Blindness? Injury?

[Little Ones]

Has my piggy gone blind? He’s just over five years old, he’s the dominant pig (if that’s relevant), and he’s never ever had an eye injury so far. During floortime today, we noticed that his pupil doesn’t look as it should and when taken with flash, it comes up as white as opposed to his healthy eye which shows as red. We aren’t sure if he’s slowly gone blind over time and we haven’t realised. We’ve done a few tests by gesturing around each eye and the eye in question doesn’t make him react to movement.
I know a vet visit would be recommended, is a regular vet able to tell me if this is blindness, an injury of some sort, a cataract, or something else? My exotic vet is far away and since I rely on people for a lift there, I can’t expect someone to drive me there in the storm. However, a regular vet would be about a ten minute drive in a taxi.
Does this look like blindness or an injury? There’s no weeping or anything. Is there an urgency to this? I’ve dealt with many hay pokes with a previous pig and I know that time is of the essence but since there is no inflammation or any sign of trauma whatsoever, I’m not sure how fast acting I need to be.
All photos are of the eye in question except the two photos where the eye is red.
Thanks!

 

[Little Ones]

After reading and looking at pictures, I’m thinking it’s likely a cataract. No idea what having cataracts entail, are they just left alone for the most part? There’s been no weight loss or excessive drinking or anything that could point to diabetes too.

 

[Bill & Ted]

I think eyes are eyes in any pet so a general vet should know what the problem is. Good luck x

 

[Little Ones]

I think eyes are eyes in any pet so a general vet should know what the problem is. Good luck x

That’s what my thought was as well. Thank you! He seems to be getting on completely fine which is a relief in itself

 

[Wiebke]

Has my piggy gone blind? He’s just over five years old, he’s the dominant pig (if that’s relevant), and he’s never ever had an eye injury so far. During floortime today, we noticed that his pupil doesn’t look as it should and when taken with flash, it comes up as white as opposed to his healthy eye which shows as red. We aren’t sure if he’s slowly gone blind over time and we haven’t realised. We’ve done a few tests by gesturing around each eye and the eye in question doesn’t make him react to movement.
I know a vet visit would be recommended, is a regular vet able to tell me if this is blindness, an injury of some sort, a cataract, or something else? My exotic vet is far away and since I rely on people for a lift there, I can’t expect someone to drive me there in the storm. However, a regular vet would be about a ten minute drive in a taxi.
Does this look like blindness or an injury? There’s no weeping or anything. Is there an urgency to this? I’ve dealt with many hay pokes with a previous pig and I know that time is of the essence but since there is no inflammation or any sign of trauma whatsoever, I’m not sure how fast acting I need to be.
All photos are of the eye in question except the two photos where the eye is red.
Thanks!

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Hi!

Please have your piggy vet checked for cataracts (when dots in the lens merge together) or osseous sclerosis (when the lens is clouding over). This can happen gradually or rather quickly.

Guinea pigs can be born with the genetic disposition to develop them at a young age (typically in the second year of their lives but in rare cases already in the womb) or they can develop them in old age, which is the more common variety. Often the second eye develops cataracts within a matter of weeks or months, too.

The good news is that after a transition period, piggies will adapt and compensate with their other senses and can in most cases lead a perfectly normal life. Eye sight is thankfully the weakest of the guinea pig senses.

Some of the piggies in my enrichment guide are cataract piggies when you look closely: Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

 

[Little Ones]

Hi!

Please have your piggy vet checked for cataracts (when dots in the lens merge together) or osseous sclerosis (when the lens is clouding over). This can happen gradually or rather quickly.

Guinea pigs can be born with the genetic disposition to develop them at a young age (typically in the second year of their lives but in rare cases already in the womb) or they can develop them in old age, which is the more common variety. Often the second eye develops cataracts within a matter of weeks or months, too.

The good news is that after a transition period, piggies will adapt and compensate with their other senses and can in most cases lead a perfectly normal life. Eye sight is thankfully the weakest of the guinea pig senses.

Some of the piggies in my enrichment guide are cataract piggies when you look closely: Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs

Will do, thank you. Can a general vet diagnose either conditions, or is it best to go to the exotic vet for this?
He seems to be coping well enough and behaving the same as he’s always behaved, we easily wouldn’t have noticed it had we not thought his eye was looking slightly different. I had no idea that the second eye would also develop a cataract, so thank you for preparing me just in case!

