Awww sad stories.... what breed of dog? how old? what do you feed?
dog loosing eyesight
My dog has recently been diagnosed with progressive retinal atrophy which means she is slowly loosing her eye sight & no treatment to stop or slow it down.
We are very active & take our dogs with us all the time, I am wondering if anyone has any tips for us to help keep her active while her eye sight deteriorates?
Thank you in advance.
We are very active & take our dogs with us all the time, I am wondering if anyone has any tips for us to help keep her active while her eye sight deteriorates?
Thank you in advance.
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She's a lab x border collie probably around 9 years old & she eats life time dry food
Since y'all are active doggles may help if y'all go hiking or somewhere she's liable to injure her eyes.
Get down at her eye level in your yard and house, anything that looks like it may wound her if she runs into it either pad or remove it, Look out for branches, and sharp corners,
A harness will work better to help guide her then a collar will. A harness will also help you steady her if she stumbles. If you get one with a handle, like Webmaster Ruffwear, you can use the handle to help him over obstacles.
Block off stairs, I had my blind dog fall down my deck steps and terrify both himself and I, luckily he was not seriously hurt, although at his age (over 17) it did not help his health any. It just took me taking my eyes off him for a second for him to fall, and he had been blind around a year when he did it. I had both the top and bottom step clearly marked by rugs and he still fell.
Encourage him to explore.
Get down at her eye level in your yard and house, anything that looks like it may wound her if she runs into it either pad or remove it, Look out for branches, and sharp corners,
A harness will work better to help guide her then a collar will. A harness will also help you steady her if she stumbles. If you get one with a handle, like Webmaster Ruffwear, you can use the handle to help him over obstacles.
Block off stairs, I had my blind dog fall down my deck steps and terrify both himself and I, luckily he was not seriously hurt, although at his age (over 17) it did not help his health any. It just took me taking my eyes off him for a second for him to fall, and he had been blind around a year when he did it. I had both the top and bottom step clearly marked by rugs and he still fell.
Encourage him to explore.
thank you all of those are great ideas! i have never thought about the doggles for hiking! i will keep in mind all of those things & luckily we don't have stairs. Her sight is still good pretty good in day light for now but her night vision is deteriorating fast so I'm sure it want take long. I want to get a head of this so its an easy transition for her & i scared that if she stops being active & doing the things she loves she will age her faster.
I understand wanting to get stuff ready in advance, it's always good to plan ahead.thank you all of those are great ideas! i have never thought about the doggles for hiking! i will keep in mind all of those things & luckily we don't have stairs. Her sight is still good pretty good in day light for now but her night vision is deteriorating fast so I'm sure it want take long. I want to get a head of this so its an easy transition for her & i scared that if she stops being active & doing the things she loves she will age her faster.
Shadow had really bad cataracts that slowly took most of his sight, he got to the point that I was sure he was blind and it wasn't until his stroke took his vision that I realized he had been able to see at least light, dark, and large shapes. He'd go on walks and no one would guess he had very limited vision. He could find his way around the yard and house great, and would still run around like a dog that could see. I did have to keep him on leash though since he would run full tilt into stuff, the most notable being the side of a retaining wall. I used the leash to stop him and guide him if need be.
If your girl's vision goes slowly enough she'll likely adjust very quickly to not being able to see. Keep encouraging her to do what she normally would and show her that she can still do it, I learned that I sometimes had to show my boy that he was still able to do something. Shadow lost his vision in the matter of a minute most likely and it did affect his confidence, but by then he was 16 years old and although he adjusted it took longer then it most likely would a younger, active, healthy dog.
Thank you it helps a lot to know that she can still be confidant & happy. At the moment it does seem like a slow decline. For the last couple of weeks her eyes have become dilated more often & will only restrict a tiny amount, most of the time her pupils are so big her eyes look black, i guess seeing this change has made me worry about her ageing so its nice to have some reassurance so that i don't drive myself crazy worrying.
Feel free to tell my thinking is way off, but if the dog has a good sense of smell still, perhaps you can establish boundaries with a sense of smell?
For example, if you lay a scent along the wall perimeters, around furniture, etc., perhaps the dog will associate the specific smell with a boundary. Then, you might be able to use that scent to block off things like stairs or areas you don't want them to go into.
For example, if you lay a scent along the wall perimeters, around furniture, etc., perhaps the dog will associate the specific smell with a boundary. Then, you might be able to use that scent to block off things like stairs or areas you don't want them to go into.
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