I have a nearly 12 yo Australian Silky that roughly 2yrs ago started getting a noticeably cloudy right eye. We thought initially it was a detached retina but turned out to be something a little different like fluid from the back of the eye seeping through to the front and causing pressure build up. The lens becomes pretty useless and with it the eye.
Fast forward and about 6 months back the other eye started looking ordinary. Nothing has been formally diagnosed but she is basically blind. Banging into things, getting under your feet and copping accidental kicks to the head that must hurt. Tonight she took her first tumble down some carpeted stairs.
To make things worse she seems to have gone deaf as well.
It’s sad because she’s the most active of all our dogs. I’m curious to hear from any others who have had dogs who went blind. Did theirs lives deteriorate quickly? What adjustments did you make?
I have a 8-9 year old golden retriever that is blind now. As a puppy, he could see, although in hindsight probably not very well. He went blind about age 3-4. He handles it amazingly well. He has always been a bit lazy, he never wanted to run with me. I make a point to talk to him a lot so he can follow my voice, but I guess that won’t help you much. He does well around he yard because he seems to remember it from when he could see. My house does not have a staircase, so he cannot tumble down that. He does bump into stuff a lot, but he pretty much knows to slow down a bit.
He still eats and drinks well. As long as they are doing that, I figure he is good. Like i said, for me I learned to really talk to him when walking around so he could follow my voice and I always warm him when he is about to run into something. I let him run into snow banks though as I figure that won’t hurt and it will teach him to slow down a bit.
We had a 15 yeard old mutt, chihuahua and aussie shepherd is my guess, who started going deaf about 13 years in and blind 14 years in. She got around pretty well. Her final down fall was arthritis related issues that caused her a lot of pain that couldn’t be treated. But overall her health was good and she was strong and active.
A friend of mine had a dog that was blind all its life and managed amazingly well. Realize that sense of smell is also a strong sense with dogs. Even a blind/deaf dog may still be able to rely on this.
My golden retriever lived until almost 15 and had cataracts, not blind but obviously visually impaired. Also I believe had a significant loss of hearing but still managed right to the end.
We had a maltese-bichon who got the diabeetus, developed cataracts as one of the complications, and eventually went blind in one eye and seemed to be losing sight in the other. As he aged, the insulin became ineffective and he had a host of other complications spiraling his health downward, so we had to put him to sleep last summer. As for the blindness, since it came on gradually he seemed to learn to cope fairly well with that specifically, but it may have been easier to adjust since he was never a particularly active dog and knew his way around the house quite well.
Sudden or atypical sounds were the most difficult thing for him to cope with, so he barked and growled a lot more when he didn’t understand what was happening or wasn’t close enough to see with his one somewhat-sighted eye. We did what we could to make that easier for him–talked when we came in the door so he’d recognize the voice, tried to get friends & family to avoid ringing the doorbell, talked to him when he’d randomly start to growl like an angry old man, but with a 4 year old in the house there was only so much noise reduction possible.
Occasionally he’d run into something–usually the corner of a wall or a dining room chair. He was never a particularly graceful dog anyway and always had the habit of running under your feet from his excited or opportunistic personality (food thief), but we just tried to help guide him a little more gently when we were around him or calling him over near us if there was something he might run into. No matter how bad his sight got, he could still find random food, though. Amazing how that worked.
One of the hardest things to deal with is watching them run into things.
When I heard her tumble down the stairs the other night that was also upsetting. Thankfully they are all carpeted but still.
She’s always been the most active of the current four. Perhaps as much energy as the other three combined, so it’s sad seeing her lose the confidence to dash around. Probably explains why she’s got so clingy in recent times.
Dad took her to the eye specialist on the most recent of follow ups. By all accounts she was doing well. He seemed to think the “good” eye was primarily a cataract and suggested we operate. I’d hate to put her through it if it doesn’t work. Though in the past the hesitation in that eye was the thought it could make it worse. Doesn’t seem like that’s a concern any more.
Wish the hearing wasn’t a problem. I hate that part the most - that I can’t call her towards me very easily. If only doggy hearing aids were extremely effective.