What's wrong with this water vole's eye?

[vole-woman]

Is it mange, do you think? It's been like this for several weeks and doesn't seem to have got any worse.

[Hedgehoggy]

No, doesn’t look like mange. I don’t profess to know anything about w-v physiology, but in elderly hedgehogs fur-loss/sparse fur around the eyes is a natural occurrence, along with very sparse fur on their abdomens too, so my guess would be it’s just an elderly w-v, but I stand to be corrected! Were both eyes like this? -- Lovely photo btw.

On the subject of water-voles, I saw two at Askham Bog nature reserve today whilst watching lots of dragonfly and damselfly activity on the pond. A very kind man pointed them out to us and even showed us their favourite feeding area. Thank you that man! He also showed me some brilliant Kingfisher footage he’d taken on his vid camera at Fairburn Ings NR a few weeks ago (not at the nest I hasten to add!).

[Farplace]

I agree, it's not typical of mange. Most probably just an old vole. however, is the front left foot/ankle also affected? or is the white patch natural?

[Hedgehoggy]

Originally Posted by Farplace

however, is the front left foot/ankle also affected? or is the white patch natural?

Well spotted Jan, I missed that! If only one eye is affected, and the 'white patch' on its left foot isn't natural, but crusty, it could be ringworm - which I believe w-vs can be afflicted with too.

[vole-woman]

Oh, well spotted.

It's just the one eye - there are more pics of her on my blog and the other eye is just normal. but she's been that way for months. I know water voles go grey with age (and actually my elderly hamster has a bit of fur loss on his back) so this could be it.

[Hedgehoggy]

Just checked out the other fab photos on your blog Can see evidence of some fur-loss around her right eye too, so my guess is she's just an old gal enjoying her twilight years

[vole-woman]

The difference is quite pronounced in a certain light. But it's nice to think she's elderly, given the average life expectancy of a water vole is just 5 months.

[vole-woman]

It's a bit clearer here.

[bigdave60dog]

On experience with other animals. It`s probably had an infection. -A high temperature will cause hair loss- and is recovering.
One other possibility is a deficiency of some sort.
Dave