Guinea pig baby eye question

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ladysown

ladysown

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so I have this litter of guinea pigs.

They are off my OLD sow ..she hasn't had pups in a bit so I was thinking she was done as she's been with a male the whole time. This a rescue boar who is pretty and has had two litters previous to this one where the pups have been fine (six others born, one doa).

One pup has ODD eyes. Cloudy like has cataracts, the skin around the eye appears puckered is the best way I can describe it. The eye does not appear to infected. Just cloudy. I don't recall it when first born and haven't attempted to catch the littles during our recent winter storm.



Never had a pup like this before and wondering what to do with it.
Should I just cull him and send him to the raptor rescue or give him time? He's the biggest of the four.
He crouches more than the other pups, but moves well when scampering away from me.
 
It's possible there's a genetic problem but there are several situations that can cause the hair of the pup or the dam to irritate the eyes shortly after birth. They usually recover on their own. Some use an antibiotic ointment to prevent secondary infection. You should probably know in 5-7 days if the pup will improve or not.
 
what kind of situations would set up a problem like this? i've bred guinea pigs for a long time now and have never seen this before. I had a kit once that was fine until about two weeks old once and then one eye got infected and nothing I did helped it (assumed the eyeball got scratched too badly to recover). But other than that, they've always done well. So having these odd eyes on this pup just is a of a HUH! What causes this??
 
It usually happens with long or special coats but it's not impossible with regular smooth coats. The hair around the eye can rub it or get turned in temporarily as the eye is opening and inflame the edges or when trying to drink the pup can get mom's fur in it's eyes. Then you will get the cloudiness and sometimes actual scratches which is why some will use antibacterial ointment. It's not really something I ran into until I got these teddy pigs for free from a show breeder and have started talking about coat types with people and the increased risk of things you rarely come across with more common coats. It can also happen with hay or fine bedding around them when born too it's just not a frequent occurance. With the sow being older I'm sure there is an increased chance of deformity issues too but there's nothing that can be done about that. I was just bringing up a minor cause that sometimes happens which would make it a good idea to wait before culling.
 
I just had this problem, I was going to cull that litter of Texels, but waited and now their eyes are clear. Odd.
 

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