Posting here for traffic - need urgent opinions about my lovely Dog :-(

[Huskylover1]

I have posted in the doghouse section, but no replies, so posting here for traffic.

We have an awful predicament. Our dog is 8 years old. She suffered Glaucoma when she was 3 years old, and after treating the "bad" eye with multiple drops a day for 18 months, she had to have that eye removed (the tissue started to die).

On 22nd December, she walked in to a wall, and we knew something was wrong with her "good" eye. We got her to the vets and the pressure in her eye was too high, meaning that the Glaucoma had now hit her "good" eye, so she was hospitalised. She came home a few days later, and amazingly a week later had her sight back! Felt truly blessed!

She was placed on a treatment plan of about 11 drops a day. With a plan to gradually decrease this, as things stabilized. Thankfully, I work from home!

Anyway, since then she's had 2 more relapses (pressure in the eye too high). This is very painful. She was admitted again yesterday, to be placed on 2 IV drips. One reduces the pressure in the eye, the other hydrates her organs.

So, this is her 3rd admission and hooking up to IV's, since 22nd December. The vet says that with 3 admissions in 6 weeks, the prognosis for the eye doesn't look good, ie. she will be blind forever now, and we have 2 options :

1)Remove the remaining eye
2) Put to sleep

She is home now (picked her up this afternoon), and we don't have to make this decision until her next relapse. This could be tomorrow/next week/next month, no idea. The pressure will spike, she will be in pain, and we will have to quickly decide what to do.

I am not sure that I can see her with two sewn up eye sockets! It feels cruel. She is a magnificent beast, a black and white husky with bright blue eyes (well, she did have). She's a real hunter. Loves running wild off the lead and playing fetch, both of which will now be off the menu.

DH thinks we should remove the eye and see how she copes, but this is another major Op, and when we got the first eye out it was horrendous, she had a bad bleed and her whole face was matted in blood. I am thinking it would be kinder to PTS. I don't think it's fair to put her through another major Op, just to buy another 4 years (till her life expectancy), which would be a life of no sight and effectively no communication, as she can't speak!

That's the predicament....very grateful for any views.

Having had a blind dog I'd also be inclined to go ahead with the op and see how she does, though you know your girl best Huskylover.

DDog2 lost her sight at a young age (18 months) due to hereditary cataracts. For various reasons we weren't able to go ahead with corrective surgery straight away so she had a period of about a year and a half where she was completely blind.

She was very active and athletic before losing her sight and nothing changed afterwards. She still went on off lead walks, she chased balls, she jumped obstacles, she ran and played with DDog1. Everything she was doing before she carried on doing despite not being able to see.

We moved house three times during that 18 month period and she adjusted very quickly to each new environment. She learned very quickly how to navigate and remembered her surroundings with uncanny accuracy.

She had corrective surgery when she was 3 years old but had she not been a suitable candidate, or had it been a condition where surgery wasn't an option, there's no question that she would have been able to live a perfectly full and active life as she was.

There are a number of FB groups for owners of blind dogs, it's worth joining and having a look through people's experiences on there. It might help you come to a decision if you're able to get a good idea of how different dogs deal with losing their sight.

I also found this website (particularly their tips page) really useful when we were getting to grips with DDog2 losing her sight.

I was on the side of try it and see until you said she is a Husky. Surely she needs a free run every day? Its not like shes a small low energy breed.
If it were my decision, I'd have her PTS

I'm going against the grain here, and agree with your DH.

My own dog is not only blind, but also deaf (as a result of diabetes). When we realised her sight started to go after her hearing I felt awful, and when we realised she's gone blind we took her to the vets to have the discussion.

He asked how her quality of life was, and if she was still eating/moving around etc. He was and the vet said she still seemed very happy, and told us her sense of smell is still very good and she gets around with that.

Don't get me wrong, once she shows signs of being unhappy/in pain we'd reevaluate the situation, but she's been deaf/blind for about 3 months now - gets up when she smells her breakfast in the morning and comes down, knows the house so very rarely walks into things, and still comes to us for cuddles and seems perky.

Good luck OP, it's heartbreaking facing these decisions.