 

[Bill & Ted]

That’s what my thought was as well. Thank you! He seems to be getting on completely fine which is a relief in itself

Glad it’s not effecting his happiness x

 

[Wiebke]

Will do, thank you. Can a general vet diagnose either conditions, or is it best to go to the exotic vet for this?
He seems to be coping well enough and behaving the same as he’s always behaved, we easily wouldn’t have noticed it had we not thought his eye was looking slightly different. I had no idea that the second eye would also develop a cataract, so thank you for preparing me just in case!

A general vet has been enough for mine; just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything.

If you notice the other eye going, then start concentrating on enrichment for the other senses, giving your boy audible cues where you are and what you are about to do and do any layout changes without cleaned hideys, used good scent retaining material with good grip for any shallow ramps like indoors mats or carpet cut offs you fix to the ramp with double tape and chance if is getting too grotty.
Respect that they do generally not appreciate to be approached from the blind side and be picked up when sleeping.

The biggest mistake is to wrap any cataract piggies in cotton. The more you challenge them (but never more than pushing them to do their best with plenty of encouragement, praise and reassurement), the more they will achieve and the richer their life is!
They may surprise you yet!

 

[Merab]

If it is cataracts then there is no need to worry.
Merab, my avatar piggy, was blind for the last years of her life but it didn’t stop her at all.
Let us know what the vet says

 

[Little Ones]

No, a general vet has been enough for mine; just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything.

If you notice the other eye going, then start concentrating on enrichment for the other senses, giving your boy audible cues where you are and what you are about to do and do any layout changes without cleaned hideys, used good scent retaining material with good grip for any shallow ramps like indoors mats or carpet cut offs you fix to the ramp with double tape and chance if is getting too grotty.
Respect that they do generally not appreciate to be approached from the blind side and be picked up when sleeping.

The biggest mistake is to wrap any cataract piggies in cotton. The more you challenge them (but never more than pushing them to do their best with plenty of encouragement, praise and reassurement), the more they will achieve and the richer their life is!
They may surprise you yet!

Right thank you, I’m going to try and get him booked in for Tuesday. And thank you for the advice, it’s really useful for me to know and I’m sure that if he does lose all sight, he’ll continue thriving!

If it is cataracts then there is no need to worry.
Merab, my avatar piggy, was blind for the last years of her life but it didn’t stop her at all.
Let us know what the vet says

It’s pretty amazing how being blind doesn’t hinder them, piggies are fragile little things but still very resilient at the same time.

 

[Wiebke]

Right thank you, I’m going to try and get him booked in for Tuesday. And thank you for the advice, it’s really useful for me to know and I’m sure that if he does lose all sight, he’ll continue thriving!


It’s pretty amazing how being blind doesn’t hinder them, piggies are fragile little things but still very resilient at the same time.

I had a dedicated cataract group at some point and even had a blind piggy that could turn herself back into her run just by my constant vocal update as long as I stood next to the flap when she and her friend had supervised free roaming time in the garden.

Mischief also worked out how she could topple a hay bag, sniff out the opening, crawl in and go to sleep in the hay... She gave my hub and his mother a heart attack the first time she pulled that one while I was away and it took them nearly an hour of frantic searching to find her!

 

[Freela]

It could be a cataract. One of my past pigs developed a cloudiness like that which could mainly be seen in bright light or with a flash. One of my present pigs, Hadley, still has eyes that look clear to my naked eye but she certainly behaves cautiously with distances and things, which leads me to believe that she probably does not see as well as she used to. There generally isn't much to do about cataracts, but the good news is that pigs rely primarily on their other senses and will do fine with low or no vision. It really doesn't slow them down much at all.

 

[Little Ones]

Update:
The vet said she could see three small grey dots in his pupil along with it obviously having changed colour to more blue rather than black, and so she has diagnosed him with a cataract

 

[Bill & Ted]

Aw, so glad it’s nothing more serious x

 

[Wiebke]

Update:
The vet said she could see three small grey dots in his pupil along with it obviously having changed colour to more blue rather than black, and so she has diagnosed him with a cataract

So far, the cataract is still very much on the milder side; when it develops it looks a bit like a starry sky or a group of galaxies that are gradually merging.
In a fully developed cataract the lens will be white and the eye will reflect blue and not longer purple like in a developing cataract.

