Need advice about my Zebra's blind eye

[tinysparrow]

I have a zebra male who is blind in one eye. I adopted him from a woman who didn't want him anymore. He is the sweetest bird, and has turned out to be a wonderful father When I got him, his blind eye was huge, (probably 3 to 4 times the size of a normal eye). It was very puffed out, and so was the area around his eye. He always kept it closed. The previous owner said that she had taken him to the vet, and the vet said that he was blind in that eye, and there was nothing he could do for him. So, I decided to see if it would improve at all.

In the past year, the eye has shrunk down to the normal size, and it is no longer puffed out. I think that he was severely dehydrated when I got him, and this is why his eye was always closed. (The drinker that he came with was awful... there were 11 other birds that I adopted as well with him and the poor things were all trying to drink from a broken drinker).

Now that I can see his eye properly, it looks like cracked ice inside. So if a normal eye is like clear water, his eye has these sparkly cracks inside, and as I said looks like cracked ice. Does this sound like cataracts? I have been noticing lately that his vision seems to be deteriorating in his other eye He can't seem to find his way around the cage, and doesn't see me when I approach to feed him etc., so I have started saying his name when I come near so he knows I am there. Could this problem be spreading to his other eye?

[Nerien]

A Cataract is generally just a clouding of the lens of the eye. So the eye looks foggy or white inside, not usually crackled. Having been so swollen when you first got him, I would suspect a long-standing infection, or an injury that had interfered with the normal circulation of blood to and around the eye, which would have easily damaged and blinded it.

If you can't see anything wrong with his other eye, it could be the beginnings of a cataract, or some other eye problem. Looking through a cataract is like looking through fogged glasses, as it develops you go from just slightly foggy and a little unclear to totally fogged over and no vision. Does he seem to still detect light and darK? If you wave your hand slowly on his good side, does he seem to detect it? Try this with a light on that side, so that your hand passes between him and the light, blotting it out for a few seconds as it goes.

He may be losing the sight in his other eye, whether from cataract or eyestrain after all this time being one-eyed, or some other cause. In any case, you can set up a cage for him, with food and water bowls in a place that never moves, a solid bottom so that he doesn't struggle with staying on the bars, and really low perches that he can find by walking to them, that again, never change position so that he *knows* his world by heart.

We had a blind goldfish for many years. He was fine as long as we never changed the location of things in his tank. If, after cleaning & changing the water, something was put back in the wrong place, he would bump it, then literally freeze in a corner with fear. So we ended up clearing all but one smooth ceramic feature from the tank, always made sure the filter was in the exact same location, and I'd give two tiny taps on the lid when I fed him, and he'd immediately come up to find his food. It worked. He lived many years this way, and would slowly glide around his tank comfortably, he knew when to turn to avoid the sides, where to hang out by his little castle, when to come up and eat.

[tinysparrow]

Hi Nerien,
Thanks for the advice! I will see how responsive he is to light over the next few days. He seems to be able to see a bit as he can find his food and fly back to the perches. He does spend a lot of time trying to look around it seems to orient himself in the cage. I have noticed this has been increasing over the past few months.

He has lived for the past year, (since I adopted him), with his mate in a special cage. It has only one long rope perch that's low to the ground, and as you suggested, the food and water are always in the exact same place. I am a bit bummed out as I think that his vision is now too poor to properly mate with his partner, who has had two back to back clutches of infertile eggs Its just too bad because he is such a good dad. I do have one of his daughters, so I hope that his line will continue through her when she becomes of breeding age.

[Diana]

What a sweet story. Well done you rescued the poor mistreated babies!
And a lovely fish story from Nerien too. This shows that with love and patience you can improve so much in anybody's life and you should never lose hope.

I hope the little zebra will live happily for many years!

[tinysparrow]

What a sweet story. Well done you rescued the poor mistreated babies!
And a lovely fish story from Nerien too. This shows that with love and patience you can improve so much in anybody's life and you should never lose hope.

I hope the little zebra will live happily for many years!

Thank you Diana! I too hope that he will live for many years to come. He is the sweetest little bird.