Another newbie question

[Jennamah]

Thanks for putting up with me everyone so I read that if eyes are not open by day 12, you should assist with warm water and cotton ball. My question is how do you count days.my kits were born the morning of May 5th. Is that day one or is May 6 th day1 because they are 24 hrs old?

 

[Prisma]

May 6th they'd be 1 day old, just like with a human baby or any other animal actually Some just take a few days longer than others, as long as they do not seem stuck (crusty, swollen, etc) I wouldn't bother them. Course I've not had an issue with just opening eyes either only after and when some thing had gotten in them or scratched an eye on a kit.

 

[Jennamah]

Great! Tomorrow is day 12 then. A few are open. All look fine. No crusting or swelling! This is so exciting!

 

[Miss M]

Yep, what Rebel Rose said!

You can tell when you've got a problem eye. Normal, unopened eyes look like the eye is simply closed. You can see both lids, and the slit between them. You can see no crust.

In nestbox eye, at least the cases I've seen, the eye has not looked like that. It looks tightly closed. The lids are almost invisible, it is clenched so tightly. And you can usually see at least slight evidence of crust.

 

[akane]

I usually help when they have one eye open and not the other after 10 days. Otherwise like everyone else has said I wait unless there are signs of a problem. I've only had one case of nestbox eye in one eye of a kit. I just used a paper towel to put warm water against the eye and then rub it lightly from the center to each edge.