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Conditions Blind and partially deaf

Kwright62

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When my husband and I adopted a friend for our guinea pig Venice, we didn't find out until later that evening that she was at least partially blind. She was the smallest baby guinea pig I'd ever had (My eighth; his first). We got her at petland and we've both agreed we will never buy from there again. She was probably born with her eye condition, and she was so young she couldn't properly digest solid food. She also didn't have a significant immune system, as evidence when she developed both a severe ear infection and resperatory infection.

I'd never had a guineapig that sick, she was emaciated, her nose crusted over, and she was so congested she was gasping for air and unable to make any noise.
We took her to the vet as soon as we could and she was put on antibiotics, by then her head was tilted from the ear infection (she could only turn left) and she was having eye spasms from brain damage (the infection had reached her brain).

This all sounds really horrible except that she survived. She's a few months old now, no resperatory infection, no ear infection, and she's grown.

The only thing she holds with her is her tilted head ( still turning left, and we suspect deaf in that ear), and we suspect brain damage, it seems she has to re-learn our scent all the time, also she gets overwhelmed easily, if she does get overwhelmed she'll start spasming until she's back in the cage, there's no calming her down. She's now fully blind, you can obviously see it, her eyes are completely white. We named her Lilly because of Monet's water lilly painting that he painted when he was blind.

My question now is does anyone have any tips for caring for a blind and partially deaf guinea pig? She runs from our hands when she's in the cage, but once you catch her she stretches, yawns and purrs. She's really sweet and we love her to death. Her cage mate Venice is very protective of her.

My concern is that she sits in one place all day unless she needs food or water, or unless she and Venice start running around. I worry that she's unhappy, and that she's excreting where she sits all day. Any advice? I want to give her the best life possible.​
 

Varcoda

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@Brada <- has adopted a piggy that is blind, and might be able to help you!
 

SophieBunny

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I have a horrible feeling your pig is what is known as a lethal white. There are some really helpful threads on here and on GuineaLynx about Lethals. https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7156 I know some members on here have experience with lethal piggies, in particular [MENTION=5]salana[/MENTION] Hopefully someone who has experience can help you further. If you have a look around, I'm sure you will find some information. Good luck.
 

Wildcavy

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One of our pigs, Picckalo, is blind, has low levels of hearing, and is partially paralyzed down his left side from severe neglect and malnutrition. He also has arthritis. We got him from the pound and he was in poor condition. We thought he was mute, too, but it turned out that he was just terrified all of the time. After 3 weeks, he wheeked for us after never having even chutted.

He's a sleek brindle American / sheltie cross now, and very happy.

My husband deserves the credit for the turnaround. He would hold Picckalo and talk to him for increasing periods of time. Picckalo loved it and my husband is still his pig. Picckalo didn't understand good food, and my husband would offer him a variety on his chest until he started sampling it and got his preferences sorted.

He now has a cavy partner, Grace, who is missing an eye but is otherwise typically developed.

We keep the water bottles, hay, and cozies in the same areas and do not vary it. Picckalo's sense of smell is just fine, and he senses vibrations as well. He has some hearing, but for example in the morning he is the last to wheek because he sleeps dead asleep -- none of the others are like that. So sometimes I have to wiggle his tunnel or hidey and then he wakes up and growls at me and snatches his salad!

We have to get his teeth floated periodically because of the partial paralysis and he gets pain meds for the arthritis.

It took a lot longer -- several weeks -- for him to come around at all, and months more to be happy with all of us, but he's comfortable now with Grace in a 2x6 C&C, so even the size is fine. But we as we increased the cage size, we kept all of the cozies, water bottles, etc. in the same relative locations, and put him in front of them.

He has a great life, really, and I could tell stories about him all day. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can help.

Oh -- also I should add that Picckalo will pee in place and poo in place when he's deep alseep, and I have to rotate his tunnels, cozies, and pee pads frequently. We go "poo-berry" picking in his cage more often than the others. So have an extra supply of pee pads and hideys for your piggy and she'll stay dry. We are also careful about monitoring him for any sign of a UTI.
 

SophieBunny

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I have a horrible feeling your pig is what is known as a lethal white. There are some really helpful threads on here and on GuineaLynx about Lethals. https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7156 I know some members on here have experience with lethal piggies, in particular @salana Hopefully someone who has experience can help you further. If you have a look around, I'm sure you will find some information. Good luck.

I read your post wrong, you said that your pig's eye was completely white, I misread that as your pig was completely white. Lilly isn't a lethal. Sorry for any confusion.
 

Kwright62

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I'm concerned about a UTI, she's friendly and loves being held most of the time unless she gets overwhelmed, I think that's due to the brain damage that we suspect she has. I try to keep the cage clean but it seems inevitable that she will get some kind of infection. Her food and water stays in the same place, and she keeps herself in a spot where she knows where everything is in relation.
 

Wildcavy

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I'm concerned about a UTI, she's friendly and loves being held most of the time unless she gets overwhelmed, I think that's due to the brain damage that we suspect she has. I try to keep the cage clean but it seems inevitable that she will get some kind of infection. Her food and water stays in the same place, and she keeps herself in a spot where she knows where everything is in relation.

For Picckalo, part of his issue was that he has such bad arthritis in his stifles that it was hard to lift his bum, which was compounded by the left lateral partial paralysis. The pain meds knocked out the arthritis issue for the most part. But he got a couple of UTIs at first, and I can't definitively tell you whether it was him sitting in his pee, but we are vigilant about any symptoms.

I have a couple of brain-damaged gerbils (rescued from a lab that was shut down), but none of our rescue pigs seem to have any similar neurological issues. The big thing is really observing her, I mean like obsessively for awhile, to get to know her cues. You probably are already doing that if you are the nervous piggy parent I can be, but it will help because you will get to know the subtle things that are normal or aren't.

Grace, who is missing an eye from being dropped on her head by her prior owner, has a twitch now and then that we thought was a brain injury but the vet thinks is more related to the vision/perception issues and is more of a habit or tic. If another of our pigs did that, I'd be very concerned.

Oh, and weigh weigh weigh. We headed off a couple of illnesses that way, because Picckalo's weight started dropping (one of which was a UTI).

She may venture out after awhile, and push her comfort zone. Picckalo stayed in the same 18inch by 18inch space for a week, the size of the cage he was in at the pound, and after that wouldn't go beyond a 2x2 C&C space for weeks.

While I know that you got her from a pet store, I do want to thank you for persisting and insisting on giving her the best life possible, instead of sending her back.

Has the vet done a thorough check on her teeth?
 

Kwright62

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The vet did a thorough investigation of the problem, I don't remember if she specifically checked her teeth (although I'm sure she did) but Lilly lets me check. She eats just fine. In the future I want to rescue guinea pigs. The cavvy I had before these two I rescued from a friend's friend who kept her in the basement, barely feeding her, not clipping her nails ( longest nails I've ever seen). She didn't even have a name. When I took her she wasn't socialized, but she became very social and I became very close to her.
 

piggi_zone

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I wanted to say that is a great piggy pic
 

Kwright62

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Thank you! That is one of her baby pictures, she's bigger than that now =)
 
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