Blind degu

[teemu]

So, I have not talked much about Kaneli here at all. This has been partially because there really hasn't been any kind of a notable change in any direction. She has been here for well over half a year now, but seems very, very set in her more problematic behaviors (food aggression, outright and notable aggression against any other degu, generally not being very sociable).

I've been trying to manage it and slowly build tolerances, but it's become clear that this is not happening. Lately, I've been assessing her a lot, trying to find some explanation for this, and it's started to become apparent that she is almost completely blind. She notices movement, just barely, if it's high enough, and slow enough. When she hears me rustling the food bag and comes look, she does not see where my hand is is I offer it through the cage bars. Instead, she comes to my general location, and then very slowly starts triangulating for it by moving her nose along the bars, towards I assume some really vague shape.

I know that she's not totally blind mostly from the fact that she seems to notice if a person is standing nearby, even when it's not by sound. But she is practically speaking completely blind for all purposes.

This basically explains everything with her. She's absolutely terrified of the outside world because she has no idea what's going on. She becomes immediately hostile if there's any other degus because she feels totally vulnerable. And when she has food, she's probably just totally afraid of any movement at all because she can't know whether it's another degu or something else. Now it also makes sense why she's often freaked out if I have to adjust the blanket that covers the space between her and Pipari and Pulla's cage, and other such things. And also probably why she's so wary because she can hear other degus nearby but has absolutely no idea where they are or what they are doing.

So I'm wondering, does anyone have experience managing a blind degu? I'd like to make sure her living conditions are as good as possible, and possibly improve her situation, but she is very, very hard to manage in the sense of trying to integrate her, or do anything different or new, since she has no idea what's going on and is scared and angry.

(It's not diabetes, at least. She's young and has no notable abnormalities in the eyes. So I think it's probably something she was born with. This may explain why she became really difficult after her sister's death and was given away. I can't imagine someone with no experience with degus would have an easy time with that...)

[bouncy]

Poor thing!

Think of the same considerations as for a human.

Don't move this around in the cage, so she can easily find her way about. It may be boring for the others, but it will make her more confident in her movements.

Where possible, add lips or rails to the sides of ramps, stairs, and ledges/shelves. Again, it's about confidence.

This is one situation where pellets are probably better for feeding. Although she's still able to sniff, she's got no visual guidance to pick out her favourite bits.

Try not to introduce new sounds in her area, and make sure the area is quiet enough that she can hear the comforting usual environment. She'll feel more secure, and find it easier to sense dangers. For example, I have a radio on low volume in the kitchen with the goos. They have a constant background noise of mostly talk and sound effects (4 Xtra) so that sudden noises from the path outside the window don't freak them out. When I get home, I also say hello, so they don't panic.

[hpdegus]

I agree with everything Bouncy suggested!

When I first brought the rescues home, I noticed that Ollie was essentially blind due to diabetic cataracts. He startled really easily, so I started humming/singing whenever I was in the same room as him. It seemed to really help, though now I don't even notice when I start humming randomly!

Good job noticing this and best of luck. Hopefully you're able to boost her confidence a bit so she can settle some more.

[winic1]

If she can tell when you approach, and when you adjust the blanket, then I would guess she has some amount of light sensing ability. So she can tell when you approach, because there's a big dark shadow moving towards her cage.
Make a permanent wall between her cage and the others--a board, cardboard, something attached securely to hers so that it never shifts, moves, changes the light falling on her cage. Maybe, if you can, move her cage at least a little farther from the others, so she doesn't hear them coming close enough to be to terrifying since she can't see where they are.

For feeding her, how about putting a little LED light at the cage that shines on the food bowl? So, she senses your big dark shadow approaching, then a bright spot appears above the food she is given to guide her to it. At first the light may scare her, but I would bet she soon figures out the light is where the food is. You could even just leave it on all day, over the food.

Don't change things in her cage. Don't move them, don't add things unnecessarily. Don't do a deep clean, she probably follows scent trails to help find her way, so only clean enough for basic sanitation.

If you do need or want to add something new, scent it first. Rub it with an herb, maybe, so she can tell something new is there before she bumps into it, which would be terrifying. Always introduce the new, scented thing, to the same place, let her find it, then slowly shift it to where you want it, or let her do that.

Think about it in terms of how would you prefer things to be handled if you had to live in a very very very dimly lit room, where you could barely tell what was around you and where you were in it.