 

[Little Ones]

So far, the cataract is still very much on the milder side; when it develops it looks a bit like a starry sky or a group of galaxies that are gradually merging.
In a fully developed cataract the lens will be white and the eye will reflect blue and not longer purple like in a developing cataract.

Right, thank you. I imagine the time it takes to fully develop is different depending on the individual? It’s so strange seeing him with his eye being a slightly different colour, I didn’t really even realise that guinea pigs could get cataracts!

 

[Merab]

Cataracts are not serious.
Pleased to hear it was nothing worse

 

[Wiebke]

Right, thank you. I imagine the time it takes to fully develop is different depending on the individual? It’s so strange seeing him with his eye being a slightly different colour, I didn’t really even realise that guinea pigs could get cataracts!

Cataracts can develop very differently; I had both very quickly developing and very slowly developing.
The fastest was Mischief's nuclear sclerosis (even clouding over of the lens instead of cataract dots connecting) that happened within a week to cataracts that took several years to develop. Some cataracts stop halfway or grow further later on.
Often the other eye will follow in a matter of weeks or months, but not always.

Here is a picture of my dedicated cataract group (which ran from 2011-15). You can see the three sows with more advanced cataracts at different stages of develoment.


You have to basically just take it as it comes as unlike with humans, there is no cataract operation for guinea pigs (yet).

 

[Little Ones]

Cataracts can develop very differently; I had both very quickly developing and very slowly developing.
The fastest was Mischief's nuclear sclerosis (even clouding over of the lens instead of cataract dots connecting) that happened within a week to cataracts that took several years to develop. Some cataracts stop halfway or grow further later on.
Often the other eye will follow in a matter of weeks or months, but not always.

Here is a picture of my dedicated cataract group (which ran from 2011-15). You can see the three sows with more advanced cataracts at different stages of develoment.
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You have to basically just take it as it comes as unlike with humans, there is no cataract operation for guinea pigs (yet).

Theyre so adorable! It’s pretty amazing how they can find their way around each other easily with little to no sight, even if it is their weakest sense to begin with.
Little is still adjusting, he bumped into a cardboard tube on the side he’s losing sight. He recoiled a little at first then dealt with it easily enough by flinging it out of the way I was a little unsure what to do with the tubes as I usually place them in random parts of the cage, but if he can handle them then there’s nothing to worry about!

 

[Wiebke]

Theyre so adorable! It’s pretty amazing how they can find their way around each other easily with little to no sight, even if it is their weakest sense to begin with.
Little is still adjusting, he bumped into a cardboard tube on the side he’s losing sight. He recoiled a little at first then dealt with it easily enough by flinging it out of the way I was a little unsure what to do with the tubes as I usually place them in random parts of the cage, but if he can handle them then there’s nothing to worry about!

He will learn to compensate by by smell and touch (whiskers!). It is just the transition phase that is hard.

Please avoid approaching him from his vulnerable side if possible, and alert him that you are there before you touch him.

 

[Little Ones]

Update: it’s been a little over four months since Little first lost sight in one eye. As of a few days ago, his remaining eye also no longer has sight. I noticed his eye looking slightly blue, then he was becoming a bit more jumpier at things, then he stopped reacting to movement from that side, then more dominance behaviour started. After taking a photo with flash today, his good eye no longer shows as red. So it seems like the eye sight has gone now, he is getting really jumpy at things. Since the first eye went, I’ve been using sound to tell him I was approaching him or the cage. It was only about two months ago that he became properly adjusted to only having one usable eye and I would be able to lightly touch his whiskers as well as use sound before I would pet him. But now, he’s very jumpy. I’ve been vocally letting him know I was approaching him (on the side he first went blind) but he still has been jumping. It’s to be expected as now he suddenly can’t see a thing and he’ll adjust as best he can. With it being four months, I was hoping the other eye would never go, but it has. He will cope though, I’m just hoping he’ll have adjusted well enough before we next see Simon for his teeth doing in just over a months time as the journey and appointment might scare him as he’s no longer confident in his surroundings.

