2014)

Use organic green tea, steap the teabag a little and drain the tea bag, and add a dot of colloidal silver on it and run the eye with it a few times a day for a week.

You can check out RatGirl44 on YouTube. She has a bunch of home remedies for stuff like that. 

I hope your rats eye feels better soon


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## alieannie (Oct 11, 2014)

That's not porphyrin, that's an eye infection so you need a special antibiotic to clear it up


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## Minky (Apr 4, 2013)

Smell his ears - they should be 100% odorless. Sometimes an ear infection can manifest as an eye infection. At least that's what my girl had recently - one eye was continuously runny and porphy AND her ear smelled awful. Some Baytril and Betadine drops cleared it up.


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## zmashd (Dec 25, 2013)

Minky said:


> Smell his ears - they should be 100% odorless. Sometimes an ear infection can manifest as an eye infection.


His ears are fine. I used to have a little girl rat that often had ear infections, so I know the signs, and it was the first thing I looked for. 

I got some preservative free saline solution and sterile cotton pads to clean his eye with, and some chamomile tea for soaks. (recommended by my mother in law. she's used it for eye infections on herself, her kids, her rabbits, her horses... apparently it's a popular remedy for eye infections around here. I though it was a good idea, and it can't hurt to try!). 
Pop seems to be responding well: even though there's still a bit of a porphyrin around the eye, the eye itself looks a lot clearer, more open and alert. It must feel very soothing to him also, because he totally cooperates when I clean it and soak it, which he usually doesn't! (at all. he hates being picked up and messed with. he loves being petted, but only when he's down in place of his choosing. ) 

So yeah! It's only been a couple of days, but so far so good! I'll keep making sure that it doesn't progress in the wrong direction!
I have also been trying to collect some savings for a new "vet fund"! Their previous vet fund was all spent on their food, which wasn't the point, but I felt that food was an obvious priority... In any case, I now have a little jar in my apartment that friends can donate to, for the ratties.


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