scared half blind piggie, HELP ???

[guinea_gardiun]

I have a guinea pig called skip.She is my best friend and i have had her almost a year.She lives with my older female scamp.Skip is blind in one eye ( a defect she has had since birth) this often makes her very jumpy about things. I cuddle her every day but if there is the slighest upserspecting noise she jumps out of her skin !Also if i touch her while she is facing me with her bad eye she jumps. I love skippy and hate to see her like this does any body know how i can help her relax and stop being scared to peices ?

[PiggiePaws]

Before you enter the room, talk to her to let her know you're coming, that way she doesn't get startled. When you want to pet her, I would let her see and sniff your hand first, then gently stroke her.

[JD In Van]

Pigs are jumpy by nature and eye sight is the least of their senses. They use sound and smell more than anything else. All of her behaviors as you discribe them are normal for pigs - seeing or other wise.

[Cogni]

I agree with PiggiePaws and also JD. I have one jumpy piggy who I can't ever touch
unexpectedly or he literally jumps, and then runs. Move your hand slowly in front of your piggie's face (from the good eye side, in his case), and let him sniff. When I want to pet my Tufty, I do this. He used to not let anyone pet him at all, but now we can as long as he sees AND smells our hand first. No touch must ever come from behind.

[psmadden]

I also have a pig who is almost fully blind- my vet said not only to talk to them and all the great advice listed above- But also be sure to not make any major changes to the cage also, I used to like to rearrange hideys and the hay rack, but my vet said since she is blind it will confuse her less if I leave things uniform