Young degu with cataracts

[chloegreen]

I noticed cataracts developing in my young goo jerry's left eye two weeks back. Now his right eye has started to develop it He is not overweight, I believe he isn't diabetic considering his diet is controlled. I just wanted to see if anyone has any extra information on cataracts in degus. As far as I'm aware there isn't anything that can be done to treat it, and I'm worried that Jerry will be panicked by losing most or all of his eyesight

[deguconvert]

For the most part, they adjust amazingly well. You just have to keep the setup for your cage the same every time you clean and put things in. That way he will learn and know the layout and not have trouble. There is another form of cataracts, they are known as osmotic cataracts. Here, I have copied from another thread what our other global mod said about them.

Cataract Appearing Nov 24, 2015 at 1:24pm yasmin likes this.
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Post by moletteuk on Nov 24, 2015 at 1:24pm
The cataracts could be genetic, age related, or osmotic, the only ones you can do anything about are osmotic ones as carbohydrates and sugar in the diet can contribute to them forming. Both of the foods you are feeding contain significant carbs in the form of grains (and also the locust bean sugars), so it is worth switching them as much as you can for grainless ones and adding in more forage. Yasmin already linked you to our food chart, you will see there is versele laga Crispy (which isn't usually so well liked) and also JR Farm grainless guinea or grainless chinchilla that are worth trying (available from Zooplus). Most degus enjoy dried forage more than fresh, have a browse in the food section, for more ideas, or you can have a look at the food guide for more links deguworld.proboards.com/thread/16425/degu-feeding-guide You can really build up this side of their diet which is great for their general health so they are less reliant on pellets.


Read more: deguworld.proboards.com/search/results?where_board_subboard=26&captcha_id=captcha_search&what_at_least_one=osmatic+cataracts&who_only_made_by=0&display_as=0&search=Search#ixzz3xBiz6zZS

[uglibug]

Degus adapt really well, they rely heavily on scent for the most part so the lack of eyesight is not a huge problem. One of our girls was almost blind from about 3 months but it never affected her quality of life, she was as bouncy as the rest. Just be aware when moving or adding things that your goo cant see them and will sometimes walk into things if they have been moved.