The news for Rita isn’t good. A friend told Vince about a vet here in town that was treating her dog who has glaucoma so we took Rita to see him this morning. He seems to think her problem is progressed pretty far and either the lens or the retina in the right eye is detached. He said she appears to have problems with both eyes and he’s fairly certain she will be blind before too long.
Rita
I’m pretty sad about it but I think she can still have a great life. Depending on how well she gets around, that may have an influence on whether we stay here longer or move sooner . . do we want to change all her surroundings if she’s comfortable here. The vet said they usually manage to compensate for their lack of sight and manage to make do.
I have a feeling she’s already lost a good bit of her vision. Twice recently, she’s attempted to jump into my chair (recliner) and ran right into my foot that is obviously hanging right at the edge of the chair.
We have an appointment next week to take her to Austin to an ophthalmology vet and see what they have to say.
I am so thankful we found her and if there’s help available, we’ll be able to provide that for her. It doesn’t seem right that such a sweet little dog who’s already been through so much now has to deal with this. Of course, I’m the one sitting here bawling and she’s snoozing on the sofa without a care in the world.
Aren’t we quite a family . . old Speck is totally deaf and now Rita may go blind! It’s obvious how much Speck counts on Rita for direction. She barks . . he runs to the door barking . . doesn’t have a clue why he’s barking. Rita goes into the kitchen and Speck figures it’s time to eat so he follows her in there. I guess as long as old Speck is around, he can be the eyes (though he’s probably close to blind too) and Rita can be the ears!
Carolyn says
Bless their hearts. Hopefully, Rita will follow her ears and nose when she loses her sight.
Joyce says
I saw a picture on Facebook where someone had made a loop of something stiff that attached around their dogs head, (it was a few inches out from the dog’s nose and it may have attached to the collar) so if the dog was close to running into something the loop would hit it first and keep the dog from bumping its nose. They said the dog had been very timid about moving around, because it would run into things but the loop gave it courage to run around and play again. If Rita gets timid about getting around, you might see if you can find something similar for her.
Erin says
Awe ? I am sorry Judy . If I can be any help through this let me know. My daughters pug is blind and has diabetes so I have been helping with him recently too. It’s hard seeing them like that. They adjust once they get use to it. It’s hard though seeing them bump into walls doors etc. having to guide them everywhere it takes time. A watchful “eye” all the time. A warm touch and soft voice is comforting all the time. You and Vince were meant for Rita that’s why she ended up there! Speck too!!! Boots too! How lucky are they!!
Sherry V. says
We have a Westie that is diabetic — insulin shots twice a day. When we adopted him through a rescue he had already lost a bit of his eyesight due to the uncontrolled diabetes (his former owners could not afford his medical care & he was almost dead when they finally released him to rescue).
We have had him for a little over 5 years and our vet thinks that his eye sight is pretty much gone. . . . .but you would never know it if you saw him walking on a leash.
We do a lot of RVing during the year and he is always with us. . . . and has adapted extremely well to strange environments.
Our last Westie became diabetic while he was with me. . . . he also eventually lost his eye sight but it did not slow him down much either.
Dogs are much more adaptable than he humans are. . . . . they just take what comes in stride and keep on going.
Rita will figure out what she is doing. . . . you may just have to make some allowances, like not moving the furniture, making sure that you don’t leave sharp things at her eye level, etc. But, all in all, you don’t have to change your lifestyle too much.
Sherry V.
Dottie says
So sorry, Judy……Rita couldn’t have found anyone better to care for her. Wishing y’all the best.
Cilla Tyler says
My agility champion dog went blind by 4 years of age. Of course we retired from Agility but she still did earth dog, following her nose and ears. I could take her anywhere and she would walk down their hallway, find the stairs and go up. Wouldn’t come down. Didn’t run into walls. I said she was part bat. She lived 100 years like that passing at age 14. I learned the hard way not to move the furniture. She was some miffed when she missed the couch. Of course I felt horrible. Her glaucoma was very painful so we eventually had both eyes removed one at a time, 2 years apart. She was such a trooper. Handled it better than I did!!!
