Ella’s medical history: surgery to remove subluxated lenses (not totally successful, one lens remains in rear of eye), surgery to reduce eye pressure (not successful), chemical ablation of ciliary body by injection (caused blindness but successful in one eye), finally enucleation of one eye. All this in her first two years of life.
The good news is that after suffering two surgeries, chemical injections, drops and pills and losing her sight, Ella hikes daily, chases balls, retrieves sticks and causes onlookers to doubt her blindness. She hikes off leash.
I admit that I had no idea of the capabilities of blind dogs. Ella amazes me every day. She lives to chase. Her persistence in endless retrieving is trying on my patience but I am just so thankful that she seems to not realize her own blindness. In the house, she drops toys at my feet and remains still in an expectant crouched pose ready retrieve until I give in and kick the toy. She never gives up. She runs down soccer balls kicked on the lawn.
This video shows her soccer prowess (she catches better than I kick)…
This is awesome Charles. Thanks so much for posting. I have shared this post to our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/BlindDogSupport/
Beautiful awesome Ella!! ??I love the videos. She’s so amazing. Thank you for sharing & for inspiration for others who may go through what you & Ella have gone through. My dog has been blind for a few years & is very happy. She was a rescue when we got her at 5 years old. Now she’s 13 & happier than ever. She still likes her walks & is very playful.
I’ve posted on another thread about my dog going through eye removal due to glaucoma. I also have another 13 year old dog who has been blind for several years. When we got her as a rescue, she had one eye that was damaged from some type of injury which caused vision loss in that eye. A couple of years after that, she became blind due to a cataract. We didn’t have any treatment done to the cataract since she’s not in pain. So far, she does very well without vision. She’s adapted & is very happy & playful. Now that I’ve read more about cataracts leading to glaucoma it’s hard to know what I should do for her. Due to her age, I don’t think I would put her through an eye removal. I hope I never have to make that decision for her. For now,
Hi, my dog Beamer a cross breed is 13/14 and has glacoma in right eye I have to take him to the PDSA who say they will have to remove his eye after giving ointment drops and tablets, he has to go tomorrow and I am sick with worrying how his eye will look after removal….so frightened for him its making me ill.
Liz, don’t worry about the loss of Beamer’s eye. He will be free of pain and will not miss his eye at all. My Ella does just fine without her eye. The first four days after eye removal surgery were a little stressful but after that no problem.
Hi,
My name is Valerie, nice to meet you all. There’s a situation I have that requires some advice and you guys must be the right ones. I’ve met a guy who has 10 baby border collies and, the smallest one, is blind. He has never seen light nor colors and he will be sacrificed if he cannot find a home for the puppy, he will sacrifice it. I currently have a 4 months old Golden Retriever and I don’t know if I would be able to make this puppy happy not give him a good life.
What challenges have you faced? What advise can you give me?