Things You'll Need
- Cotton swabs
- Warm water or saline solution (used for contact lenses)
- Ointment, if prescribed by a vet
- Oral antibiotics, if prescribed by a vet
- Possibly a towel (if your rat is squirmy and needs to be restrained)
Instructions
Determine whether your rat has conjunctivitis. Look for white or yellowish discharge, "crustiness" around the eyes, redness in the eye, red stains around the outside of the eyes, swollen eyelids, and behavior such as sneezing or rubbing of the face.
Use cotton swabs and warm water to very gently clean the area around the eyes. Allow any crusty areas to soak for a few minutes before trying to clean them. Repeat cleaning procedure if discharge returns.
Look to see if there are any possible irritants in the cage that may have caused the eye inflammation. Have you recently changed the type of bedding? Are there any objects in the cage which could contain perfumes, dyes, or other chemicals? Remove or replace anything that could be causing irritation.
If symptoms persist for more than a day or two, take the rat to a vet to determine if it needs medication for the conjunctivitis. The vet may give you an ointment to put on the eyes and possibly an oral medication as well.
Follow the vet's instructions for application of the ointment. Apply the ointment to the eyeball and open and close the rat's eyelids to spread the ointment around the eye. If the rat is squirmy, wrap it up in a towel so that just its head is showing.
Follow the vet's instructions for giving oral medications if they are prescribed.