Retinal Degeneration

spyturtle008

Post   » Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:55 pm


Hello Everyone,

My youngest piglet, Baby (appx. 4 years old), was diagnosed about 6 months ago with retinal degeneration. I noticed some time before that her iris seemed to be disintegrating, especially in her left eye. The prognosis is that it will continue to get worse (it has, picking up speed in the last few months), and that her retina might 'detach', which would be extremely painful and necessitate removal of the eye.

She is an inbred pig (uncle and dad were the same pig, as far as I can tell), and the vet suspects that is the cause. So far it does not seem to be bothering her / causing discomfort, and I'm hoping against hope that it will continue that way. But, since the left eye seems to be degenerating so quickly, I'm not holding my breath. And, the right iris is degenerating too -- I'm guessing she'd be okay without one eye, but without either? Ugh.

I haven't been able to find any information about this online, having done multiple searches in the Guinea Lynx archive and across the web, but maybe I'm just not hitting on the right search terms. So I thought I'd try to post. Has anyone experienced this before with one of their little ones? If so, what was the outcome?

Thanks in advance...

User avatar
Mum
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:11 am


While it sounds terrible to think of a guinea pig with no eyes at all, I have at least one here that doesn't see much - and I know of others that are almost blind (Sparkles N Daisy's girls).

While having no eyes at all would remove even light and dark shadows (that I think the blind ones I know of do see), I don't think it would be quite as bad as it sounds.

I hope you can find out some more information though - it must be very worrying.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:24 am


I don't know why but I would have guessed retinal degeneration would just result in blindness and not the loss of an eye.

That particular terminology has never been used on the board (so you would not have found anything). If you search using enucleation I think you'll find some helpful info.

User avatar
twofinepigs

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:37 am


In humans, as far as I know, detached retina is not painful, although if not repaired it will result in blindness. Its symptoms are vision problems, not pain. Blindness is certainly unfortunate, but I've sure read about blind pigs doing just fine.

Does anyone know why detached retina would be painful in pigs, and possibly require enucleation? It doesn't in humans. Are you sure this would be required?

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:45 am


Your photos are amazing. Here you go:

Image

Image

I wrote you that it reminded me of osseous something or other. I've posted about it but don't remember the name.

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 12:49 am


Ah, here, I found it for you. The eyes look somewhat similar. This is a link to one pic. There is a link in that post to another pig with a similar condition:

https://www.guinealynx.info/forums/viewt ... 053#562053

spyturtle008

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:52 am


Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts so far. My mind's a little more at ease... Although the vet who diagnosed her is by far the most cavy-savvy vet around and has done some amazing things with my little ones surgery-wise, he's also made a few comments here and there that lead me to believe he's better in the operating room than he is with some of the more general issues. I'm hopeful now that the worst that will happen is continued degeneration and maybe eventual blindness -- blindness I can handle, since they're not very well sighted anyway... The thought of her being in severe pain is much harder to take.

Speaking of which, the vet said that once the retina detatched, her eye would bulge and she would be in noticeable pain. I don't know why he said this or where he got the impression this might happen -- maybe he treated a pig in the past who had these same symptoms combined with glaucoma or something else (hopefully) unrelated.

Thanks again, Lynx, for hosting the pictures and directing me to the past threads. Much appreciated. As you all can see from the pictures, she has pea eye and her eyes have always been crustier than most. But otherwise, she's pretty healthy (knock wood). I'm still curious to hear from anyone else who might have experience with this, but thanks again to those who've replied so far and pointed out that a detached retina may not lead to enucleation.

spyturtle008

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 8:57 am


Oh, forgot to mention that the vet did say an option might be to try and reattach the retina surgically if/when it does detach. He also said it would be in the neighborhood of $4K. Given that I would like all my critters (and me!) to have a roof over our head and food in our bellies, I think I won't be taking that road, especially given the super low success rate that he mentioned!!!

User avatar
Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 9:26 am


There are veterinary opthamologists. They are MUCH more knowledgeable than most vets about eye problems. Swannie saw one for a problem her guinea pig had.

Blind pigs can get by pretty well. I would not go for this surgery either.

User avatar
rachelm

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 9:34 am


Those pictures are fantastic. Sorry I don't have anything consturctive to add.

User avatar
twofinepigs

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 9:50 am


spyturtle, I don't want to give the impression I know anything at all about retina detachment in animals. I was only wondering why it would be painful in animals when it isn't in humans. There may actually be some reason. I think a veterinary opthalmologist would be a good idea.

User avatar
lisam

Post   » Tue Jun 06, 2006 10:09 am


One of my horses had uveitus and eventually lost the sight in her eye. Her retina detached, and it kept hitting nerves in the eye and was extremely painful (you could tell by the way she'd jerk her head every few seconds). Her eye was removed.

Of course a horse's eye is much bigger than a guinea pig's!

Post Reply