How to Care for Your Pet Pig's Eyes
By: Huey & Dewey (Our 2 Pet Guinea Pigs)


Pigs, like other snub-nosed animals such as bulldogs, boxers and
other flat faced dog breeds and Persian cats, often have problems
with their eyes. The flatter the face of an animal the more
likely they are to have problems with their eyes because of the
shape of the skull.

When pigs have problems with their eyes it is usually due to
obesity. When a pig becomes overly fat the fat may hang down in
folds in front of its eyes. Usually if the pig loses weight it
will correct this problem, but not always. Some pigs remain blind
even after losing weight. Some pigs can become deaf from fat
folds due to obesity. That is why it is so important to control
your pet pig's weight.

Pigs, even though they don't look like they would, have very good
vision. If your pig's eyes are constantly tearing up or look wet
is usually normal. The tears may be reddish but it still probably
is perfectly normal. Some pigs even tear up so much that their
face is wet in the creases all the time. For a pig to have wide
open, unobstructed eyes is in fact uncommon.

A more common health hazard to pigs is an eye ailment called
conjunctivitis. You will know your pig has conjunctivitis by
these signs: redness around the eyes and/or yellowish build up
around the eye and on the eyelashes and hairs. Eyes seriously
infected with conjunctivitis will have white mucus along with the
redness and yellowish build up. Your pig will also try keep its
eyes closed.

Washing the eye out with normal eye drops may be enough to clear
the obstruction in the eye that is causing the conjunctivitis.
Most times it is a piece of hay or some other debris that has
gotten into your pig's eye that has caused the problem. Clearing
out the eye will help heal the eye faster. You can try applying
topical ointment like Bactroban or Neosporin to help clear the
infection. But getting to the eye to put the ointment around the
eye may be difficult and you can be assured that your pig may not
cooperate.

Your veterinarian can give you a syringe of antibiotic that you
can mix with water and put in a spray bottle to shoot your pigs
eyes from a distance. This is a good way to get the medicine into
your pig's eyes. It does startle them but it is best to treat the
problem or it can result in blindness if the infection gets very
bad.

Take care of your pig and pay attention to its health and well
being. Your pig will thank you for it.


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