So, noticed something was ‘off’ saturday - nothing major - no fever, no puking, no diareaha - just general lazy dog syndrome without a lot of interest in food - wasn’t hiding, wasn’t overly clingy - just kinda lazy.
She didn’t eat dinner.
Sunday - when I woke up - I noticed that she didnt want to open her right eye - I assumed she scratched it or somthing - no discharge, still no issues - she went from room to room without issue - jumping on beds, furniture - etc - still not really wanting anything to eat - I grow a little more concerned.
As the day progressed - finally got her to eat - had to literally hand feed her - when she went to her bowl - she’d stand there a bit confused - finally hand fed her - more concerned.
8pmsish - I see her walk into a wall. Now I’m really concerned -
Get her to the Vet today - blind as a bat. Taking her to a doggie eye dr tomorrow to see if we can determine what happened and what (if anything) can be done.
Vet think SARDS - and probably not reversible.
My now what has little to do with the dog - I know she’s confused - I know she and we will adapt - but damn - I just want her to be the happy puppy she should be - I have a hard time seeing (heh) her be the playful pup she used to be - kinda hard to chase things if you can’t fricken see them.
Sorry to hear about your dog. I did want to say that my brother-in-law’s dog went blind from diabetes and lived many happy years after going blind. She will adjust, just don’t rearrange the furniture.
She’s a jack russel/min pin mix - she’s adjusting - just today has been more noticable -she’s trying to do more so its more obvious - but she’s already making good progress - hardest thing still seems to be the water bowl - its on ‘slicky floor’ - so I am going to get a bigger mat so she has more stability on it.
Moving furniture is not a big deal - getting her used to the stairs is ok - she’s doing it on her own -but you can tell she gets a little lost when she wants to go upstairs -so going to add something to the floor at the top and the bottom to help her identiify it.
And we have to do a general pick up the clutter (which is mostly her toys, btw) of the floors.
My dog is already half blind from entropion. He’s getting older and I think his remaining eyesight is failing. Some days he seems to have a harder time of it. Once in a while he will miss a doorway and bump the wall, and sometimes he panics when he can’t find me. I notice those days he keeps closer to me with his nose bumping my calf when I walk.
He is adapting okay. I’ve known dogs that were totally blind and they got around fine.
One of our two dogs is completely blind by now. She’s also 15 years old, so not exactly spry either.
Doesn’t stop her from finding the food and water dishes, nor from climbing on the big recliner (off which nobody has the heart to kick her off anymore :))
We had a dog that went blind. They said the retinas were shattered or something, by reasons not really known.
He lived many years after that and had a happy life.
At first he was a bit clumsy, but as time went by he got a hang of it.
Their sense of smell gives them a huge advantage. I’m sure every spot in the house has a different smell to them. Also, when going for walks I think most dogs would be almost as happy if blind folded just so long as they were given free range to sniff.
I remember doing things like tapping on stuff I wanted to direct him to. He took good vocal commands to stop when we told him to look out. But we always talked quite a bit to the dogs. I think it is especially important for blind dogs. They can use the extra information on where people are and what they are up to. At minimum it’s just polite to tell them if you’re going to pick them up or something. (we had a small dog)
You’ll need some extra vigilance, especially at first. but in time it wont be such a big worry.
I’m sure your dog will be back to it’s old routine shortly.
I had a dog that had an epileptic seizure and went blind right then and there. He adapted, but it was heartbreaking. He loved to fetch but wasn’t able to anymore after that. He did discover a new love of tug-of-war though. Miss that little guy.
Thanks all - yeah - we’re doing the diligent stuff now - being prepared that this is permenant even if we want to keep the hope that tomorrows visit will go “oh, just pull her ear this way and smak her on the ass - see, good as new - and yes, it works on the computers as well” .
In any event - tonite we picked up a runner and a couple new ‘bath mat’ type things to help her keep traction in the kitchen - of course, now I realize thats a ‘new’ smell for her, so maybe not so good an idea - cleaned the back portch up so less to run into there and a clear path in/out -
We do talk to her literally all the time and are tapping things - water bowl is metal, so “drink/ding” is what I am trying to do for that - thats so far the part that worries me the most - making sure she gets to water anytime she wants it.
No worries there-- our blind dog does fine. Very motivated to find water or food. He has even more trouble, as he’s also learning disabled and gets no traction some times.
So if he’s hungry or thirsty, he gallops into the wall, bounces off, flops completely spread-eagle on the floor, “swims” over toward his bowls, shakes his long ears around until one gets wet, at which point he becomes even more excited, loses balance, and nods randomly around the general area until he finally sticks his face in the water bowl, gets a snoutful, sneezes it out and then gratefully laps it up.
I hope you can learn to be as entertained by your “specially abled” dog as we are.
Dogs can smell water. I think as long as you don’t move her bowl, she’ll be fine. You might consider getting a water fountain as a second bowl for her, to add sound to her scent cues, but it’s probably not necessary.
She’s doing better this morning - got confused at jumping off the bed (So I helped her down) - but went straight downstairs and to the back door and got food.water and a trip to the potty - with very little issue once oriented - kinda sad seeing them walk into a corner and kinda stand there like ‘this shouldnt be here’ - but getting better.
Today we had to drop her off at the eye dr vet - they only come to town every couple weeks so we had to leave her there to be seen between other appts (doc stays booked) - not something we have done before - especially with a doc we havent met - but its for the best.
Well, it’s not SARDS - somthing about inflamation and something else internal to one of the eyes -
Good news - ‘possible’ we might be able to correct - treatments/eye drops/ get it under control, etc. Doc seemed to think that the treatment plans he has will cover the majority of the possibilities.
Bad news - have to find out what/why and hope its not one of the worser things - gah, I hope its not one of the worser things.
