My mom's dog is most likely going to have to his eyes removed. Sad story. I go over it in my blog, but I'll spare those that don't want to hear it. My mom is really upset about this. Does anyone have any experience with a blind dog and can offer some tips/advice that I can pass on to her to make her feel less hopeless?
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Blind dog
04/11I've known of lots of very happy blind dogs!
Haley was my favorite. www.puppymillrescue.org/haley.htm
Someone I know even put up a page full of them.
www.maryshouse.us/BlindDogs.htm
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Re: Blind dog
04/12animals are so unlike us humans, their ability to overcome such things a blindness or amputation is astounding. They dont hang onto the 'poor me' they just deal with it and kick in their other sences to compensate.
I am sure your mums dog will be just fine and once the 2 of them get into their new routine they will be right as rain. I wish I had a reference for you to give her but she should ask her vet to give her info and if there are other owners of blind dogs she can speak with so she knows what to expect. I think it will be harder on your mum than on her wee baby
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Re: Blind dog
04/12The only tips I have is to limit moving furniture. My in-laws have a blind doggie and they just had a baby so they're continually moving furniture to fit their needs. The result is he walks to the wrong part of the room to lay down or in the middle of the night they'll hear him jump and then land on the floor because the thought the bed was still there. Like blind people, dogs have coping skills like counting steps so just be aware that a small change to you could be a world of change to them. -
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Re: Blind dog
04/12Oh, that reminds me! Someone on my yahoo blind dogs list once suggested getting a scent to identify each room. Not an overpowering one, dogs don't need much because they smell hundreds of times better than humans, but to mark things like table legs and door ways. You'd take, say vanilla, and water it way down, then mark things in the kitchen. Use watered down lemon extract in the living room, lavender in the bedroom, and so forth. Again, not more than the tiniest bit, or it would just be a big smelly blur.
Caesar Millan is always saying that of sight, sound, and smell, dogs rely the least on sight. Losing it is a bigger deal to us than to them.
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Re: Blind dog
04/12Thanks for everyone's suggestions. My parents have an old home and is very limited in how they arrange the furniture because of windows and large doorways. In the 14 years that they've lived there, they have only rearranged the furniture in one room once because they bought a new living room set. -
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Re: Blind dog
04/12One more thing - leave doors open all the way. A friend of mine's dog went blind very quickly and one day when she came home from work he was behind the door, which was open halfway. He thought he was walking through the door, but then felt walls and got froze where he was. All dogs will react differently and this is just an example of one type or reaction. Other dogs would have backed up and tried to go around so who knows what your parent's dog is likely to do. -
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Re: Blind dog
04/12My Sister put down her dog Myca, who had cancer in his left foreleg. He was a very proud dog, and she didn't think his quality of life would be good enough on 3 legs.
I'm thinking she was humanizing him too much, and that maybe he would have had 2 or 3 more good years in him.
But that's second guessing her decision, and doesn't help her any at this point in life. :P She did what she thought was right at the time.
She ironically also kept her paralized dog Chromos alive for a long time. She would drag him to a clean location on straw after he pooed or peed. It was weird. I think Chromos was still happy, but... The different extremes she seemed to go through with her dogs...
I think maybe she was overcompensating for doubt over her decision with Myca.
Now that I'm a dog owner, I can understand how difficult her decisions were.
I have to agree though that a dog can handle blindness. Humans handle it, and it's our primary sense. It sucks, but I'd rather be alive and blind than dead. And I think a dog can handle an amputation as well.
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