[Gpdd] HEALTH Blindness

[Penny Charlesworth]

Julie,

Blindness is not uncommon in guinea pigs and I have had several Piggyfriends who either arrived here that way or went blind. This did not cause them any problems and they ran around with their friends just the same as a sighted piggy.

A cloudy eye can be a sign of an injury such as a hay poke, which causes the eye to go a milky colour while it heals.

Often a piggy with a cataract in one eye eventually develops one in the other eye but it is nothing to worry about. Their eyesight is poor to begin with and they cope very well. My Halloween has cataracts but his ears tell him when the food is arriving and his nose tells him where it is. It doesn't stop him from chatting up the girls in the next door pen or from climbing the front of his pen for a cuddle.

Blindness can be congenital but with a rescued piggy we seldom know their parentage. I once adopted a blind, pregnant piggy and her mate. One of her sons was born blind and one daughter became blind after a couple of years. Mum and the blind daughter always followed the sighted daughter around and the blind son followed his father. I called them my seeing-eye piggies.

If you are worried you could always get Donald checked out at the vets.

A big piggy welcome to Joey and Kimba. Well done for adopting two more little boys.

Penny and the Piggyfriends.