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This is heteroptic bone formation isn’t it?

lauryn1289

lauryn1289

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Hi, so I took in this little boy (Eggs) last year for my other boy Ollie after his friends Bobby and Kip died within a couple weeks of eachother. I took him in from a situation where he was living in a shed on his own and basically told he was taking up too much space. I posted him here when I first got him because I was struggling to sex him, that was in Feb 2023 and some people here reckoned he was very young and maybe only 6-7 months so he’s still young.

I always noticed the white jagged rings around his eyes but never paid too much heed to them because I just thought it was part of his (unique I guess) eye anatomy, but last night I noticed two very faint little white slivers along the centre of his eyes that I knew weren’t hay pokes because I’ve had my fair share of hay pokes and he had no discharge, pain or squinting or ulceration and came across heteroptic bone formation and it seems to fit.

I added a photo of one of his eyes even though both have it, but the little greyish bit in the centre is definitely not reflection because I’ve looked at it under so many lighting conditions. Just wanted to get a second opinion on it.
 

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Freela said:
It looks like it. The good news is it isn't painful and guinea pigs don't rely on eyesight very much!
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Thanks for the second opinion! I panicked last night when I saw about it but thank god it isn’t hurting him or gonna hurt him. Even though I know they have pretty bad eyesight in general I still feel bad he’ll likely lose his eyesight soon when he’s not even 2 years old 😭
 
lauryn1289 said:
Thanks for the second opinion! I panicked last night when I saw about it but thank god it isn’t hurting him or gonna hurt him. Even though I know they have pretty bad eyesight in general I still feel bad he’ll likely lose his eyesight soon when he’s not even 2 years old 😭
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It's sad, but he's going to adjust just fine! I have never had a pig with this condition, but had a couple who developed really thick cataracts, and once they adjusted you really couldn't even tell they couldn't see!
 
lauryn1289 said:
Hi, so I took in this little boy (Eggs) last year for my other boy Ollie after his friends Bobby and Kip died within a couple weeks of eachother. I took him in from a situation where he was living in a shed on his own and basically told he was taking up too much space. I posted him here when I first got him because I was struggling to sex him, that was in Feb 2023 and some people here reckoned he was very young and maybe only 6-7 months so he’s still young.

I always noticed the white jagged rings around his eyes but never paid too much heed to them because I just thought it was part of his (unique I guess) eye anatomy, but last night I noticed two very faint little white slivers along the centre of his eyes that I knew weren’t hay pokes because I’ve had my fair share of hay pokes and he had no discharge, pain or squinting or ulceration and came across heteroptic bone formation and it seems to fit.

I added a photo of one of his eyes even though both have it, but the little greyish bit in the centre is definitely not reflection because I’ve looked at it under so many lighting conditions. Just wanted to get a second opinion on it.
Click to expand...

Hi

It looks like looks like bony tissue that has replaced eye tissue, yes; you may find more information when searching under osseous metaplasia ('bony tissue replacement').
It is very rare young for a piggy to get it (it can even happen in babies, just like cataracts), so I assume that there is likely a strong genetic disposition in play. It is not painful at all, just a bit unsightly and limiting the field of sight a touch. You can compare it to him having a localised patch of harmless different texture of skin on his body. I have had it in several older piggies of mine which is the not all that uncommon an occurrance.
But unlike cataracts, especially the more severe form of which I have had a number, it is not impeding his sight and the clarity of vision. Cataracts are more like an increasingly thick sheet of paper in front of the eyes; in the worst forms all a piggy can distinguish is dark and light and is basically blind for all practical purposes. But your boy will still be able to live a full and perfectly normal sighted life. ;)
Links - Eye Conditions - Guinea Lynx Records (includes picture of it in a baby's eye)

Here is my Maelog, who had it for about 3-4 years before dying aged 7 years (from something else); it never really bothered him.
IMG_3300_edited-1.jpg

I hope that this helps you?
 
Wiebke said:
Hi

It looks like looks like bony tissue that has replaced eye tissue, yet; you my find more information when searching under osseous metaplasia ('bony tissue replacement').
It is very rare young for a piggy to get it (it can even happen in babies, just like cataracts), so I assume that there is likely a strong genetic disposition in play. It is not painful at all, just a bit unsightly and limiting the field of sight a touch. You can compare to him having a localised patch of harmless different texture of skin on his body. I have had it in several older piggies of mine which is the not all that uncommon occurrance.
But unlike cataracts, especially the more severe form of which I have had a number, it is not impeding his sight and the clarity of vision. Cataracts are like an increasingly thick sheet of paper in front of the eyes; in the worst forms all a piggy can distinguish is dark and light. He will still be able to live a full and perfectly normal life. ;)
Links - Eye Conditions - Guinea Lynx Records (includes picture of it in a baby's eye)

Here is my Maelog, who had it for about 3-4 years before dying aged 7 years (from something else); it never really bothered him.
View attachment 249215

I hope that this helps you?
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for all this info! I was only concerned about his quality of life so I’m delighted it shouldn’t impact his much, he’s the sweetest little piggy.

Your Maelog was gorgeous ❤️
 
Freela said:
It's sad, but he's going to adjust just fine! I have never had a pig with this condition, but had a couple who developed really thick cataracts, and once they adjusted you really couldn't even tell they couldn't see!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the reassurance ❤️
 
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