blindness

Question
QUESTION: Hi, my 3 month old hairless rat isabella just had her first litter 3 days ago. Last night I took her out of her maternity tank and put her in with my other females so she could play and get some exercise, I watch over them closely and sat and played with them for about 10 minutes, I then put Isabella back in her tank, she was tierd from playing so she went in her box with her babies and went to sleep for the night. usually she comes out around dark and gets very active so tonight when I noticed she was not out I opened the box to check on her and I immediately notices that both of her eyes were opeqe, a pale blue just like my ball pythons eyes get when she is about to shed, Isabella has gone blind, other wise she is acting just fine except she is scared to death now when I take her out she tries to tuck herself under my arm, she has never been that way. Her eyes are not dried out nor does she have any discharge, she is rubbing them ALOT with her front paws so I guess she is in pain or they just itch. She did not get into anything or exposed to anything that might cause this that I know of. I have not changed her diet or bedding since she has the babies, so what has happed to my baby girl, I hope this is temporary, I feel so bad and it breaks my heart. She has not been stressed or anything she was just as sweet and sociable the minute she had her babies. So what do you think the problem is? I hope you can help

ANSWER: Hello Nancy,
wow, she just went blind and I've never heard of it happening so fast. Maybe she was slowly going blind and it was hard to tell. Personally, she should still be fine but she will need to adjust to being blind. In all honesty I am a little worried that she became blind so fast so I would personally call a vet to make sure this isn't a result of something else. Her other senses should become stronger since she has lost her sight. I think the best thing to do is to use your voice more so she can recognize you and feel more comfortabl, she is going to be more scared until she readjusts.

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QUESTION: Hi, thanks for getting back to me so soon, you are the only one that has got back with me and it is frustrating because I am so worried and I had hoped someone out there has had the same thing happen. Anyway, Isabella was not going blind at all, her eyes have been crystal clear up until yesterday, I think it is some sort of reaction because she is scratching them real bad, I put eye drops in her eyes tonight, and she does now have some gunk in them, her eyeballs look like they are larger than normal, I put her in a wire cage today and changed her bedding, thought maybe the dust from the previous bedding might be too much inside that tank. I am so heart broken Isabella is one of 7 rats that we have in our family but she is my special little girl. Her eyes are not cloudy to where you cant see into them like the snakes get but they are clouded all the way through, like you can see her pupils and everything but you can tell they are clouded and she is blind, she has adjusted well, the only time she gets upset is when I take her out to hold her I guess because she is unsure of her surroundings, she is still eating good but she seems to be drinking alot more that normal. Anyway she has a vet appointment tomorrow eve. and I will let you know what I find out, I sure pray this is only temp. Thank You for your support.

ANSWER: hmmm.. I really want to know what could have caused blindness to come so soon. I wonder if it could have something to do with the birth and her eyes are bulging too and it sounds like she may have some pressure behind the eyes that is causing her to lose her eye sight. She could also have diabetes, but I am just giving you all the options that I know of. Maybe the doctor could give the reason for all of this because this is so sudden. The first thing that does come to my mind is cataracts, because she fits all the signs of it, itchy eyes, rubbing of the eyes, discharge, cloudy eyes, and sometimes being lethargic.

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QUESTION: Hi, well Isabella went to the only Rat vet we have available last night and I really got no answer, they had never seen this before either, they checked her glucose and that was fine so she is not a diabetic. They said it is either a viral infec. or a hereditary defect, although I am not going with that because it happened so suddenly, I researched viral infections last night and her symptoms do fit somewhat, they did not give me anything to treat a viral infection nor could I find anything on the internet, they gave me some neomycin for her eyes. I did give her a shot of Dexamethazone hoping that would calm some of the swelling and ithing. This morning there is a change only one eye is bulged and I can now see the normal black color at the very top of the eye, I don't know what this means but I hope it is good. She is still itching her eyes pretty bad so I hope She don't sustain any damage from that. From what I read on the computer about viral infec. alot of rat lose their eyes permanatly just from the self mutalation. Well I will keep you posted and maybe it will be of some help in the future. p.s., Isabella is acting much different today, she stormed out of the box when she heard my voice and she is much more outgoing today and relaxed it seems.  Thanks

Answer
i'm so glad to hear what is going on and it sounds like she is doing better. It never crossed my mind that it could be a viral infection at all, but it does make sense. I am glad she is doing better and it is possible that she could lose her eyes, but that shouldn't slow her down once she adjusts.