Deaf pig

[Engel]

My guinea pig Mia, is deaf/ extremely hard of hearing and has been this way since birth. There's no problem with that, she's otherwise healthy and I often don't think about it.

Well the other day I completely forgot, because I've adapted everything surrounding the pigs with Mia in mind and over the 4+years I've had her its become a habit. I have a certain phrase I say before entering the shed/room which makes no difference to Mia but it alerts the others which alerts her to my presence. A family member came to visit and wanted to see the pigs, we're in the garden anyway so I said sure. They went in and scared Mia and she ran for cover when she turned and saw someone behind her. She is ok, and this person had no idea. They noted her vocalisations sound different to the others so I explained that she's deaf and to not worry about it.

But this got me thinking, how common is deafness in guinea pigs? I know 'lethal' whites can be born blind/deaf. Calcified bulla and ear infections can cause them to become deaf as well as hearing potentially becoming impaired in older pigs in general. But an otherwise healthy pig being born deaf isn't something I have heard of? Her brother had no obvious hearing problems, neither did her mum. Probably something genetic along the way that's been passed down to her but it had me wondering.

 

[Viennese Furbabies]

I've known (about) more blind guinea pigs than deaf guinea pigs though some piggies' sense of hearing decreased with older age.

 

[Merab]

@Eriathwen has experience of deaf guinea pigs.
Merab was blind for the last couple of years of her life but it didn’t seem to affect her.

 

[Eriathwen]

Of all my deaf pigs ( I think ive had 8 now) that I'm aware of only 3 were born deaf, and 2 of those were/are lethal whites. I imagine deafness is more common than people think though as most people wouldn't notice, especially if they were born that way and so didn't experience any sudden behavioural changes. A lot of loud, extremely confident or deep sleeping "normal" piggies may well be deaf or hoh. It's only when those traits become new that it's noticed.

 

[A Guinea Pig]

My girl Cocoa had Calcifid Bulla Syndrome. Her lack of hearing was one of the first symptoms she developed. I don't believe it had any negative effect on her quality of life (and honesty probably just made it a lot more calming for her to take a nap). You likely would have noticed other health issues by now if she was born a lethal and have a handful of other medical symptoms if she had CBS. I wouldn't be concerned as long as you are weighing and health-checking her weekly.