If you are on Facebook search for a page called the touch of sight, it is a lady called Tracey who owns a whippet who had to have both of her eyes removed, she lives a very full happy life including being off lead, Tracey is a great support to anyone going through making this decision, lots of the followers own blind dogs, it may help you to decide what to do it at least what questions to ask your vet.

I would give him a chance after having the operation

I see that you have other dogs come to your house - I have just read on the page anther poster linked to and it says to have your dog free to move around and have the other dog on the lead so that your dog knows it is there iyswim

Also, put bells on the collars of the other dogs so your dog can hear as well as smell them coming up to him

I don't mean it stays on lead all the time I mean when first arrives Ar your house

Dog behaviour consultant here...

Remove the eyes, see how she gets on.

The recovery from the op should be fast and there shouldn't really be any pain for her.

Dogs rely so SO much more on scent and hearing, their vision is way down on the list of priorities - their colour vision is limited ot grey/yellow/blue, their depth perception is poorer than ours and their acuity also poorer than ours.

We already know that humans cope extremely well with a lack of sight, both those born blind and those who go blind later in life, and our eyesight is MUCH more important to us, it is much better than a dogs and we rely on it far far more.

All the evidence points at dogs adapting VERY well to total blindness so I would give yourself a kick up the bum regarding how you'll feel about how she looks, and crack on with it.

There are plenty of things you can do to help her adjust, including NOT moving your furniture around, putting tactile strips down or particular rugs etc to mark where doorways or changes in level are, and quite a lot more.

I think it would be unfair not to try, but do keep in mind that euthanasia causes us the grief not the dog, they know nothing so if that is the option you take... even if its for your benefit more than hers, its still not wrong.

I also think you should give her the chance.

Our girl was blind for just over a year due to diabetes. She went blind overnight.

She managed incredibly, unbelievably well. Yes she bumped into walls and doors sometimes, but given a big wide open space, she would run and run and use her ears to follow us. She mapped the whole house and gardens in her head. She worked things out very quickly when we had to move some furniture around.

She was very happy and had a great last year, despite the diabetes and being blind.

She lost the use of her back legs suddenly on Tuesday evening this week and we had to rush her to the vets to be PTS. Worst day of my life.

Everyone loved her and nobody realised she was blind as she managed so well.

Please give her a chance. She will more than likely amaze you, just like our girl did.

You will get over the issue of seeing her without eyes - a dog's most valuable sense is her nose, not her sight.

was going to suggest what widdlin posted about the furniture. One of our old pets has very poor eyesight.
Bumps into things.
We try not to move anything around especially in the bedroom where he mainly is.
Food and water bowls always in the same corner.
Try not to have clutter in the rooms in goes in.

She was a border collie BTW. Completely insane, headstrong and bouncy. Not a "pottering" type either.

She was 15, blind for a year and she didn't change - if anything, she just got noisier and crazier, she barked a lot to make sure we knew she was there as she couldn't see us.

piknmixer so sad for you. It made me smile to imagine the 'yoohoo, I'm here' barking and the general collie loopiness, she sounds like a wonderful dog.

Sorry I've not rtft.

I've had two dogs who were blind. One from.birth so didn't know any different. Never went off lead unless in an enclosed space that he knew, but had an extendable lead and ran like the wind, with me sprinting behind him. He was a joy to behold. The other had the same as yours and had the first eye removed. We did the same dog walk every day (due to the other dog) so this one knew the route. It was a straight ish grass track. He did go off lead and was fine. His remaining eye deteriorated so that he couldn't really see at all. He coped very well and still went off lead on our usual walks.
It wouldn't be wrong to pts, but your dog may well manage perfectly well.

Both mine were springer spaniels, so vvv active.

i honestly would never choose to put a cat or dog to sleep due to blindness, unless after months they were severely distressed. you dont know how your dog will cope given the chance to adapt. your dog will have smell and sound and taste and touch, & she will still sense love and affection

We used to have a dog who went totally blind at the age of 10 or 11 (lived until about 16). Visitors never guessed, until they got close enough to see how odd her eyes looked. When it first happened she went through a quieter, slower adjustment period, but within weeks was galloping about the farm, as much as ever! Certainly our furniture stayed in the same place, outside and in, for the rest of her life, but the only adjustment we made were things for her safety, such as gates being locked so no-one could leave them open. She didn't bang into things, not even at a run, and was still a bit prone to chasing the chickens.

