Could my pet rat be blind??

Question

I got a baby rat and she's about 12 weeks old now. She's albino and is white with very light brown bits on her. My mum said to me I wonder if she's blind, because apparantely some albino rats are because of their pink eyes. Is there any way for me to test to see if my rat is blind? I feel really sorry for her now, and I feel as though i wont be able to bond with her if she is.

What can i do? please help!

Answer 1

try waving your hands infront of her face. if she doesn't flinch or startle, then she might have eye problems. Dont worry Albino's are supposed to have some strange eye colors.

If you're not convinced and still unsure, then bring your rat to the vet

Good Luck and hope your rat is not blind

Answer 2

just as somebody else said, most rats do indeed have very poor eyesight, and PEWs (pink-eyed whites/albinos) in particular. i have two albino rats and they both do the whole swaying thing, one more often than the other.

don't worry! this will not affect their bonding with you! both my rats cuddle and l**k and play with me all the time! like someone else stated, they rely heavily on smells, as well as how you treat them. when they get scared they will run to you for safety! rats are the best..don't lose heart. and read all the info. you can on them! =)

Answer 3

You rat is not blind. All rats have very poor eyesight. They rely on other senses and seeing is their least used sensory perception. White rats with red eyes in particular are prone to very poor eyesight, and they do move their head side to side in order to enhance depth perception. If he were actually blind he would not do this. There is no need to worry - he will be just fine.

There is no need to bring him to a vet. There is no treatment for this as it is perfectly normal for rats. There is also no need to separate him from the other rats or change your cage layout. Even if he were actually impaired (which is is not), rats are gregarious animals. They will help a sick or injured pack mate. Unless you see signs of fighting or territoriality, just leave them together.

If you are interested, I have included a site reference that will give you lots of info about rat health. This is the passage about the head weaving you are observing:

"There are a few rat behaviors that are sometimes mistaken for health problems. One of these is when a rat stares into space, swaying or weaving his head back and forth. This behavior is most common in pink-eyed rats and means the rat has poor eyesight. Moving their head back and forth helps their depth perception through a phenomenon called parallax. As they sway back and forth, closer objects seem to move more than objects farther away."

Answer 4

The pink eyes are not blind, just harder to focus. To test if its blind you can call it to the bars of the cage and slowly and silently move you finger across to the other side if the cage, Watch carefully whether it is following with its nose or its eyes.

Also it wont effect the bond with your rat. Just handle her a lot and she will know your smell / voice. She will still be very affectionate

we had a blind rat before and he loved my mum but wasn't used to my smell so he bit me.

Albino rats aren't blind, ive had 1 before and got another now. neither have had any problems with sight. (Both had pink eyes as well as 3 others that ive had.)

Also if she sways her head side to side it means she is focusing on something far away (meaning she isn't blind.)

Answer 5

don't worry you will be able to bond with it because it will be able to smell you soz i don't now how you can test if your rat is blind

Answer 6

just coz they have red eyes dont men there blind i have 4 gerbils with red eyes who can see fine go get it check out t a vetnthey will no

Answer 7

take it to a vet  

Answer 8

lizard king