<p>My 12yo diabetic doxie is now blind. (I give him 9 units of insulin twice daily)) We knew that diabetic cataracts were forming, but suddenly he seems to have lost all vision. We moved to another home and he isnt fully adjusted yet.</p>
<p>What have been your experiences? </p>
<p>What has helped?</p>
<p>We are considering cataract surgery, but if his life expectancy isnt too much longer, we may not be able to justify the cost…about 3500. We have an appt on Monday with his vet to discuss his life expectancy. </p>
<p>I am also hoping that our other dog will help him, but dont know if that will happen.</p>
<p>A friend’s dog went suddenly blind. The dog and my friend learned how to cope, with words that my friend would say to the dog to tell him where he was and what to watch out for. Generally the dog stayed inside except for walks on the leash. The dog learned, new words like “step” and “watch out.” Apparently their hearing becomes more attuned so they have a sense not to run into things. What was problematic was when we had very deep snow and paths were shoveled. It messed up the dog’s hearing so he couldn’t tell where he was. </p>
<p>Good luck. It’s not easy. My friend said it was like having a two-year-old whom she constantly had to watch out for. </p>
<p>ETA: My friend told me that the dog adjusted but she did not. She said it was worse for her than the dog.</p>
<p>Our labbie became diabetic and lost her sight but she had no trouble navigating in our house. We didn’t have to change anything. She just seemed to know where to walk even when outside. </p>
<p>A friend of mine had a bichon frise who went almost completely blind at about age 12. They decided not to do cataract surgery because of his age. Turns out, he lived to be 18. They wished they had done it for the sake of his quality of life. But of course, hindsight is 50/50. And that dog did not have any other health problems.</p>
<p>We inherited a blind poodle a number of years ago and had him for about 2 years before he died. He seemed to get around pretty well- a lot of bumping into things but he managed. You need to be careful about stairs and decks/landings. I walked him and he did OK with that, too.</p>
<p>Our 11 year old Golden has glaucoma and lost one eye and we are working hard to maintain sight in the “good” eye, but he has lost some. He is still fine with steps and getting around.</p>
<p>As much as I love animals, I’m not sure I would do the expensive surgery on an elderly dog. Again, if you knew he had 6 more years, you do it, but odds are against that.</p>
<p>This is not QUITE the experience you are looking for, but my senior guinea pig developed cataracts about 6 months ago. For them, this particular surgery is not an option, because of how fragile they are. Her living area is somewhere around 36-40 Sq feet (fenced in inside the apartment). What has worked well for me so far is to make sure to keep the arrangement of everything exactly the same. It has made her a lot more comfortable and confident, I think. I don’t know how many moving furniture pieces, toys, etc. you have around, but I would think it would help the dog (indoors at least) to keep everything as much in the same place as possible. </p>
<p>If the life expectancy isn’t much longer, the stress of the surgery is likely to outweigh the benefits. At this stage in life, it’s better to just keep him comfortable. </p>
<p>We’ve had two blind fosters. One was very young and just ran into things until he figured it out. The old one was very careful with every step that he took. We made sure to cover corners (he was large enough to hit himself on tables and counters) so that he didn’t hurt himself. We also put up baby gates by stairs to make sure he didn’t try to go down without one of us. He adapted well. </p>
<p>My last dog was an Aussie mix who went blind from SARS (Sudden Acquired Retinal Deterioration Syndrome) at about age 9 or 10. The blindness comes on very quickly and there is no known cure, so it something of an adjustment for us all. However, the dog adjusted quickly and did not have any difficulty navigating around our own house and yard. I had to learn to do a better job of being a good guide when walking the dog outside on a leash – for example, learning to warn the dog before stepping down and up from a curb, or before turning a corner – and definitely learning to watch out for obstacles like lamp posts rather than leading the poor dog straight into them. But once I learned to be more vocal, the dog was fine. (I don’t know if the dog really needed to learn specific words and phrases – that is, I learned to say “turn right” but I don’t know whether the dog understood that or simply learned that sound of my voice meant, “be careful and pay attention.” </p>
<p>Of course the dog was also aging and things became worse over time as her hearing started to deteriorate as well. So in hindsight I wonder about the quality of her life in her last years— but the blindness was only part of the array of issues that come up with older dogs. </p>
<p>My old Sheltie recently passed away at 14. He had been blind since he was 7. He learned how to get around by both scent and touch – he could navigate around the yard knowing where he was by what was under his feet --grass, pavement, mulch, pachysandra, flagstone, cement, or in the house, – wood floor, carpet etc. He could go up and down stairs, he knew where we all were all the time. My now 4 year old Sheltie did help him – but my current 2 year old didn’t understand him at all.</p>
<p>My breeder has a full sister to my 2 year old Sheltie. The sister has been blind since birth. She’s able to navigate around with the other dogs and get up on chairs and sofas – and down – without help. </p>
<p>Our lab was mostly blind toward the end of his life. Here is some advice I got: Don’t rearrange any furniture and mark doorway boundaries with a specific scent. like a lemon furniture polish, at nose-level for the dog so he learns how to pass through doorways/hallways without banging his head. Call to him at home so he knows where you are. Signally verbally when you leave a room so he can follow you (our dog was very insecure when he lost his sight). Another thing is that blind dogs can lose the distinction between day and night, so following a routine (meals, walks, bedtime) helps keep a blind dog on a diurnal pattern.</p>
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mark doorway boundaries with a specific scent. like a lemon furniture polish, at nose-level for the dog so he learns how to pass through doorways/hallways without banging his head.
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<p>Our dog died at age 19 and was an insulin dependent diabetic for the last 6 years of his life and blind for the last 4 and deaf for I don’t know how long. The thing was, he was perfectly comfortable and happy and his care was not onerous. He’d get an imbalance a few times a year, yes, and I did have to give him injections twice a day, but he got around the house just fine, ate well, and still took occasional forays out of the yard and raiding the garbage as his super nose was right on till the day he died. Didn’t see much suffering at all. </p>
<p>I did have to let our cat go at age 20 and kept her a bit too long, as she did have ailments that made her uncomfortable and in pain to the point that I could see she was truly suffering and not much I could do was bringing the agitation down. But our dog seemed very content and at peace each day, and died as he had lived–a last hurrah escape from the house and yard.</p>