Squinty eyes in babies

[lindsayfawn]

I have noticed in the past day or so that some of the babies eyes are very squinty looking. I know with some of them being rex that their whiskers could be going in their eyes. But some that are squinty don't look like they have curly whiskers.
One of the babies had some prophrine around one eye and the other eye she just keeps closed. Her whiskers are extremely curly and long!

I am wondering if there is anything that I can do for it or will they just grow into their whiskers so it doesn't affect their eyes anymore?

 

[ashana]

I have head of some litters here being born either rex or double rex that have their eyelashes curl into their eyes. Nothing can be done to stop this due to their eyelashes being curled the wrong way

 

[lilspaz68]

Watch for any signs of sickness...one squinty eye in a group could be attributed to their rexy fur, but not a few.

 

[jorats]

We've had two litter born here almost all with squinty eyes, we weren't sure what was happening until they were old enough to get their Ivermectin, then their eyes opened up and they brightened.

 

[lindsayfawn]

So if their eyes are still squinty when they're ready to go to their new homes. I should just tell the adoptors to keep an eye on them and if they feel their eyes are getting worse get them to a vet?
Poor little things.

What does Ivermectin do for them Jo? I thought that was for lice?

 

[mamarat]

The 3 moms I rescued, all their babies had lice. That's the rats Jo is referring to. Once they were old enough they could be treated with Ivermectin and it did the trick. Their eyes were not squinty anymore.

 

[jorats]

I would think they are not feeling well when they have squinty eyes, it definitely worried us and were so relieved that after getting rid of the lice they were all back to normal.

 

[lindsayfawn]

You think they may have lice?
They're not scratching at all though? I haven't seen any bugs on anyone and no one has scabs of any kind. They're very active the ones that have the squinty eyes still play fighting and running around, eating and drinking. They're still feeding from Camilla as well.

 

[fenshae]

How old are they? I know some of Velvet's babies opened their eyes at different rates so for a few days some still had bleary half-opened eyes when the others were totally open. But of course if this stretches on for more than few days that can probably be ruled out.

As for the rexy eyelash thing, I'd be curious to see what could be done to help with that.... I know some of the saggy-eye dog breeds can have eye irritation from their skin folding over into the eye (like bloodhounds etc.) and they can surgically correct that but I wonder if they can do something similar in rats....

 

[lindsayfawn]

They are 26 days old today.
Some of them opened their eyes on Day 15 I think it was and then rest on Day 16.

 

[jorats]

No, I wouldn't say it's lice or anything only that there might be other issues. Just something to keep an eye on. (no pun intended)

 

[lindsayfawn]

Would the vet be able to tell if there's something wrong with them? I'm wondering if we should have them get a check up before they are adopted? They'll be ready March 15th.