I know two blind dogs now (both eyeless) and they too have adjusted in a similar manner.

I would give your dog a chance if I were you.

Here's a bit of information that might help. www.eyevet.ca/coile2.html

I'm so sorry, OP.

I would choose to put the dog to sleep, but I think my DH would choose the operation option. I think, ultimately, it depends on how much the operation is going to impact their quality of life. An older, more lazy dog? It's probably okay, but a younger, more energetic, and adventurous dog? I think it'd remove their quality of life to an extent.

I can't stand the idea of my dogs not being happy. I know one day I will have to make the choice to continue treatment or put them down (when they're elderly), but I would hope I will continue to hold the "their happiness first" feeling I currently have. I will be absolutely devastated to see them go, but I would be more devastated and guilt-ridden to think I had kept their here, at the expense of their happiness and freedom, for my own relatively selfish reasons.

That's just my take on it. It's a bloody hard decision, regardless.

Good luck xx

I've really dithered over whether this is a fair thing to put here, but in the end decided I would and leave you to make the choice if you want to look or not. I found this album on Imgur of a husky who had his eyes removed due to glaucoma, his story is sad but has a really lovely outcome. goo.gl/images/sCigFX (nothing gory, just healed empty sockets. And him with a goofy big smile frolicking in the snow!)

There have been a few of us saying we'd not PTS but I just wanted to say again that I 100% agree with GreatScot8 and the quality of life questions, and the very selfless choice to PTS if that's the right thing to do for your beloved dog.

I would have the op to remove the eye and when recovery is done, just give it a bit of time and see how it goes as you can always pts at a later stage. It might be that she adapts well and you have many more years together. I think dogs love walks but they also really love their owners and a load of other things.

It really depends on the dog - I've done several double enucleations for dogs that have coped well afterwards - their ears and noses compensate terrifically.

My friend had a similar dilemma with her dog last year. It was a very young dog but did something irreversible to its paw. The same thing would happen to the other paw. She could have had an operation to fix it up temporarily but she said she thought about the dog and his personality.
He was a lively energetic dog bounding through life and she thought if she kept him alive just for her it would be unfair on the dog, because his life would not be as it should be. He was born to run! So she did the kindest thing (and the hardest thing) and put him to sleep.

There is no easy answer here, just picture your dog when she was at her happiest, could her life still be like this if you went ahead with the operation. Go with the right decision for your dogs personality.

Good luck x

I'd go with the operation and see how she coped. Dogs are very resilient and just get on with things. She'd slow down what she wanted to do with old age anyway so I'd give her a go. You might be amazed and if not then you've still got the option.
[dog treats]

I agree with your DP, give her a chance!

I watched a dog programme last night. A dog had one eye removed and went blind in the other.

They can adapt very quickly. Apparently they make a mental picture of their home, so they don't bump into things.

This dog could also run around, it was wearing a harness, with a round bit sticking out the front ahead of the dog so it wouldn't crash into things!

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B017HI6YYS/ref=mp_s_a_1_6/254-7045305-5656137?ie=UTF8&qid=1486115567&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=blind+dog+harness&dpPl=1&dpID=51ZOFhoRegL&ref=plSrch&tag=mumsnetforum-21

Something like this

I suspect I will have this decision to make with my 13 year old Yellow Lab - she had an eye removed last November for the same reason as yours and the vet did warn me the condition may affect the other eye. However she did say that dogs adapt very well to being blind .

Have no idea what I will do tbh when I have to make the choice.

Please give her a chance! Also think about your marriage. I am with your DH here and think he may have a problem with this long term if you don't give her a chance.

I agree with your dh. Although I understand what a hard and horrible decision this is for you

I would have to give her a chance, because you just dont know if she will be ok. Yes blindness will decrease quality of life, but she may still have an enjoyable and content life. Can you ask your vet for advice?