# White Spot in Eye



## threesisters (Aug 19, 2009)

Hey everyone,

I've had my new 2.5 year old hedgy for about 3 weeks now. I always noticed she had a bit of white in her eyes when I got her. I figured it may be mild cataract just from personal awareness (i'm not a vet nor a nurse/doctor). Today I noticed it got a LOT worse. Her eye has a very round ball of white in it right in the center. It's actually very creepy looking. I'm wondering if she may possibly be blind in one eye? Has anyone had this problem before? I looked through the forum and I couldn't find anything in the search fields that mentioned anything like this before. 

Help


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

It's probably a cataract. They usually grow in size, sometimes very quickly. Depending on the size of it, she is probably blind or partially blind. I've had ones that ended up covering the whole eye and others barely changed.


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## threesisters (Aug 19, 2009)

I'm guessing there's nothing I can really do? Do you know if this is a common health issue with hedgys?


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## hedgielover (Oct 30, 2008)

Nancy will know better than I will when she comes back but I'll answer anyway. As far as I know it is not too common in hedgehogs because I have never read it anywhere before, none of my research, none of the posts on here have said anything about cataracts. I do know that is a common problem with aging in general for all animals including people. One of my mice recently developed a pretty bad cataract in one eye. My dog also developed them when she started getting older.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Yes, cataracts are fairly common in hedgehogs as they age. A vet check is always a good idea but otherwise, she will live with it no problem. To help her, try and arrange things in her cage the same way all the time or put things back the way she had them arranged. It may or may not go on to cover her whole eye and she may or may not develop one in the other eye. They really aren't a big deal except for being able to see it, I'm betting you will notice nothing different in her behaviour.


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## threesisters (Aug 19, 2009)

Thanks guys!

Yeah I haven't noticed any difference in her behavior so far. It's pretty evident she's lost sight in that eye though, she has difficulty finding meal worms when I put them down for her. I can tell she's using more smell than sight to find them. 

Well it's a first time for everything on here I guess. If it happens to any one else on here there's a thread for it now.


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## Nancy (Aug 22, 2008)

Difficulty finding mealies set in front of them is not necessarily related to poor vision. Sometimes they are just clueless. :lol:


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## smhufflepuff (Aug 28, 2008)

Nancy said:


> Difficulty finding mealies set in front of them is not necessarily related to poor vision. Sometimes they are just clueless. :lol:


Haha... yeah... someone I know sometimes stands over her mealies. You can tell she's all excited, has her super sniffer working a mile a minute, runs toward them, but ends up running a bit too far, then can't find them. Hedgiedaddy and I say "they're under you!" She doesn't get it. Super sniffer keeps going. Can't find them. We pick her up, move her backwards, set her down and TA-DA yummy time. :roll:

I've actually read a number of posts about hdgies blind in one or both eyes. Sounds like your little one will be just fine.


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## starby (Apr 25, 2010)

I'm so glad other hedgies can't find their mealies either! I was worried about Wimbley's sight. I seriously was holding it in front of him and he didn't respond. I have to put it right up to his face before he reacts. He doesn't react to camera flashes either so I thought maybe he couldn't see!


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