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blind guinea pig

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hoghig

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Hi,

Before I post my question, I thought I would put a little about myself first...hope that's ok....

I have had guinea pigs for years, I used to breed Rex's many years ago but stopped when I found that I couldn't re home them as I felt bad about selling my 'babies'. Up until last week I only had one little piggy left, a neutered crested boy. Me and my husband have very recently moved house to a reasonable sized farm house with over an acre of land and have decided to have a smallholding and have recently got some chickens. We have a cattle market auction just down the road from us and we tend to go there on the odd weekend, its a bit like a carboot, but in an auction style, they normally have chickens and ducks for auction, but thats it for animals, but the weekend before last they had a guinea pig, in a little box all on her own...I decided as soon as I saw her I had to have her...she looked absolutely terrified! After I brought her home I honestly wasn't sure if she would make it, but I gave her as much hay/carrots/cucumber/greens she could possibly eat and left her to it as I didn't want to stress her out anymore on her first day thankfully overnight most of it was gone :-) The next day I decided to give her a proper go over to see if she was ok, although she was eating properly she didn't look right, when I put her into her hutch there was no scrabbling to get in there, she just stayed in my hands until her feet were on the floor and then she ran off, her eyes looked strange, very cloudy like there was an infection so I thought I would take her to the vets the next day. In my appointment the vet confirmed my suspicions that she was indeed blind and that she had most likely been blind her whole life (all 12 weeks of it). I will finally get to the point of my post now...as I have no experience at all with a blind guinea pig...is there anything extra I should be doing with her...I'm talking to her loads when I go out to see her, so that she gets used to my voice and hopefully starts to associate me with food, she's getting loads of veggies (is there anything extra I should give her?), she doesn't seem to have drunk much, but her poos don't look dehydrated so she must be getting enough water, I've been giving her a fair amount of cucumber which she seems to love.

I want to put her in with my neutered male asap but the weather has been shocking and we've had snow all day today and I want to introduce them in my run.

Sorry to have gone on, I just wanted to give you an idea of my situation/experience before asking the question.

Thanks in advance!
 
We have a blind piggie Megan.

Always keep her hidey, food, water and hay in the same places in her cage/hutch. This will help her feel comfortable and orientated.
Does she have a Water bottle or bowl? Make sure if it is a bottle she knows where it is. Megan had a bowl as she cant use a bottle, but this coud be more because of her special needs rather than blindness. But please check...
 
Firstly, thank you for giving this special girl a forever home :).

I would maybe get her used to the water bottle by holding her on your lap & letting her try it out so she knows what it is for. If you rub a bit of cucumber on the end of the spout, she will be attracted by the smell & soon work out where her water is in the cage. As above, I would make sure to keep everything in the same places in her enclosure. I would talk to her as you approach & get her really used to your voice & your smell, sounds like you are doing this anyway.

The introduction to your other pig may be a little more stressful for her than an introduction for a seeing piggie so maybe have them in enclosures next to each other for a little while so she can get used to his sounds & smells before introducing them.

Please do let us know how she gets on. Does she have a name?

Best wishes,

shiny :)
 
Hi,

Thank you for your replies! She has a water bottle and I hadn't thought of rubbing the end of it with cucumber, I will definitely try that today! Her name is Peppa :-) They are next to each other at the moment and Pip (my male) is very chatty...especially when he hears me coming :-) I wasn't sure whether it would be better to introduce them sooner rather than later to avoid her settling in and then being moved again.

I don't think she is used to human contact at all, as when I am holding her she won't eat anything I put in front of her and is very nervous, so I have been avoiding stressing her out any more than I absolutely have to, I will certainly try the water bottle on my lap though.

I made the mistake of going there again this weekend...I am now banned for the time being by my husband as I came home with three more piggies! I couldn't stand the way people were just picking them up and inspecting to see if they would be good 'breeding stock'. I've brought home a boy and a girl (who were in the same box!) girl is pregnant, so I have left them together for now as they are both pretty nervous, need to get the boy neutered asap so he can have a female companion, poor little thing has had most of his ears chewed off from wherever he has come from! Both have himi in them, boy more than the girl, he is also Abyssinian, the girl is smooth haired. I brought another little girl home as well, who has mites, so she is being kept away from the others whilst I'm treating her. I think she is tri coloured agouti (If that exists?!?!) she is dark brown agouti on her face and bum and golden/white in the middle. I'm no good with what breeds they are, lol! I need to name them as well...I'm useless with names, all the names I think of, I've already used in the past!

Eventually when we are settled in here I would like to start a guinea rescue...we both work from home, so have the time, we have over an acre of land so have plenty of grass and have got soooo many sheds which were here from the previous owner, so hubby is going to convert a couple of them for my use :-)

Thanks again!

Katie
 
Oh dear, the auction sounds an awful place :(. Maybe have a word with your local RSPCA inspector to see if they know guineas are being sold like this?

I have found that young or nervous guineas don't like to eat sitting on us until they get a lot more relaxed, it does take time. If she likes cucumber, I would try the rubbing on the water spout trick, I learned it from some very clever hamster people for blind hamsters :)

Good luck with all your piggies. I hope the babies will be ok...
 
I thought I would do a quick update on Peppa pig :-)

I put her in with my neutered boy today Pip, thought I'd make the most of a mild dry day and so far so good! I hadn't heard Peppa make any noises before today, but she's been talking to Pip today and both of them have been popcorning...lots! She seems really happy. I braved putting them into a hutch together a few hours ago as they'd been fine in the run, used all of Peppas things so that they would smell the same and she seems to have settled in really well and seems to have taken to Pip very quickly, she's following him around a lot now. I'm checking on them every 10-15 mins, but they've been out eating together and snuggled having a nap together so its all looking good!

The other two girlies I mentioned in my previous post (now named Fudge and Nutmeg) are going to the vets tomorrow to get them checked over, they seem to have settled in nicely as well :-) Nutmeg enjoys sitting on my lap enjoying some veg, Fudge still isn't too sure, but she's having a good sniff at it when I put it in front of her, so I'm sure she will in time.

Katie
 
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