Sweet Pea is blind?

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Steph

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2014
Messages
432
Location
Maryland, USA
So Sweet Pea is my female PEW. Probably about a year old now. And she's never been able to see very well. But I think she's gone almost completely blind at this point.... Today my girlfriend watched her walk about 2 or 3 times off the ledge in her cage. Where she walks off there is a lava ledge to get to her favorite hammock. But I don't think she can see how far away it is and that's why she is falling...
I checked her eyes to make sure I couldn't see any sort of scratches or anything. All I can see are possible cataracts?... She doesn't seem too bothered by it. And is just as active as ever. Should I be concerned?
Gonna lower her shelves the next cage cleaning... But other than that I don't know there is much I can do...
 
Just make her cage as safe as possible from falls. One of my rats is blind but she never falls. She has been blind since she was six weeks old though, so is completely used to it. Hopefully you will find she falls less and less as she becomes accustomed to using her other senses, especially her nose and whiskers.
 
Thank you Joanne. I think she can still see a little bit cuz she knows where I am in a room. But I think all she is seeing is probably blurry shapes. And she can't perceive distance... She ran full force into my leg yesterday when she was out for play time.
As soon as I finish my school work today I'm gonna move our packing boxes out of the way and hopefully be able to clean and adjust their cage to better accommodate her.
 
Rats have poor eye site and mainly depend on their other senses so she should be fine once she adjusts.
One of my older girls became blind from cataracts and she adjusted so well that I only knew because the vet noticed

As Joanne mentioned, just try to make her environment safe for her as she adjusts
Perhaps hanging hammocks so that if she falls off a ledge there will be a hammock to catch her
 
Like mentioned, rats rarely rely on sight, they use their sense of smell and touch (whiskers) to navigate. I would keep a close eye on her, maybe check her breathing and also check for any slight head tilt in case she is having a balance issue which could mean ear infection.
My mom had a rat who was born with no eyes and nothing stopped him. He ran just as fast as the others and ruled the roost.
 
Back
Top