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cataracts? please help!

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chloed

chloed

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I'm really worried about my guinea pig lulu, i got her from a pet shop and shes nearly 2 now, her eyes were always clear black but we have noticed they have started to get a bit cloudy, and they seem very cloudy now and I'm really worried. when i go to pick her up (once or more everyday always) she gets really scared and wont let me grab her, she never used to until now and she cant seem to find the food bowl but my other guinea pig Lola is fine. i think its cataracts but you guys are the experts so please help me! I'm booking her a vet appointment btw but I'm really worried :0 :(

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Don't be to worried but a vet appointment is a good ideara 2 year old guinea pig is very young for cataracts although it's not unheard of. I would have her checked for diabetes.

Approach her calmly and slowly, perhaps tap something when picking her up so she relates the tap with being lifted that may help.
 
It is around that age when many congenital cataracts manifest; that are the ones that are inherited. I have had several piggies develop them at that age; the last ones were a mother and daughter pair.

It is good that you are having her checked by a vet and it would be good to be able to exclude diabetes. You may find that the second eye often follows within weeks or months of the first eye.
http://www.guinealynx.info/eyes.html#cataracts
http://www.guinealynx.info/links.html#diabetes

Thankfully, piggies perk up again after an adjustment phase and can lead a perfectly normal life. You may have to add rails to any ramps you have and announce your presence by making deliberate noises and/or speaking as soon as you come into the room. Try to train your piggy as much as possible while she can still see to some extent.

I made a children's story out of one of my first cataract piggy's adventures. Mischief, another piggy that developed cataract in the second year of her life, even learned to follow my voice around the lawn over the distance of several yards and turn herself in by the simple guidance of me standing next to the run door and telling her whether she was going right or wrong!
http://www.theguineapigforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=33420
 
defo looks like cattaracts, abbysinians are prone to them but thankfully with selective breeding its been very much eliminated
 
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