Chinchilla w/ cataracts stays on bottom of cage?

[greychins]

So, recently got in a pair of male rescues. One of them can see fine, the other has cataracts. I would venture to say that the one with cataracts can't see very well, but that's just guessing. I had them both in a multilevel cage with the food at the bottom, no problems. Both happy and eating boys.

Well, some rescues get adopted so I move these boys to one of my regular cages (instead of one of the spare cages). So, the regular cage has the food bowl clipped to the side of the cage, up on one of the ledges. So... a day or so goes by and I notice that only one chin is up on the shelves, the other's always at the bottom. And thinking back, even in the previous cage, only one of the boys was "up," the other would be at the bottom. When this dawned on me, I put a second food bowl in the cage, at the bottom on the shavings, and the "bottom chin" went to town... leading me to think that he really doesn't ever get up on the shelves. The water was already at base-level (I don't like the bottles dripping onto shelves), so no worries there, and I don't have a problem feeding at the bottom....

Now, he will run on the wheel, and at playtime he runs around and doesn't exactly run into walls or anything, he acts like a normal chin for the most part. But... he stays at the bottom of the cage. I'm thinking this might have to do, somewhat anyway, with his vision problems... but I feel like he's got to be bored just sitting on the bottom. I know I've read about blind chins doing fine in a cage once they learn the layout, but he was in the other cage for a decent amount of time and I'd always see him on the bottom of the cage. Any suggestions as to how to get him to explore the cage? I mean, if he likes the bottom, he's welcome to stay there, but I would think that he, like most chins, would enjoy being up on the higher shelves and in the hammocks and stuff. Tips? Hints? Thoughts?

Maybe this is a matter of just giving him a LOT of time, and if that's the case, he's welcome to all the time he wants, I just don't want him to be unhappy if there's a way I can get him to explore the cage more.

 

[Pookinaround]

Maybe if he likes a certain kind of treat or something like apple sticks you could try hiding then in creative places that are a little higher up. You could try showing him maybe where you are putting them and see if he goes for it. Kinda like a "foraging" type activity for him.

 

[Claire D]

How high are the shelves he would have to jump to to get up to the next level? Can he touch them with his whiskers/nose?
Do you know if he used levels in his previous home?

He might not be confident in judging distance - I have a beautiful white who has cataracts and I added a couple of extra ledges for him to use which seemed to help - he explores his cage and shelves and is often found crashed out in his hammock.

It's also worth adding a couple of ramps to see if that helps.

 

[ticklechin]

My blind chin was in a cage with ramps, Susan (AZchins) here designed the cage just for him. As long as nothing inside was changed as far as arrangement goes he was fine. The cage had only one low shelf at the top level and just a couple of ledges he did not use.

 

[bondiferous]

This probably for the best. You really dont want a seeing disable chin to overestimate or under estimate a jump and end up hurting himself. What might help is dyeing the shelves with food colouring? Something bright that he can see even at night time.

Perhaps bring more objects to the lower end of the cage for him too.

 

[greychins]

The shelves are maybe 6-8 inches apart. If he's standing up he can touch them, but he could also go under them. The first two shelves are a bit higher than that, though there's a hidey house... the idea being the chin hops on the hidey house and the shelf is only maybe 3-4 inches higher than that.

I don't know if he used ledges in his previous home... the previous owner never said anything about him staying at the bottom or anything. I had asked how she told them apart and she went into detail, but I would've thought that if one of the chins stayed at the bottom all the time, she'd have mentioned it. But maybe not. Though, maybe that means he did move around the last cage he was in.

Thanks for the thoughts and suggestions. I will add some ramps to the cage and some more stepping-stone ledges and see if this makes any difference. Hopefully it will.