I have a Minature Schnauzer who will be 13 years old on July 1, 2016. She has always been in good health until recently she was vomiting bile. Did an ultrasound and nothing was found.
After giving her nausea pills she hasn’t thrown up anymore. She had been having some eye changes but the vet did a glaucoma test and it was fine. Over the weekend her eyes became completely opaque and blue. It was obvious she had lost her sight.
We took her to ER to see a dog opthomologist. They diagnosed her as have glaucoma and cateracts in both eyes. She is now on eye drops but it is obvious she can’t see.
It is so sad and she is very active and now she is so unsure. Not sure how to help her and would love any advice from anyone going through the same thing. I am ready to help her and not feel like crying all the time. Thank you
She looks like such a sweetie. It’s always so difficult when you find out your dog has glaucoma. I know the feeling exactly.
The eye drops will help reduce the swelling which will reduce the pain. Please do not miss putting in those drops as the eyes can deteriorate pretty fast without them.
But at this point, if she has glaucoma then it’s not likely that things are going to get any better. There is currently no cure and the drops will only go so far in helping her to maintain what eye sight (if any) she has left.
But I can tell you now that after having a dog who went through all of this and from the hundreds of people that have been on this site that it’s not as bad as it seems. We all pretty much go through the same stages – at the beginning it feels like the worst thing in the world and we feel so devastated, but we soon realise that these dogs cope beautifully with it all. And even if it comes to having the eyes removed, it only takes a couple of weeks after the operation and we find that we wondered why we were so worried about it all.
Take a look at this video. I may help. It shows two dogs playing and one is completely blind. A blind dog can do amazing things.
https://www.facebook.com/BlindDogSupport/posts/884611981602918
Thank you Paula for your help and for keeping this website active for so many people especially after you lost your baby. I appreciate all your advice. I have a feeling at some time we will probably have to do something about her eyes. I don’t want her to be in pain. Tonight my husband took her out potty and he let her back inside. I was upstairs and she walked down the hallway by hereof and even came up the stairs to me all by herself. We were so excited for her. It’s all baby steps and tears along the way too.
Thanks, Cindy
Hi Paula
We are going to follow up visit with the opthomogist today for Callie. They did give us some pain pills for her. She seems so depressed and doesn’t really want to do anything. It takes some real coaxing to get her to go potty. She was always a dog on a lead in our yard as it is not fenced (6-1/2 acres) but now we can sit her in the grass and she hardly moves. Eventually sitting down or laying down. I can coax her down the hallway into the living room by getting on the floor tapping the floor or sometimes by hitting my leg. This is a dog who loved to just sit and look out the window for hours. Now she just curls up in a ball and sleeps. Is it going to get better? I worry so much for her, she isn’t our little Callie now.
Thanks, Cindy
Hi Paula
As you started this blog I have a couple questions. One it looks like we have no choice regarding Callie’s eyes. We just saw the opthomologist on Monday. She is totally blind. He did up her drops as her pressure had increased to 35 in one eye and 40 in the other. He changed her pain meds which has seemed to help with her depression. At least she wants to move around now. One question in that regard, what do you think of the Muffin Halo? I would like to protect her eyes now from crashing into things but I am afraid as big as that is it might cause her to not move at all. Second question is the opthomologist does not want to put Callie under because of her age to remove her eyes. She is 13 and he is afraid of underlying health issues that we may not know about. Our only option is the shots of gentimycin that they inject into her eyes to top the production of the liquid the eyes are producing. They do them 2 weeks apart. He did say one in four won’t work. If that happens he will redo it at no charge but if that doesn’t work than I don’t know where we go from there. I would love any imput you would have on both of these. Such a sad time and we want to do whatever we can do for her. She has never really had any other health problems and before this you would have never guessed her age. Many people would think she was a puppy. She has very few grey hairs and with her recent trim she has even fewer.
Thank you for your help, this site has been so good for us.
