Dog losing their eyes

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LuvRacing

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Hi,
I took my JRT to an eye specialist yesterday and she has been diagnosed with glaucoma with the eventual outcome of losing both her eyes.

Does anyone have any experience of having dogs with glaucoma or losing eyes. I know if she is blind it wont make a difference to her and it is the humans that have to come to terms with it, the specialist was very good at explaining everything.

Hearing other peoples experiences would be good and may reassure me that its not the end of the world!

Thank you
Ness
 
Some dogs adapt quite well to it, MM has a bitch who lost an eye so maybe she will be on later to advise. As does Prose.

It depends on the dog, her personality, her outlook.
 
I had a bitch who lost an eye following an accident. It took her a few weeks to adjust to it and she tended to walk into things on her left side (she lost her left eye) but gradually got used to it. Losing the sight of both eyes would be a lot more problematical. However, I heard of a case some years ago of a Labrador that was taken on the same walk for years and years . . . one day the owner noticed that the dog was jumping an invisible (to him) obstacle in the middle of a field. It turned out that the dog had gone blind without the owner realising and "remembered" there used to be a ditch in the field and was still jumping it although the ditch had been filled in! A dog's visual memory is very good. I've also heard of a dog that went blind, again without the owner realising, and it only became apparent when they moved the furniture in the house and th dog started walking into things
 
My dog, Shadow, a collie X was diagnosed with PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) last summer in both eyes, he was then 7 1/2 years old. I didn't do the apparently normal stage of going into denial (unlike the rest of my family) as I know Shadow so well and could now understand why he acted as he did in certain situations. I was in shock though and it took me some time to come out of it.

PRA is the death of the Rod and then Cone cells at the back of the eye socket that process the light into pictures. PRA can either happen suddenly with the dog going blind almost straight away or over a period of years. The first thing to go is the dogs night vision and this gradually changes so that they can only see silhouettes in bright light. Apparently it is also easier for them to see moving objects than stationary ones. PRA is incurable.

I had noticed Shadow having problems for at night for a couple of years but the vets said he was fine until I became more concerned last year and a friend recommended I asked for him to be referred to Optivets. Otpivets were really good and got the the cause in one long session. They told me that Shadows condition was already well along and that I would be surprised at just how little he can see - they reckon only really silhouettes in a normal or bright light. He also said that he would be totally blind within 18 months maximum. We had just got a puppy , Poppy, as company for Shadow (a border collie) and she must have been about 10 or 11 weeks old at the time so she came with us and sat on our knee for Shadows appointment. Optivet said that it was the best thing we could have done for Shadow as when Poppy grew up she would become Shadows guide dog. Amazingly I have seen her guiding Shadow already at times.

I was upset to hear the news but when I realised how little Shadow could see already and that I had only noticed in poor lighting conditions it shows just how well he has coped. It helps that it has been such a gradual onset. I still rarely use a lead on him and he still runs around loads with and without Poppy on his walks. He seems to know the difference between a wide open space and the woods. He is also still a very happy dog. I really don't think it worries him at all, the vet said that he probably thinks he can see as well as he always could as it has been a slow progression.

I have been more aware of his condition and try to help him and think ahead to avoid any problems. I bought him a luminous vest with I'm Blind on it from bonniedogs.co.uk more as a warning to anyone he meets that he may not react how they expect and he may run into them. He definitely doesn't want anyone feeling sorry for him!

I bought a couple of books as guides and this is the best one that I would recommend.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/My-Dog-Blin...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271939326&sr=1-2

I have also bought some blind dog URLs and I am planning on setting up a web site at some point this year with a forum and place for pictures etc and hopefully some advice etc for people with blind dogs if I can get any experts involved in contributing. There is an American site but it is very American and I wanted something a bit more close to home.

Good luck with your dog.
 
As CC said I had a GSD bitch who had to have an eye removed at 10 years of age due to a tumour. Up until then her sight did not seem to be affeced at all so she had to learn to cope with vision in only one eye and adapted remarkably well and very quickly. We all soon got used to her appearance with only one eye so it didn't bother us at all. I have a bitch at the moment who has a problem with her sight, too long to go into detail here but in her case the decline has been gradual and again she seems to manage fine as long as we don't leave things in her way. Sadly our younger bitch has no idea of the guide dog idea, she seems to go out of her way to leave footballs etc in poor Buffys way.:(
Re your dog losing both eyes, I am not sure if she has a problem with her sight at present, in which case the loss of the eyes would be purely cosmetic, or if she would have to cope with sudden loss of vision too. If the latter I think your vet is the best person to advise you. Mydnightshadow has given a lot of useful advice too, but when it comes down to it every dog is different and you are the one who knows your dog best and knows how she would cope.
 
Thank you everyone for your replies. The vet we saw has been really helpful explaining things and we think she has been gradually going blind for a while now and is coping pretty well with it so it won't be a sudden change for her. That is why I said it won't really matter to her when they are removed, it will just make thisgs more comfortable for her without that pressure.

It will just be us having to get used to the look of it but at the end of the day her quality of life is paramount and any decision will be based on that. Its reassuring to hear stories of other blind dogs or those who have had an eye removed.
 
I'm sorry to hear that, OP. I take it she has daily drops right now? Did the vet measure the intraocular pressure of the eye?

My Boston terrier, Stella, lost her right eye when she was five-years-old (she's now seven). She suffered a massive head trauma and developed secondary glaucoma, thus resulting in the removal of the eye, which was undamaged superficially, but glaucoma is very painful in a dog and often removing the eyes is the easiest way forward.

My dog took about two weeks to adjust, and she hasn't bumped into anything since. We added a second dog last year, and if your dog likes others, it might be a good idea to do the same sooner rather than later. Though Stella's glaucoma is not genetic, and there is nothing wrong with her other eye, I figured a companion a good idea just in case she starts losing her sight with old age.

You might want to join the Yahoo group for blind dogs. It was an invaluable resource to me at the time of Stella's accident, and hopefully you will realise that blindness in a dog is far from the end of the world.

http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/blinddogs/
 
One of mine had her eye removed after developing gluconma in it. However, she previously had a cataract in it so had went blind gradually so didn't find adjusting to it as difficult. She had to stay in overnight following the surgery and had a drain fitted into the wound to help drain away fluid. She had the surgery in December and was back out shooting by end January, although didn't work any hard cover until it was totally healed. Quite weird to look at as the muscle still works so the eye makes the blinking motion, twitches etc when she moves her eyebrows. I think she looks dead cute :D

However, my vet firmly believes that if she goes blind in her remaining eye (she has a cataract forming in it) that the kindest thing to be would be euthanasia. Although she is 11 now, so he thinks that by time the cataract is far enough advanced to blind her that chances are she will probably be a very old girl anyway!

She was so well behaved throughout the entire procedure and healing process. Not once did she whimper or refuse her medicine.

Some pictures following her surgery...first three are the day following surgery, next is a couple of days after drain removal, then the last is it all healed.

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I have also owned a dog that went blind in both eyes. However, it was an unusual situation as we also owned her mother who acted as a 'guide dog' for her. They were never seperated, things couldn't be moved in the house or garden as she knew the layout. If you were walking around with her, you used to hold your hand down by your side in like a cupped position and she set her chin in your hand and walked like that as a guide.
 
Its funny how those of us who have had dogs who lose eyes very quickly see it as a part of our dog. That is how I felt about my girl, sometimes when I would notice people looking at her I would forget she looked different. I know I have posted this picture before, but any excuse, she was such a special girl.

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