Sheri at The Loopy Ewe says
I’m sorry to hear about Rita. She is so lucky to have you for her family, and I imagine she will do just fine in her years to come. They adapt amazingly well, and she knows she is in a house with a family who loves her!
dezertsuz says
One of our local quilt stores has a resident dog, some kind of terrier/poodle mix. She’s completely blind, but she knows where everything in that store is and gets around it all to greet customers with a bark and a tail wag. They do compensate, just like humans do. Speck has already learned to deal with deafness. She will deal with blindness. It’s so fortunate you are able to get such good care for her. Too bad it isn’t just cataracts. I bet there’s a vet who fixes that!
Shannon LaCount says
I had a dog with glaucoma that was originally misdiagnosed. He was fairly young. We ended up going with the treatment of injection that essentially “killed” the eye rather than removal and prosthetic. We were one or the other had to be done because to do nothing would be pretty cruel due to the pain of glaucoma. Taz adjusted to being blind very well and lived a long life. We had to be careful moving things. Our other dogs had some issues with him sometimes and we always fed him separately, but really nothing else.
Karen Sutton says
Our Jill has cataracts and is just about totally blind now. Surgery is available but because of her age (14) and her heart condition she’s not a candidate for the procedure. She gets around – we try to keep the floor clear and not rearrange furniture. She navigates around the house and yard just fine. The major change in her behavior is she no longer jumps on the furniture although she has no trouble jumping down. She knows that when I say ‘careful’ she’s about to walk into something. I hope Rita compensates as easily as Jill.
Carol says
Sorry to hear about Rita. Our pets are like our children. I live with my daughter and son-in-law and take care of their English bull dog and rescue Jack Russell Terrior mix. Both are really sweet dogs and are part of the family.
Bon says
Bummer about Rita’s diagnosis. After reading the other posts, it sounds like she may be able to adapt. Good thing she has you and Vince.
danielle nabozny says
thank goodness she has a loving home with all this instead of still being in the wild. Altho they were born blind i follow 2 blind dogs on FB who di amazngly well
Dianne K. says
We just got home from a stage production of “Annie” that included a little rat terrier who had lost both eyes due to untreated glaucoma. That little dog was so cute and seemed to be quite happy even in the strange surroundings of the stage, with the help of the human actors. I’m sure you’ll be able to help Rita adapt.
Anne says
I was owned by a greyhound who came to me at age 2 and he was blind (due to progressive retinal atrophy) and he did just fine. I treated him like all the rest of the dogs (I had 6 greyhounds (retired racers) and a standard poodle. He did great. He did occasionally step on another dog or run into something, but rarely. I treated him just like I treated all my other dogs. If I had to move some furniture around I showed him where it was and maybe he ran into it the first day, but usually not after that.
Dogs acclimate very well to things like blindness. She’ll do just fine.
Andrea says
Judy
I had a blind dog and she did very well, she learned the path through the house as long as we did not move stuff she was fine. I just had to pick her up and down to get on the couch and bed because of the depth perception being gone, she went up and down our stair way just fine. Hope that gives you some reassurance for little Rita.
Kathy Alden says
My daughter fosters pugs. She recently has Otis who was blind. She has stairs off her deck. It only took 1 time for Otis to learn where the stairs were and he could go down with no help. Rita will do fine. Dogs are very intuitive!
Angie Kiker says
So sorry to hear about Rita. I’m sure she is already adapting and getting better with her surroundings. It’s sad though, but she has such a loving home with you and Vince.
Maggie says
Aw so sorry to hear about Rita. It is so lucky for her she found you and Vince and is not struggling alone outside anymore.
Jackie says
I’m so sorry to hear about Rita’s eyes. She is blessed having you and Vince as her “Mommy and Daddy”and will adapt with your help.
Robin F. says
Sorry to hear about Rita’s problems. You are loving parents and will help her as much as possible. She is lucky to have you as parents.