Very slight cloudiness in eye

[StardustEcho]

Hi, I was just feeding my pigs today when I noticed a very small cloudy spot in one of my older piggies eyes. I've attempted to take photos but she's too interested in the camera for them to be great. The lighting is also pretty bad. Nevertheless, here they are. It's a tiny spot in the centre of her eye.




She's estimated to be around 3, so my assumption is this could be cataracts but I'd rather get the opinion of a vet. The issue being that I can't get a regular vet appointment till at the earliest Monday/Tuesday morning. She doesn't seem bothered at all by it, no itching or redness and she's just going about her day as usual. I know how quickly things can progress in guinea pigs though and wanted opinions of whether this was worth an out-of-hours vet? The issues being the cost and the fact it's a different vets and I have no idea of their guinea pig knowledge/experience. Thoughts?

 

[Wiebke]

Hi, I was just feeding my pigs today when I noticed a very small cloudy spot in one of my older piggies eyes. I've attempted to take photos but she's too interested in the camera for them to be great. The lighting is also pretty bad. Nevertheless, here they are. It's a tiny spot in the centre of her eye.

View attachment 186665
View attachment 186666

She's estimated to be around 3, so my assumption is this could be cataracts but I'd rather get the opinion of a vet. The issue being that I can't get a regular vet appointment till at the earliest Monday/Tuesday morning. She doesn't seem bothered at all by it, no itching or redness and she's just going about her day as usual. I know how quickly things can progress in guinea pigs though and wanted opinions of whether this was worth an out-of-hours vet? The issues being the cost and the fact it's a different vets and I have no idea of their guinea pig knowledge/experience. Thoughts?

Hi!

Please take a deep breath and calm down.

As this is not an eye infection, please have it checked whenever convenient but it is by no means urgent.

Any general vet can diagnose a cataract (they look somewhat like an increasingly merging cluster of galaxies) or nuclear sclerosis (when the whole lens is going foggy evenly) as guinea pig eyes not different to those of other common pets and treat any eye infections since the medication is the same used for cats and dogs.

Some cataracts and nuclear sclerosis can come on and develop very quickly but all you are looking for is vet's confirmation since there is sadly no treatment/op for them in guinea pigs. The piggies themselves will adapt well after a transition period. Unlike humans, eyesight is not their strongest sense. The other senses will compensate and allow them to lead a perfectly normal life, as I can assure you, having had and adopted a fair number of cataract piggies.

 

[StardustEcho]

Hi,

Thanks very much for your response. I appreciate the assurance that it’s not too urgent and she’s okay. I’m a fairly new owner and I love my piggies so much already. Just don’t want to miss any health issues.

I’ll phone up the vets on Monday and see when they can next fit her in then. Not holding out hope it’ll be anytime soon since I know they’re exceptionally busy at the moment.

Thank you again!

 

[Tigermoth]

That’s how Timmy’s started. I have to confess I haven’t had him diagnosed at the vet, it was very obvious. He has them on both sides now but they progressed really quickly, over a few weeks. He isn’t bothered by them although he can be a bit pathetic when he goes to the wrong side of the cage and stands begging for veggies at the wall . He is much older than your little one at 7 and I’m pretty sure his hearing has largely gone too.

 

[Wiebke]

Hi,

Thanks very much for your response. I appreciate the assurance that it’s not too urgent and she’s okay. I’m a fairly new owner and I love my piggies so much already. Just don’t want to miss any health issues.

I’ll phone up the vets on Monday and see when they can next fit her in then. Not holding out hope it’ll be anytime soon since I know they’re exceptionally busy at the moment.

Thank you again!

The biggest mistake to make with cataract/blind piggies is to wrap them in cotton wool. The more you challenge them to the edge of their ability, the more they can push it and the more normal and enriched life they can live.

My Mischief was still able to jump on top of their hut for begging despite being virtually blind. she also had to rebuild her mental map with her other senses but she could free roam in the garden (under my supervision of course) and even turn herself into their walk-in run over the distance of several yards as long as I stood next to the entrance flap and gave her a constant vocal up-to-date whether she was on course or not. I would only go and pick her up if she got lost and could not re-orient herself. She also worked out by sniffing out the opening how to sneak into a hay bag. And then how to topple an opened hay bag, sneak in and have a nap, giving my poor husband a near heart attack when he couldn't find her! She was well named...
My 7 year old Mali created her own arthritic waddle-zoomies loops via following and reinforcing a scent spoor. She laid a last new one only 3 days (and had great fun with it) before she passed away at 8 years... Her group of cataract sows had a shallow ramp with a carpet cut off (good for grip and retaining scent) and a shallow rim; but as they just followed the scent spoor up and down, I never had an accident.

Yours is nowhere near that level yet...