How do you raise a blind puppy?

[Aimless Farmer]

The "Owners of Blind Dogs" website is an excellent resource. They have a bunch of links, an email list and message board. Hope it helps

http://www.blinddogs.com/

Blind dogs can and do lead happy and healthy lives, just like blind people. Fortunately for your dog, the other animals probably won't point, laugh, tease or treat him differently in a negative way. If only people could be so fortunate...

I've heard from owners of blind dogs, horses and cats that an animal "buddy" is a huge help. Someone to pal around with, trust to "lead the way". Sometimes same species, but not always.

Good luck!

 

[Wolfpacker]

I've heard from owners of blind dogs, horses and cats that an animal "buddy" is a huge help. Someone to pal around with, trust to "lead the way". Sometimes same species, but not always.

Yep. My dalmation's buddy was a sheltie named, BUDDY! He watched Buddy like a hawk when we were out in the woods walking or when they were just lying around the house. Whenever Buddy ran to the door barking, Fowler was right behind him, barking also.

One word of advice: make sure you indicate his disablity on his name tag. Fowler's simply read "I AM DEAF" and had my address and phone number.​

 

[AccidentalFarm]

Quote:
That was one of the first things I did for Blaze. He has a separate tag that reads 'I AM BLIND' in very large letters with our number and addy below.

 

[aran]

af...i didnt read the whole thread...in humans sudden blindness can mean brain tumour compressing the optic chiasm...those ppl look well and happy too until the tumour reaches the critical size. If he hasnt had one your dog needs the vet to consider a CT of his head. If its a tumour near the chiasm it is oftne benign and can be removed/shrunk with meds. (at least in ppl!)

 

[texasgirl]

Quote:
He is blind because of a flea/tick dip I believe.
At the vet clinic I work at, this year we have already treated about 10 poisonings and toxicities, similar to AF's pup from over the counter flea and tick products....they can be extremely dangerous.
We had 2 dogs comes in a few weeks ago with seizures, hives, hairloss, couldn't walk or stand, eyes unable to focus...pretty scary stuff...it happened within a few minutes of putting some Wal-mart flea/tick junk on.

Glad to hear he has regained some vision, hopefully over time he will regain enough to live more normally

 

[AccidentalFarm]

texasgirl- we do think it was the flea dip that did it. A call to our vet confirmed this was a likely cause. We did dip 3 other pups and our adult dogs at the same time, with the same stuff and had no other problems, but my MIL had a pup that had a temporary blind/lame spell after being dipped. Her pup recovered it's sight after about a month, and regained most of it's mobility as well. It had times when it seemed the hind end would get worn out from playing or running too much and would just kinda give out until the pup rested awhile. The fleas and ticks have been so awful this year, I can imagine your clinic has had as many cases of this as you mentioned. It's just terrible.

The dip was not a walmart off the shelf type. It is one that is really very effective and is available at the co-op. I think I'll try and run out to the shed later and get the label info and post it (if the rain will ever let me outside). I'm guessing maybe the product is too much for some pups, although it is labeled for use on pups. (Ours were over 4 mos. old at the time). It is also not the same product my MIL used on her pup. She sat her dog in a tub with the dip in it, we spray it on to avoid unnecessary prolonged contact with the poison.

Blaze is still going strong, though. He just took the blindness in stride and kept being the active little guy he always was. He's doing well enough now that we are allowing him to stay outside with his pals (dumb dogs prefer being in the pen even when it's raining). His sight is still not 100%, but I am certain he is able to see at least the outline or shadow of objects as he is no longer 'high-stepping' and he does not run into everything, even when I place something in his normal walk ways.

Where in S. Texas are you? I am on Lake Corpus Christi. Although at this point, anywhere in S. Texas is much like living on a lake...will the rain ever end???

 

[texasgirl]

I am in Victoria...and yes the rain is absolutely ridiculous at this point. I've seen more rain than I care to see in my entire life!

The fleas have been so awful this year. We haven't seen ticks yet :fingers crossed:
Nearly every single person that comes in has the same story, "we have NEVER had fleas before and this year we can't get rid of them!!!"
We have been really trying to stress that you have to treat
1. The Pet
2. The Yard
3. The House
Just treating one or two of them will still leave them somewhere else and for every flea you see there are 100 more adults/eggs that you can't see.
Even when you do everything right it is still no guarantee that you're getting them all, if just one or two eggs are left behind they are still going to be able to reproduce, and that's the frustrating part.

This is a personal rant, lol:
Don't waste your money on flea collars! The only thing your doing is keeping fleas off the dogs neck!

And don't use flea collars on cats, it can kill them!

I'm done talking about fleas for today, haha.

 

[Bubba]

I have never had a flea problem as long as my dog had access to a pool with chlorine in it. Might be worth setting up a kiddie pool for your dogs...

Bubba

 

[tammy j]

Ok this has really got me thinking about several things... First of all, years ago when I was delivering newspapers, I had a customer who has a blind and deaf dog. He was really old, but was still able to move about the farm. They put signs at each end of their property warning drivers that there was a blind and deaf dog crossing. This helped drivers to slow down in case they saw the dog crossing the road. A few years later after the dog passed away, the signs were removed.
Second, we had a dog Stormy, who got kicked by a cow, ( we think) who was seizing , we took her to the vet, who didn't give us much hope as bad as she was. 2 days after she was injured, then vet called us,( we checked on her daily) and said to come and get her. Stormy, a Siberian Husky with a very unique voice, was driving the vet crazy. All she did was howl, she was thrilled when we went to pick her up. She was unable to move her hind legs at all, but was otherwise ok. Frosty, her sister, missed her terribly, and was also thrilled to have her back home. Frosty did not leave Stormy's side, ate with her and actually would push food to Stormy, so she would eat, and bring her toys to play with. When we were outside playing, Stormy would drag herself across the yard to be with us. So we would be sure to stay close to her. Within a week Stormy was up and moving around again, very wobbly, but using her hind legs. When Frosty had her pups, Stormy was the best "mother" I have ever seen. Those pups would climb all over her, and it would not bother her at all. Frosty would get tired of them and get up and leave. Stormy mad a complete recovery, except for slight tremors every once in a while.
Third and last... My aunt Marti, she was born blind, and how she can manage I have no idea. She is absolutely great. She lives by herself with her cats, but she has had guide dogs in the past. When I went to visit her one day, we were driving to the resturant, and she was talking to my sister and the girls. SHE was giving ME directions on how to get there. It was.... Ok you are coming up to such and such street, turn left onto whatever street, oh there is road construction there, oh you just missed that stop sign, ect. ect. I couldn't believe that she is blind. Nobody else noticed me missing the stop sign but she knew. You see she used to work for the transportation service and would give directions for buses and things. This was back in the 70's before computers and stuff. Marti has live all over the midwest and south, always on her own. The local paper did an interview on her one day and she made the comment that she was never made to fear her blindness. Dad helped her alot, one day he convinced her to climb a tree with him. She got up in the tree, and Dad refused to help her down. He climbed down by himself and made her do it too. Marti loves to tell stories about how onery Dad was as a kid. But because of the was she was raised she has never be badly affected by it.
These are just 3 wonderful examples of how you can help you animals to adapt to their limitations. (No, don't encourage your puppy to climb trees.) Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to let people know about all of this.