My sow Dolly has only just turned 1 year old and already has a big cataract on her left eye, it developed very quickly, it only took a few days! I'm not that concerned because I know guinea pigs, especially young ones adapt with this very well and live normal lives just like a full sighted piggy.
She can have a panic attack and run when I go to pick her up but once in my arms she's very sweet. I've never had a piggy with this before, if there is anything I need to know, or any tips to help her manage better would be great... thanks.
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Hi!
Blindness is not a big problem in guinea pigs, as it is one of their weaker senses. I have and have had a number of piggies with both congenital and old age cataracts over the years and had a dedicated cataract group at one time, some of them very advanced.
What you can do:
- guinea pigs don't like being approached from their blind side and they do not like being surprised.
Make yourself known, train them to come into a pick-up conveyance and create a pick-up ritual.
- they follow scent spoors. You can change the layout in a cage and even have ramps provided that you do not wipe all scent off when you make changes and rather do them some slightly soiled bedding and uncleaned hard furnishings. Shallow ramps are still fine as long as they have a little side rail and are covered with a material that hold scent well, like a bit of carpet. Piggies gone blind on both eyes will rebuild a mental map of their territory by smell, touch and sound.
- you can train piggies to come to you following your voice and come to you over quite a distance. My Mischief could return into her run from free-roaming in the garden over the distance of several years by me standing next to the entrance and giving her constant vocal updates whether she was going right not not. I would pick her up only if she veered off and failed to reorientate herself.
- Don't mollicoddle blind piggies; the more you challenge them, the more they will be able to do. Try to replace visual clues by scented ones to help them, especially when they develop cataracts in both eyes, as most do.
Here is a little video of my then 7 years old Mali, who was blind from old age cataracts, still doing her zoomies by following her or other piggies spoors. She lived until 8 years and had yet another zoomies loop only days before she suddenly passed away from acute heart failure. Blindness never stopped her from having fun! She was the last survivor of my formidable cataract group sows.
