My dog now has intermittent blindness...has anyone else cared for a pet who is going blind?

CindyLouWho

CindyLouWho

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My dog who has been sick over the last year, with liver tumor and enlarged heart is now going blind.

He still has a great appetite, drinks plenty of water, and other functions are ok as well. I'm just adjusting, as he is, to losing his sight. It's a stressful situation for him and I, as I now have to be his eyes and make sure he doesn't get hurt.

The vet thinks it might be cataracts versus, metastasis from the liver.

Does anyone have any experience with your pet's blindness that you could share?
 

I'm sorry I don't have any experience with pet blindness, CindyLou but I feel for you and your pet. It must be so hard. How old is your dog?
 
Thanks, Lara. He just turned 14 on May 20.
 

So sorry, Cindy. :( I have no personal experience with blindness in dogs, but my MIL did have a little dog who was blinded by diabetes. She was able to manage pretty well, but she did have to watch her pretty closely. Good luck to you.
 
Thanks, C'est Moi. Well, whatever it takes, we'll adjust.

My vet said it's not of course the best situation, but it's not as bad as it is in humans, since dogs don't have to drive, work....etc. Guess that's one way of looking at it. It sure doesn't affect how much I love him, so we'll deal with the situation we have have been given and carry on.
 
I’m so sorry to learn this CindyLouWho.
Has your dog been checked for diabetes?

We had a schoodle who had epilepsy and later diabetic. The diabetes caused her to go blind and I had to give her insulin shots twice daily. I feel horrible saying this but I hadn’t realized how bad her eyesight was until she almost lost it all. When I’d take them for a walk , she’d often end up wandering off and would bark at me but I didn’t quite catch on until I noticed her having troubles navigating our property. Sometimes she’d end up at the back of our property all huddled up looking confused. It was very sad.

When we took her to the vets and got her blood work done we discovered this and that she will eventually go blind.
I took the bed off of its frame so she wouldn’t fall off the stairs and basically had to childproof our house. She slid down the stairs twice until we did this. I added little bells so she could hear us better. We even bought her a ball for the blind but she’d have nothing of it. The only difficult part was if she had a seizure while out for a long walk cause I’d have to carry her home so we bought a Dogger.

It was more difficult to understand what she wanted because she’d always come to me and just look up and I’d usually know what she wanted. Once she became blind she no longer did this so we both had to learn to communicate with each other again but we did. She preferred to be on a leash. She felt more secure. Our bond became stronger than ever and I loved her more than I’ve loved anything in my life.

Dogs can adapt to just about anything with the love and compassion of their owner. There’s a lot of good information online about how to deal with canine blindness. I wish you the best Cindy.
 
I had a 16 year old Yorkie that went blind. He got alone quite well for a few years before we had to have him put down due to other causes. I didn't change anything around in the house so he pretty much knew where things were and didn't bump into anything. I also would hold him if he became stressed from thunder which he was deathly afraid of. I think you will be able to tell if he is totally blind from a simple test my Vet did. He held a cotton ball in front of him, you could use anything. He dropped it to see if the dog would follow it to the floor. Mine did so he was able to see something for awhile.
 
Keesha - My vet didn't mention testing for diabetes, I think because he has has other issues going on as well and thinks he doesn't have much longer. He's been on thyroid meds for quite a few years too.

Ruth - The vet did test his vision and at the time of that visit he could see (how much he could not tell)some in one eye still. When he put him on the floor he ran into the wall and chair...so he definitely could not see well at all.
 
I have no experience , but from reading all your posts Cindy ..... your little boy has the best mom in the world! . I'd be like you .... just hovering over him and worrying about every step. I WISH I had a magic wand that I could wave and make everything better ......... (((Cindy )))
 
CindyLou, sorry to hear about your baby, he has so many other problems and now this. :( I do see a lot of older blind or almost blind dogs at the dog park and am always amazed at how they follow the sounds and take their walks with their owners. They do have 'halo' type head pieces you can put on them which warn them they're walking toward a wall or something. You have to be very careful about staircases too, but I'm sure you know all those common sense things.

