Rats don’t rely much on their sense of sight. Their eye sight is weak so rats depend on their other senses like the sense of smell and feel (whiskers) to manoeuvre their way through life. Rats can have either black eyes, red eyes or pink eyes. The lighter the eye colour the weaker their sense of sight, which is why many red and pink eyed rats sway from side to side to gauge depth and to focus.
Eyes should be bright and clear of any porphyrin which is a sign of stress and/or illness. Rats also have a third membrane. Sick rats or very old rats’ eyes may sometimes appear to be dull, this is their third membrane staying up because it no longer retracts easily.
Some rats also have cataracts. There are several causes for cataracts: trauma or injury, congenital or spontaneous.
Most rats are not bothered by their cataracts; it rarely affects them since eye sight is not all that important to them to begin with. But in some cases, rats with cataracts develop chronic inflammatory in the eye, secondary to lens associated uveitis. If that occurs, long term anti-inflammatory drops would be required.
It is also not uncommon for rats to get a scratch in the eye. Most times this does not require too much care other than putting antibiotics drops in the eye, twice daily. The eye usually clears up fast enough.
A lump behind the eye is also a possible concern although not very common. This can be a tumour or an abscess which can be treated by trying antibiotics and a steroid or other recommendations by your vet. One of the first symptoms you’ll notice is a very unpleasant odour around the eye. Finally, the eye begins to bulge and starts to pop out of it’s socket. In some severe cases it may require an enucleation of the eye. I have seen a few rats undergo this procedure and came out of it quite well. Rats adapt amazingly well without their eyes. In fact, I’ve known a wonderful rat named Boo who was born with no eyes. Of course this fact had destined him to become snake food but he was saved this fate by my mom. Boo lived a full productive life, all without ever having the sense of sight.
Boo
Charlie with a congenital cataract.
Angel with a cataract due to trauma to the eye.
