Peter, the Senior Citizen

Yum! Yum! I love Brazil nuts.

I think Peter is vision-impaired. Or blind. I've noticed in the last month when he hops to me for a treat he nearly runs into my boots. He never used to do that. And finding the treat I'm holding in my hand is difficult for him. Today I waved the treat in front of his eyes. He has no idea where it is. I have to put it right at his mouth for him to stop frantically searching for it. I wonder if his sense of smell is gone, as well? He's been really jumpy, too, but he's responding to my voice more. His huge radar ears are working fine.




I didn't think much of this until a few days ago when I watched him hop toward the front yard. As you may recall, he was banned from the front yard all last summer for eating too much. Last fall when I opened it up again, he didn't bother. I wondered if he was just conditioned not to go into the front yard. He eventually rediscovered "snack heaven", but still rarely ventured away from the backyard.

 

About a week ago I sealed off the front yard entrance again since the new plants have begun to sprout and I want to give them a chance to grow before he snacks them down to nothing.  This time I used chicken wire. I watched him hop right into it! He wasn't going very fast, but he hopped without hesitation, hit the wire with his nose, nudged around a little checking it out, and then stopped. At first I thought maybe he couldn't focus on the thin wire, but now I'm wondering if he's vision is greatly impaired.

I'm feeling badly for him. It can't be fun. I'm going to need to not move things around so much as if he is blind, it's got to be stressful.



Searching...farm boots = treats
 

He just turned seven years old. I wonder what that is in human years?  Perhaps this is the beginning of the end? He seems very healthy otherwise.