I saw a woman who had made a homemade one of these. https://www.handicappedpets.com/wal...MIioDpgvak2wIVDsZkCh0iRAU_EAAYBCAAEgKABPD_BwE

I agree with Toomuchstuff, you are such a caring and loving mom to your boy, he's blessed to have you at this trying time in his life. :love_heart:
 
CindyLouWho said:
Keesha - My vet didn't mention testing for diabetes, I think because he has has other issues going on as well and thinks he doesn't have much longer. He's been on thyroid meds for quite a few years too.

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Our dog was in her senior years when this happened and I guess it happened gradually.

To be honest, our dog handled her illnesses far better than we did.
She was a real trouper and didn’t want us fussing with her.

Something we found very helpful was to stamp our feet on the floor so she knew where we were and it worked well. She’d get a real kick out if it.

We used clicker things as well. Your dog will learn to adapt to his blindness as you adapt to him being blind.
It is going to be a bit challenging but it will probably be some of the most rewarding time you’ll ever spend with your furry companion. You sound like a very caring doggie mom. Please keep us posted on his condition.
 
Two of our dogs in their elder years developed cataracts. But they did amazingly well with it. Their other senses took over, I guess. And, also, I don't think they go totally blind in that they can probably see light and shadows. But I don't know how it is with other causes of blindness, but I imagine they do about the same.
 
I had a dog that went blind because of diabetes and glaucoma. Do keep an eye on the dog's eyes to be sure the dog is not developing ulcers. That happened to my dog and it was awful. The vet had to remove the eye because it was causing her so much pain. Also watch to see if he is rubbing at his eyes, because that can also be a sign of trouble.
 
My last dog was only five when she developed epilepsy. Toward the end, she'd go blind after a particularly bad seizure and would be blind somewhere between a half hour and two hours. The seizures were producing strokes and she'd walk around in circles and bump into the furniture. She also wouldn't know us. She was on so much medication that it's a wonder the medicine didn't kill her.
 
3 of my 7 babies are now blind. Old Toby gets around just fine and seems to have mapped out the house. Butters has a history of seizures and now has finally gone permanently blind. He too gets around just fine. Now, Toto went blind last year and he has nothing but problems getting around. always bumping into furniture, walls, tree's etc. However, I expect it's partially due to the fact that he has gone deaf in one ear. I think it throws of his balance. Not much you can do but continue to just give them all the love and smooches you can. :)

Here's Toto (black), Toby Tyler (light brown), and Butters (lighter tan)
The extra poodle was my Noopdoggy. made it to just one day shy of his 18th birthday.
 

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My thanks to you all for sharing your stories, advice and kind words. It really helps.
Squatting Dog-thanks also for sharing the pictures sweet picture of your dogs and your situation, as well.
He's having a rough day today,trying to reassure him. He seemed to be able to see some Saturday morning but not since then. It's kind of ripping my heart out to see him navigate around. I know we'll adjust eventually like some of you have done.
It is amazing how strong, resilient and brave our pets are.
 
It IS difficult going through this type of transition with our aging pets. One of the most important things my husband and I learned in this experience is that our dogs don’t want us fretting about them. It actually makes a lot of sense though because , by nature, they are ‘still’ pack animals and they seem to instinctively know this at a certain level.


In nature with pack animals the older and injured dogs lose their position in the pack and are treated differently. These dogs can slow the pack down so when the time comes they will either go off and die or be killed by a younger pack dog. I still think dogs have this natural instinct even though we’ve domesticated them so as a human pack leader we are best to make them feel like nothing has changed and that we will love them regardless.


Dogs also love structure so even though we see them as getting older and having problems, they still seem to want and need their regular structured life more than anything. Since dogs use their 6th sense they feel our worry but it’s a hard thing to stop.


Just keep loving him the way you always have Cindy. It’s tough, I know.
 

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