Cindy
Personally I would get a second opinion Cindy. I’m not a fan of those injections. As your vet says, they don’t always work and the dog has to have the eye/s removed anyway. So either way, your dog is probably going to go under the knife at some point. I would ask the vet specifically what he/she is concerned about regarding operating on your dog. I know age is always an issue but we have seen lots of dogs at 13 go through the operation successfully. I know that if it were my dog and knowing the pain they go through I would take the risk. I wouldn’t want my dog going through that pain. It’s not a happy life and I’d rather my dog be happy than have to put up with the pain even if it means the risk of death under the operation. So really it comes down to a decision you have to make – not an easy one I know but you will know what is best.
Hi Paula
Thank you for the response to my request. At this point Callie’s pressure has been staying down with only one pressure drop a day. One eye is 7 and the other 9. The doctor can see her eyes shrinking too. He said he doesn’t think the injections will be necessary. Her own body is taking care of her eyes. She has had inflammation and he said that is also helping to basically kill off her eyes.
The reason he didn’t want to really do surgery is because she has a heart murmur. My regular vet is monitoring that too. She isn’t taking any pain meds and does not seem to be in pain at all. At times especially in the morning she seems depressed but get better. Still bouncing into things but finding her way. Loves to go for walks in our little town still. I am trying to find a harness that she will walk with as I don’t like using just the collar.
She was just diagnosed on the 20th of June so as I have read it can take up to 6 months for them to adjust. We will get her through it. Just sad to see her sit by a wall and just stare. She loved looking out the window.
Thanks, Cindy
I totally agree with Paula. Our Siberian Husky was diagnosed with glaucoma. I cried and cried for days and days. We did drops and pills religiously. We set alarm clocks and did the meds exactly on time. Our life resolved around his meds. One eye only hung on for 8 months. We had it removed. The remaining eye hung on for 2 years. He had his last eye removed. He is doing amazing. We think he grew eyes in his nose. You would never know he was blind. He is happy and healthy now. It gets easier. Good luck and know that you and your doggie will be fine.
Hi Debbie
Thank you for your encouraging words. It really helps to have found this site with all the support from people like you. I didn’t know which way to turn so I just started looking on the Internet. I have a feeling at some time we may have to do what you did with your baby regarding his or her eyes. Mornings are rough as she is so infused again. I too have done my share of crying. It’s as if your feelings are always raw. My daughter has a Siberian husky too and they are so beautiful especially their eyes. Thank you so much for taking time to respond to my post. It really does help to know we aren’t alone in this adventure.
Thanks, Cindy
So sorry to hear this. My baby Nova, a chi wienie has glaucoma at 3 years old and we didn’t catch it in time. she lost one eye and we are treating the other one with drops. She has good days and bad. They just need an extra nudge when checking out new areas. What I have learned though, is try to make her be independent as much as possible so she doesn’t get the fear of not wanting to walk around on her own. At home you wouldn’t even notice that Nova can’t see. She jumps on the bed, chair and even walks outside. Sometimes I get overprotective and carry her around and it actually makes her more nervous to try on her own. Good luck and may you enjoy many more years together!!!
To be frank once they are blind they are better off without the eyes, as they just get damaged and infected and cause a world of pain. A blind dog is like a human with no sense of smell. It is not perfect but neither is it a total disaster.
I know we have already thought this may have to happen. So sad to happen so fast.
Our 7 year old terrier mix went blind suddenly a couple of months ago, well suddenly to US – she had been losing her sight for awhile – we have been lucky as to her only being slightly confused at first and not moving the furniture. She is also learning “up” and “down” when we walk (no yard – have to walk the doggies) – and “pole” means anything like a mailbox pole or electric pole, etc. Don’t use no or any scolding words because it will confuse her. There is a “halo” you can get for newly blind dogs that will help them learn their landscape – it’s called Muffin’s Halo. From everything I have read it sounds like it would help you and your furbaby.
G
Thanks Diedra
I am blown away on how kind people are in posting to me. Encouraging words mean so much. She is so confused in the house now and we are trying to help her with that. She just stands there when we take her outside. We have a doggy door but she wants no part of it right now. Have a follow up with the opthomologist on Monday. She was really bothered with pain but they gave us pain meds so that seems to have helped.
Thank you so much, Cindy