Cataract? Glaucoma? My little PT girl

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Aida

Aida

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2011
Messages
2,323
Location
Florida
Hey all,
This morning, as I was rushing out the door, I noticed that Matilda has a white, cloudy spot on her eye. I say "spot", but it is actually much bigger than most cataracts I've seen on here. It is in the very center of the eye, on only one. Now I'm worrying over her second eye too. As hard as I tried, I couldn't for the life of me take a picture- she would NOT hold still, and the only one I got was a blurry one from an angle where you can see only a part.

Either way, it looks like this size about, and appeared very quickly:
http://ratguide.com/health/figures/imag ... taract.jpg

Her eye is not red, swollen, or bulging.
 
When Curley's eyes got like that they told us he had went blind do to the PT. Hope that is not the case for your baby. In our case that explained by he would only stay in one corner of the cage among other things.
 
She's still acting very normal, and it is only on one eye.
Can she still see out of it? Was this caused by the PT, dspch?
I'm truthfully more worried about it being a horrible glaucoma than simple blindness- I know they can adapt to that....
 
Could you get a picture of her eye?

The fact that it's not bulgy right now is a good sign. I recently had to get one of my girls put to sleep as an emergency when she had glaucoma (appeard overnight but she had a variety of other problems), her eye looked horrendous all of a sudden.

It may well just be a cataract. It's unlikely that she can see out of the eye now but they do adjust really well so I wouldn't worry about the loss of sight. :)
 
I'm at school at the moment Rachel. I tried this morning and she wouldn't hold still at all, hopefully I'm remembering it worse than it was-- I'm a nervous wreck!

Pictures this afternoon.
And oh no, your girl had to be PTS because of it?! T_T
 
Aida said:
I'm at school at the moment Rachel. I tried this morning and she wouldn't hold still at all, hopefully I'm remembering it worse than it was-- I'm a nervous wreck!

Pictures this afternoon.
And oh no, your girl had to be PTS because of it?! T_T
Click to expand...

Sorry, I didn't mean to panic you. Sage was an older girl and she'd had eye issues for a few months so that's why she then developed Glaucoma. When she did though it appeared really badly all of a sudden, your girl definitely doesn't sound the same as that :) Sage's eye was really bulging, there's no way we could leave her.

Catarcts are really common with ratties so fingers crossed it's that and won't cause her any bother.
 
It looks like your picture link is not working for me right now, any chance you can post it again?

Your description reminds me of my PT girl Abby. This is her on November 1
Nov1_zpsf0c95ac4.jpg

Note the size of her left eye which also has a white cataract under the lens. This was when the swelling was bad. I dont have a recent picture of the swelling but it has gone down to look like this now
Oct23_zps2894012e.jpg

What I have been doing is watching the size of the eye. The cataract itself is fine, she developed that a while ago, before she started showing PT symptoms. The swelling started when she started showing PT symptoms. I have been managing it with dex to keep the swelling down and so far things have been working. Today, the swelling in her eye is stable and the vet says the eye looks ok still.

Does your girl have the swelling like Abby has? Or just the cataract?
To get a good picture of her, try using a treat or something to get her to sit still, then take a few pictures. Use something she can't resist.
 
Thanks for your help guys. I just called my mom, and she says that her eyes look perfectly fine... maybe it was just a healing scratch, then?

Crumbilina, her eyes do.swell sometimes, but it's BOTH. They seem just slightly off-normal, but still in the "bruxing" range, teehee.
I will look extra closely and take a picture or video when I get home, hopefully it won't come back.
 
Aida said:
She's still acting very normal, and it is only on one eye.
Can she still see out of it? Was this caused by the PT, dspch?
I'm truthfully more worried about it being a horrible glaucoma than simple blindness- I know they can adapt to that....
Click to expand...


His eye thing started first and it looked like a white line through one of his eyes and his eye wasn't shining anymore. The one vet at first said it was nothing, then it was a scratch. When we finally got him to a competent exotic vet he said he was blind which was caused from the PT - swelling in the brain. That explained to us way he wouldn't leave the bottom of the cage, why he stayed in one corner, why he fell off the couch - twice, why he fell in his food dish, and other stuff like that. He couldn't see anything and he had no use of his upper extremities. That is when we choose to have him PTS - he had also stopped eating and drinking.
 
dspch911 said:
Aida said:
She's still acting very normal, and it is only on one eye.
Can she still see out of it? Was this caused by the PT, dspch?
I'm truthfully more worried about it being a horrible glaucoma than simple blindness- I know they can adapt to that....
Click to expand...


His eye thing started first and it looked like a white line through one of his eyes and his eye wasn't shining anymore. The one vet at first said it was nothing, then it was a scratch. When we finally got him to a competent exotic vet he said he was blind which was caused from the PT - swelling in the brain. That explained to us way he wouldn't leave the bottom of the cage, why he stayed in one corner, why he fell off the couch - twice, why he fell in his food dish, and other stuff like that. He couldn't see anything and he had no use of his upper extremities. That is when we choose to have him PTS - he had also stopped eating and drinking.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry, that is very sad. :(

I got home and there is definitely something there. Her eyes seem to bulge a bit, and I can juuuuuuuuuuuuuust barely see a white spot in the middle of her right eye-- so barely I have to turn her around multiple times to even get a glimpse. I will get a video, but it will take forever to upload.
 
It could be a cataract, that's not uncommon with age. Also, a bulging eye is not uncommon with PT. But a bulging eye with something in it, that could be an infection. Can you smell her eye? Does it smell foul?

I thought I heard snoring in the video. :giggle:
 
Jorats, her eye has absolutely no scent.

I am truly so confused right now. One minute it seems to be bulging, sometimes it bulges but both bulge, sometimes I see absolutely nothing, and sometimes I see a pin-head sized white cloudy spot right in the very middle of her eye. But there is for sure no smell, no discharge, or any pain. I am pretty sure she can see out of it-- does anyone know how I can check this? I tried slowly moving my finger toward the problem eye and she didn't really react, but neither did she with her other eye. I do not move it close enough to touch.

And LOL Jorats, I was hoping no one would notice!!!!
Mom sleeping in my room. xD
 
I was able to get a picture by shining my phone camera light directly in her eye- you can see it:
n4dslv.jpg

I'm NOT going crazy!!!
 
Hmm.
Anyone know what this could be?
I sent the pictures to my vet. If no reply by Friday, I will bring her in Saturday.
 
It looks like it might just be a cataract.

I would watch it, make sure the eye isn't bulgy or swelling a whole lot and if it does, take her to the vet.
You could take her to the vet now, but I don't think they can really do anything. It would just be for your peace of mind. When I took Abby in (she had to go for a URI anyway) the vet looked at her eye, said everything looked ok and really that was it.

She looks happy in the video :)

For info and other pics, take a look at rat guide:
http://ratguide.com/health/eyes/cataracts.php
 
Thanks Crumbilina. Her eye is looking fine today, so I'm guessing the PT is just causing crap to show up- like that bulging which I saw for maybe a day. Gosh, I'm really trying to get that bromo soon.

dspch, her eyes are perfectly shiny all throughout, it's just that one spot...
 

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