Sophie is an 8 year old pug. Always healthy, until suddenly I noticed 3 weeks ago she was bumping into things. Since then I have seen her vision deteriorate rapidly, and now I believe she is completely blind.
My vet sent us to an ophthalmologist and he did the ERG and saw minimal retinal activity. He doesn’t know if it’s SARDS or another type of auto immune disease that destroyed her retina. We are finishing up steroid treatment (8th day) and have seen no improvement. The doc said he did not think he would see any, but it was worth a try.
We are both having a tough time adjusting to this terrible malady, but from what I read on this site, I hope that she can still have a fulfilling life. Right now, she seems so depressed, just doesn’t want to do anything, and when she stumbles and bumps into things I’m sure she is so scared.
I owned another pug that went blind at 13 yrs old and that seemed normal, I just didn’t expect it in such a young dog. I see many others on this site with even younger animals dealing with this same thing.
If anyone has tips on helping Sophie adjust to the newness of blindness I would appreciate it, or if anyone has any other ideas for treatments, I’d be open to that too. The canine opthamologist here in Dallas is one of the best in the country, so I’m inclined to believe he is accurate in his diagnosis and that most likely this is irreversible blindness.
I went through this with our dog a few years ago…..I posted it on a blog so other people could read it. (I didn’t do such a good job getting the word out there, because the blog only has one person on it …. (I am not a blog expert)…….but anyway………if you want to read my dog’s story it is at:
http://www.dogs-best-friends.blogspot.com/
Your dog and you will get through this. Our dog Whitey lived a very normal life. We cut down on the hiking somewhat; but he still went for short walks and he seemed happy. I just felt like I was his “seeing eye person” – just like some dogs are seeing eye dogs……