 

[Bill & Ted]

Update: it’s been a little over four months since Little first lost sight in one eye. As of a few days ago, his remaining eye also no longer has sight. I noticed his eye looking slightly blue, then he was becoming a bit more jumpier at things, then he stopped reacting to movement from that side, then more dominance behaviour started. After taking a photo with flash today, his good eye no longer shows as red. So it seems like the eye sight has gone now, he is getting really jumpy at things. Since the first eye went, I’ve been using sound to tell him I was approaching him or the cage. It was only about two months ago that he became properly adjusted to only having one usable eye and I would be able to lightly touch his whiskers as well as use sound before I would pet him. But now, he’s very jumpy. I’ve been vocally letting him know I was approaching him (on the side he first went blind) but he still has been jumping. It’s to be expected as now he suddenly can’t see a thing and he’ll adjust as best he can. With it being four months, I was hoping the other eye would never go, but it has. He will cope though, I’m just hoping he’ll have adjusted well enough before we next see Simon for his teeth doing in just over a months time as the journey and appointment might scare him as he’s no longer confident in his surroundings.

Aw poor Little, hoping he adjusts to his blindness, such a shame x

 

[Little Ones]

Aw poor Little, hoping he adjusts to his blindness, such a shame x

It is, once he adjusts he’ll be right as rain though. He’ll be six this year so not too old but him getting cataracts definitely shows his age. We’d been waiting for the other to go and thought he may have gotten lucky. It was about a week or two ago that I could just tell he wasn’t going to have sight for much longer. Then today during floortime, he didn’t really move a muscle like usual. They last had floortime on either Monday or Tuesday and it seemed like there was only a little sight remaining by the front portion of his eye then. Today, it’s definitely gone!

 

[Wiebke]

Update: it’s been a little over four months since Little first lost sight in one eye. As of a few days ago, his remaining eye also no longer has sight. I noticed his eye looking slightly blue, then he was becoming a bit more jumpier at things, then he stopped reacting to movement from that side, then more dominance behaviour started. After taking a photo with flash today, his good eye no longer shows as red. So it seems like the eye sight has gone now, he is getting really jumpy at things. Since the first eye went, I’ve been using sound to tell him I was approaching him or the cage. It was only about two months ago that he became properly adjusted to only having one usable eye and I would be able to lightly touch his whiskers as well as use sound before I would pet him. But now, he’s very jumpy. I’ve been vocally letting him know I was approaching him (on the side he first went blind) but he still has been jumping. It’s to be expected as now he suddenly can’t see a thing and he’ll adjust as best he can. With it being four months, I was hoping the other eye would never go, but it has. He will cope though, I’m just hoping he’ll have adjusted well enough before we next see Simon for his teeth doing in just over a months time as the journey and appointment might scare him as he’s no longer confident in his surroundings.

Please always have the eye checked by a vet to make sure that it is not an injury but either a cataract or nuclear sclerosis (which is the lens going opaque as well but more evenly).

Unfortunately with cataract piggies, especially those with congenital cataracts with a genetic disposition to an early onset typically in the second year of life in my own experience with a number of cataract piggies over the years, the second eyes often follows within weeks or months.

The speed at which this happens can vary widely but the quicker the development the more difficult the transition phase for the affected piggy until the other senses take over brain function and compensate. Once that has happened, a cataract piggy can still live a perfectly normal enriched life, including free-roaming and using shallower ramps that are covered with a goo scent retaining material. You can also still rearrange the cage as long as you don't wipe down any furniture or wash cosies so your piggy can rearrange the mental map by scent and touch.

You may find my Taffy's story comforting. She was the leader of my cataract group for several years. There are about four posts with plenty of pictures in her tribute so you may need to scroll down quite a bit: Goodbye Taffy

Our enrichment guide will take on a new dimension for you when you know that the little brindle aby, Mischief went blind very quickly with nuclear sclerosis within a week and then with a fairly fast developing cataract on the other eye two months later at a young age. Mischief has taught me the important of enrichment having to appeal to all senses.
Enrichment Ideas for Guinea Pigs