is my dog half blind

[maransfan16]

my dog was born on memorial day 2012 and at 11 days old his mother died. our friend the owner couldn't take care of the litter soone family took half the litter and we took the other half of the litter which left us with still nurseing 7 puppies. they all did great and we kept one ever since we've had him we've noticed that he has two differnt colored one is light brown and the other is a VERY dark brown he doesn't cock his head when he walks or anything and he acts like everything is ok but when the light hits his eyes and they glow only one of the glows the other one doesn't does this mean that he is blind in that eye or what

 

[cafarmgirl]

Well maybe, especially if you are not getting reflection off the retina. A vet can take a look with a retinoscope and tell you what's going on in the eye.

 

[Nutcase]

It's possible that the dog is half blind. I had a rabbit born with the same condition, and one eye was paler than the other.

 

[Doubleyolker]

There are doggy eye drs. Dogs do very well with one eye.

 

[chickenoverlord]

Even if he is half blind, he will be ok I have a dog with one eye, and he gets around the farm fine. He also attacks intruders, human and animal. The worst problem being half blind has caused him is he can't go up large flights of stairs. You shoul take him to the vet though, because if his eye doesn't work properly it can be prone to infection. I hope ur baby is ok!

 

[Alicia G]

My dog is partly blind as well, and he gets around quite well. He has cataracts, and is going to be 4 this year. Oh yes, and I am also visually impaired(I have macular degeneration), so is my twin. We all do well, get around great actually. and even if Soloman (my dog) bumps in to things on ocassion, he knows to just tread carefully when in a new place. I'm the same way! Except I use my cane instead of my face

 

[Windrider]

There is a dog with only one eye in my agility class. She and her owner may not do agility competitively, but they have had fun in class for years. The dog, a Lab mix, does quite well navigating the obstacles. The handler just has to keep in mind that when he is on her blind side, he can't rely on body language to tell the dog where to go, he relies more on verbal cues. The dog does very well compensating for her blind side - I must admit, I don't know how she can judge distances without binocular vision, but she doesn't knock down bars, miscalculate the weaves, or fall off contacts.

So, if a half blind dog can do something like agility, they should be just fine navigating regular life.

On a side note, for a long time we had a three-legged Dobe in our agility classes. He was a ex-police dog wounded in the line of fire, that's how he lost his leg. His old police handler adopted him and enrolled him in agility to keep him active. I have to say, I was amazed at how well (and fast!) that dog got around the course. It is inspiring how well dogs can adapt to handicaps.

 

[chickenoverlord]

My one eyed dog is a terrier mix, and I've seen him go through the woods full speed. He catches and eats wild rabbits, and has single handedly solved the neighbors vole problem. Go handicapped animals!!!

 

[nok13]

dogs dont adapt to handicap. they just get on with it. my dog was blinded in one eye due to either a fight or someone kicking him in the eye, while he was guarding my female when she was in heat (she escaped the house and he followed.) he showed up the next morning in horrible shape, side of his face all beaten in and i couldnt even get close enought to take him to the vet. i had to back hm in a corner and throw a heavy quilt over him to grab him.
he was operated on in a two in one procedure: one eye out an two balls lopped off. that was to prevent a reoccurrence of the guarding and aggression, plus most dogs on our kibbutz are castrated or spayed.
anyhow, within a week, he had adjusted to navigating our messy and vary small apartment. now he flies thru the apartment doing agility from chair to table to sofa to under the table, zooms around outside, has no problems being aproache from either side, everything is the same. at night he is a little more hesitant then he used to be, with reduced night vision (he is a lhasa apso so has/had large brown eyes. ) i ahve to make sure his hair doesnt cover his eye; his other eye socket is sewn up and furred over so i clip over it when i clip his face to give some balance. twice we've had eye infections (once, a cat scratch turned in to a corneal ulcer), and once, just some sort of eye infection. needless to say, his eye gets priority checkups by me every day for a qucky grooming session to catch any potential eye problems. he cant afford to lose this eye. (and we cant afford vet bills).

 

[chickenoverlord]

My dog just randomly showed up as a stray, he had been horrible beaten, with hs ears lopped of at odd angles and his tail half chopped off. His eye had glaucoma so daly the vet said it was about to rupture. He was very scary looking, but I fixed him up. We now ave a creepy, over protective dog, with teeth to big for his mouth