For most eye injuries, it is recommended that you seek veterinary care as even a minor eye injury can lead to loss of vision. However, there are steps you can carry out at home to provide first aid or treat simple problems (such as dirt in the eyes). Eye flushing is a useful tool and can be used with many eye injuries whilst awaiting medical assistance.<\/p>\n
Foreign body removal (foreign bodies are objects that shouldn\u2019t be in the eye, such as grit and dirt), first aid treatment of chemical contact (e.g. cleaning chemicals), to remove excess discharge, or to soothe sore eyes caused by pollutants such as smoke.<\/p>\n
Your pet may squint, blink excessively, close one eye or avoid bright lights. Some pets may vocalise in pain. There may be redness present around the eye.<\/p>\n
If you have any sterile saline eye solution at home, this is ideal. Alternatively, tepid tap water is fine to use.<\/p>\n
An eye bath is handy to use if you have one, or a sports drinking bottle will provide a steady stream to flush your pet\u2019s eye with. Be careful not to apply too much pressure.<\/p>\n
You may need a second person to help restrain your pet. For mammals, you should gently use a thumb to open the upper eyelid and then the lower eyelid to try to visualise the foreign body. For birds or reptiles, open the lower eyelid first, then the upper eyelid. If you visualise the foreign body and it is not penetrating the eye, it is safe to start flushing. Flush with the tepid water or saline solution for at least 10 minutes. Check your pet\u2019s eye again for the presence of the foreign body. If it is still present, or your pet still appears to be in a lot of discomfort, you should seek veterinary advice.<\/p>\n
In the event of chemical contact, the above should be followed and then veterinary treatment should be sought immediately. If possible, keep the bottle containing the chemical to show to your vet. Continue to flush the eye for at least 20 minutes for all chemical contact cases.<\/p>\n
For most eye injuries, it is recommended that you seek veterinary care as even minor injuries can lead to loss of vision. However, there are steps you can carry out at home to provide first aid or treat simple problems (such as dirt in the eyes).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6834,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,154,193,167,189,173,194,195,155,191],"tags":[286,287,290,291,289,283,285,292,288,272,275,284],"class_list":["post-5764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-birds","category-cats","category-ferrets","category-first-aid-at-home","category-guinea-pigs","category-injuries","category-rabbits","category-rodents","category-smallmammals","category-tortoises","tag-blinking","tag-bright-lights","tag-chemical-contact","tag-discharge","tag-eye-bath","tag-eyes","tag-foreign-bodies","tag-injury","tag-redness","tag-saline","tag-swelling","tag-vision"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t