Autumn Acres Mini Pet Pigs

Episode: 48/ Season 2 / October 17, 2023

When Should I Worry About My Pig’s Eyes?

Let’s talk about pig eyes. How do we take care of our pigs eyes? What are some common complaints about a pig’s eyes that we should be aware of?

Overall pigs do not see well, they have poor eyesight. This is a genetic thing that is passed down from pig to pig. Some of that is due to the placement on the head, or just due to genetics.

Think about the placement of the eyes on the pig’s head. Due to the structure of the spine, a pig can not bend its neck to look up, so due to that lack of mobility they don’t have good vision around them. This can cause them to be slightly skittish or nervous in new settings because they can’t see everything very clearly. Pig’s really rely on their sense of smell to know things.

Some common complaints when it comes to a pig’s eyes and what we can do about them.

The first complaint I hear often is drainage or weeping from the eyes. This can be literally water like tears or, it can be piggy rust that is orange and chunky and literally looks like rust that stains the face around the eyes. Pig’s naturally live in dusty conditions, so this weeping is a means of protection to keep the eyes clean. It is not something to worry about. It is unique to each pig as far as how much their eyes weep. What can we do about it?

I like to use a soft bristled toothbrush with some coconut oil and just kind of scrub under the eye. My pigs generally love it. It does help if you start when they are young. They will be much more tolerant of it. Just be gentle.

The second complaint is excessive drainage from the eyes. This could be constant tears or thick, chunky, gooey, nasty brown stuff coming from their eyes constantly. There are many reasons for this. Some are serious and some are not. If you are not sure, and are very worried then it would be a good time to get an evaluation from a vet. I try to look at their eyes myself to see if I can see if anything is stuck in their eye, or maybe they are having trouble with their eyelashes. There are also some mini pig foods out there that I do not like that cause piggy rust and eye weeping. Food allergies can cause it as well. Diet plays a big role in the health of the pig including the amount of eye drainage they have.

Complaint number three is eye swelling. Sometimes a pig’s eye will be swollen shut or it will be red and puffy around the eye and there could be many reasons for this as well. It could be an allergic reaction, they could have gotten into some plant that is toxic to them but not deadly, an infection, or insect bites or stings. If this comes on very suddenly and they have other symptoms such as fever, acting lethargic, or vomiting the vet needs to see them right away.

The fourth complaint is when a pig becomes overweight, one of the places they gain weight is their forehead. Once that fat pad becomes too heavy it falls down and covers their eyes. This is something that is called fat blindness. This is a tragedy because it does not have to happen because it is all diet and movement related. They are eating too much and not moving enough. This is another reason why we need to keep our pig lean but not skinny. We want to try to prevent fat blindness at all costs because it’s very hard to reverse and can often result in surgery. What can we do? We need to restrict their diet and grazing and get them to move as much as possible.

The fifth complaint is as a pig gets older they keep their eyes closed a lot and people don’t understand why. It happens often with older pigs, because as they gain weight these different fat pads on their face get heavy and put a lot of pressure on their eyes and can make it hard to open them so instead they just keep them closed. This is a fairly normal thing that happens often but this is another reason why we need to keep our pig at a healthy weight from the time they are young and continually keep up on that. One thing i like to suggest people do is to look at their pigs eyes often so you know what they look like and are able to tell what is normal for them or not.

The sixth complaint is called entropion. This is when the eyelids curl the wrong way and it causes the lashes to hit the eye. It can be the bottom lashes or the top lashes. So what happens is the lashes hit the eye and rub on the eye every time the pig blinks and it is very painful so their eye will weep. This is serious because as the lashes continue to rub on the eye it can cause a scratch and the scratches can become quite excessive and then cause more damage and make it so the pig can’t see permanently. Overweight pigs are more prone to this and can lead to surgery that can be very dangerous for the pig.

It’s important that we keep our pig at a good weight. A lot of these eye complaints will be nonexistent if we keep our pig at a healthy weight. We want to be educated when it comes to our pigs eyes which includes knowing what our pigs eyes look like from when they are young if possible so we can easily identify a problem and be able to act on it.

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