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  • My dog's gone blind :(
  • nicko74
    Full Member

    …and it’s a bit of a shock.
    Our 7yo pug’s been a bit off for the last couple of months, and recently had occasionally started to wander into things. The vet had diagnosed an eye infection plus some unspecified liver-related issue. We were away this weekend, so dropped her off to board with the vet Thursday with what in hindsight was clear vision problems, but still able to see some things.

    Came to collect her from the vet yesterday morning and it was clear she couldn’t see anything much – seeing her in the middle of an empty floor raising a paw to a person she thought was standing in front of her was just heartbreaking.

    Rushed her to the ophthalmologist for some tests, and it was when he did the flashy light in the eye in a dark room test that it really hit me. There was no pupillary reaction, just blankly staring ahead. They confirmed SARDS, or more realistically, progressive retinal atrophy, and near zero vision.

    This morning a couple of things came together in my head and I realised she’s probably been going slowly blind for the last couple of months, it just wasn’t diagnosed until her vision was gone. Apparently it’s genetic, but could be triggered or accelerated by stress, such as staying at the vet.

    She’s still scampering around the house mostly as fast as usual, but walks outside take more management. And we’re just distraught over it, not helped by realising we could have picked it up sooner.

    Not much to add really, except keep checking your pets, and if they start looking unsure, or walking into things, get them to the vet and don’t get fobbed off!

    thehustler
    Free Member

    I am really sad to hear this but there are positives, there is a blind dog lives by me that still plays ball (somehow does it by smell/sound) and he’s great to see, also when i was young my cousin (snakebite of this parish) had a blind cocker who was really happy, te oonly issue they had was the door you let her into the garden from you had to leave open for her return or the inevitable would happen, It seems dogs are far less reliant than us on their sight and can still get on very well!!

    Hope this helps

    brakes
    Free Member

    that’s a bit shit at only 7 – lets hope she can manage it.
    when I was kid one of our dogs went blind and combined with other ailments it made him grumpy and bitey.

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    dovebiker
    Full Member

    One of our previous hounds went blind for about the last year of his life and the other at the time was deaf, but dogs cope really well they just get on with things. Our blind dog still loved to play hide and seek – you’d stash his favourite toy somewhere in the house or garden and he’d go off to find it – he had quite a few, but he’d go and get the right one by name

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    Really sorry to hear that. Know how tough it can be when your dog has medical problems. Whenever you feel there’s something you could have done differently it’s tough not to feel like you’ve let them down. At various times we’ve thought ours would lose use of back legs, an eye, all his teeth… but he’s made it through all this ok so far.

    Dogs are remarkably adaptable though and I’m sure she’ll still love to play, get stroked/ticked/hugged. Their sense of smell is remarkably better than ours (sniffing something out is as pleasurable for them as seeing some fantastic view or eating something really tasty is for us) so maybe some scent oriented games would be cool for her (^^^ like that hide and seek game.)

    blueflamespecial
    Free Member

    Really sorry to hear that matey, it’s heartbreaking enough just reading about it.

    The hard thing about something like this when it comes to animals (and indeed why, quite often people feel they have greater empathy/sympathy for animals than they sometimes do for humans) is that you can’t explain or make them understand.

    Everyone above is right however – animals are remarkably resilient and adaptable and she’ll be ok with a bit of tlc.

    All the best with it bud.

    nicko74
    Full Member

    Thanks guys, appreciate it. She seems to be taking it in her stride, so I guess I just need to deal with it. Sure we’ll get into a routine.

    Onzadog
    Free Member

    We regularly walk rescue dogs and came across a husky/akita cross recently who had gone blind due to a genetic condition.

    He was a lovely gentle giant who did really well out on the walk. We were amazed how well he coped, we forgot he was blind at time. He did keep scraping and scuffing his nose though, so watch out for that.

    It really does tug at your heart strings but of all the dogs in kennels, he seemed the most chilled and contented.

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

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