Shiloe's Medical Thread. Please help!

[dgarriques]

I am so worried. My girls so far (knock on wood) have been healty and happy. Today while feeding them all I saw something wrong with Shiloes left eye. I did not notice it yesterday but it could have been there and I missed it as I had on different lighting in the room.

Here is a picture. My sweet Shiloe. Is she going Blind? Is it an injury?



This is the bad eye. It doesnt look like anything is in there, just they eye changing color. It has a light grey or blueish tint on the left Eye.

This is her right eye.

Now here is a closer look at her eye. I hope she will be ok.

[sus4rabbitsnpigs]

How old is she? A vet would probably be able to tell you for sure. It looks like a cataract developing. Not like the hay pokes/injuries I've seen - no cloudiness.

[dgarriques]

Shiloe is 1.5 yrs old. Oh how awful. What causes that and can it be fixed?

She does like to hide inside the hay bin so I cant find her.

[Lynx]

The eye looks healthy but with an area of cloudiness. It doesn't quite look like a cataract (if it were, you could read about diabetes, a likely cause). To tell you the truth, I have no idea what might be wrong with her eye. Does it look at all inflamed? Like there might be an injury of any kind? From here, it doesn't seem so.

You can check the eye page. A vet might be able to provide some info for you. Some eye conditions one can't really do anything about.

[Nurgle]

My Oreo has developed these, as did Streak. My vet said they are cataracts. If this is a sudden thing, though, or if it gets worse quickly (sudden can be relative, as in it was developing and all of a sudden it was obvious enough to be noticed... this happens to me a lot!) it may be an infection.

But it doesn't look like an injury to me; it appears to be too deep. Injuries turn the surface of the eye white, but it is very obviously on the surface. This looks like the surface is clear, but there is cloudiness deeper in. If this isn't true, then to the vet you go!

[dgarriques]

No it doesn't look inflamed and she doesnt act like it hurts her. No excessive eye watering either. I don't see any injury but then I am not sure what to look for.

Do you think I should get her to a vet as soon as possible?

[Nurgle]

Lynx, I think it is the surface roundess of the eye throwing off perspective. It looks like the cloudiness is ofset, but it really isn't. When I took pictures of Oreo or Streak, the same thing happened, but if you were holding them you could see that what it was was a cloudy lens under a perfectly clear surface dome, so when you looked at it from any angle but straight-on, it looked offset.

[sus4rabbitsnpigs]

Is she related to any of your other pigs? It may be genetics if it is a cataract. You may want to search the forums.

Does she startle easily or is she acting differently?

[Nurgle]

dgarriques, it is up to you. Me, personally, I would watch it for a few days, maybe even take day-to-day pictures. If it is getting rapidly worse, then yes. If you wake up in the morning and it is all white, take her in definitely, but otherwise I would wait for either a wellness checkup or regular office hours.

But, it would depend on if it looks like what I have dealt with before, or was something new. Your comfort level, and so on. If you are really worried, take her in. Better to be safe than sorry.

[dgarriques]

No she doesn't act any different at all. Yes she is related to Somer (the Mom) and Savannah (Sister).

I didn't notice anything wrong with their eyes.

[dgarriques]

Nurgle I will do as you mentioned. I will watch it closely and if it changes I will get her right in to vet.

IF it were an eye poke (say from hay etc) would it clear up on it's own?

[Lynx]

Nina got some cloudiness in her eye that I figured was cataracts. What I remember though is that it did not have defined margins. I think it's the defined margins that kind of confuse me.

[sus4rabbitsnpigs]

Usually the vet does an eye stain. Gentacin really helps if it is an eye injury. It doesn't look like a poke to me, but a vet can probably assess better.

[dgarriques]

If it is a cataract will she just go blind in that eye? Is it painful?

[Lynx]

Cataracts aren't painful, far as I know. I think her vision would be impared. She should be able to get around fine though.

[Barbara Osborn]

Sadie's eyes are like that. She has never been officially diagnosed but she is pretty much sightless.

She sure gets around though when she wants to. She scampers up to the 3rd floor and navigates all those ramps as well as the younger pigs.

[Nurgle]

An eye poke needs looked at, and eye antibiotics (usually as drops or an ointment).

I don't think pigs have great vision to start with, and cataracts aren't painful.

[Josephine]

That is inside the eye. It does appear to be a clouded lens AKA a cataract. Yes, it impairs the vision. No it doesn't seem to bother them much.

The main causes of cataracts are that they can be genetic, age-related, or secondary to diabetes. You definitely should do a blood glucose/urine glucose if you are wanting to know about that. Diabetes can and should be treated.

Some other concerns include the tendency of the eye to develop uveitis (more chronic overall inflammation) and even glaucoma after a cataract has formed. A good eye exam can include pressure readings taken with a tonometer or tonopen to check for glaucoma, which is extremely painful. Uveitis is probably irritating to some lesser degree than glaucoma. There are meds to treat both conditions. Uncontrolled glaucoma usually leads to enucleation or removal of the eye.

I really don't mean to panic you, since it could just be a fairly quiet cataract, but I want you to be prepared in case the eye declines. Early detection and treatment go a long ways. It saddens me to see animals with glaucoma that the owners left for months before trying to get treatment. I can't imagine the pain.

[Josephine]

Oh, I did want to say a lot with eye things has to do with the location of the problem. Some, like cataracts or glaucoma are inside the eye. Some are on the corneal surface like injuries, ulcers, and osseous choriostomas. All may be defined by owners as "cloudy" eyes.

[dgarriques]

Thank you all. I will watch her a couple days and if it looks worse or changes I will rush her out to the vet. She is not losing weight and is about 3 lbs now. She is eating, drinking fine and going to the bathroom even better (as normal).

They eye when I stare into it (she must think I am nuts) looks to me (the Non expert) almost like it is changing colors. Not cloudy looking to me. So thank goodness for you all that know such things. When I gently rubbed over the eye (closed) she did not act like anything hurt.

She was more upset with me that I saw it duiring dinner time and took her away from her food. She was worried the others would eat it all. Ha Ha.

Now Josephine I do have a question, you said:

You definitely should do a blood glucose/urine glucose if you are wanting to know about that.

How do I do that or do I have to have a vet do that?