It seemed to come on quickly. From the time I first questioned whether she might be having a seeing problem to her diagnosis–two days.
But in hindsight, it crept up and fooled us for a good three months before the dog ophthalmologist pronounced her stone-cold blind.
How could I not have suspected? Why didn’t I realize I was a seeing-eye person? I’d only been walking the dog routinely for nine years. How could she maneuver around things so efficiently if she couldn’t see?
I’ll never know. But as soon as she was diagnosed it was all downhill. Suddenly she couldn’t even find her food dish without spilling the water and stumbling over her feet.
Questions answered
Though that did explain in part why she had gotten so fat–she couldn’t run confidently so she didn’t.
The vet and I had discussed and tested her for her weight gain (15 pounds on a 39 pound dog over four months?).
But somehow neither one of us realized she couldn’t see until she walked into the wall instead of stepping through the sliding glass door.
We think Cushing’s Syndrome caused her blindness.
“As long as you don’t mind owning a fat blind dog, she doesn’t care,” my niece, another veterinarian, explained.
“A dog’s principal sense is smell and then hearing. Seeing is the third most important sense, so just love her and take care of her and she should be perfectly happy.”
Life with a blind actor dog
Gordon Setters are notorious actors and they know how to exploit their owner’s emotions, so while I’m sympathetic to her plight, I can’t become a push-over either.
Even while she insists she is starving to death and mopes around her food dish, I must remain firm. One cup of food in the morning, one in the evening. That’s it. Even if she is blind.
Cushings Syndrome affects her appetite; it seems to be affecting her more than the blindness. She’s become a ravenous scarfer.
Always scavenging for food, she thinks she deserves more. She doesn’t understand why we won’t feed her more often. After all, she’s handicapped isn’t she? Don’t I feel sorry for her?
She keeps close track of the clock (how?) and knows when it’s dinner time.
And if I don’t get with the program, she sneaks down the hall and eats the cat food. Or finds her way to the cat litter and eats worse.
This all from a dog who rarely got around to finishing her food in one day the first nine years we owned her. She didn’t care if other dogs came to visit and ate her kibble.
We can’t leave anything on the counter–weren’t those chocolate chip cookies for her?
One day she climbed on the kitchen table and ate my tuna sandwich!
And I’m not going to tell you what happened when we spread chicken manure on the flower beds . . .
Sense of smell a delight when blind
Her sense of smell drives her. That’s where her pleasures lie these days.
But the more she eats, the more she gains, the more ungainly she becomes. The stairs are difficult and I have to lift her into the car when we go for a ride.
The object lesson for me is clear–a handicap in one area does not excuse poor behavior in another.
Just because something bad happens to me, for example, doesn’t mean I can lose my temper when I’m crossed by someone else.
Or, just because I’ve had a hard day, doesn’t mean I can eat all the chocolate chip cookies.
I’m watching Suzie closely. Not just to take care of her needs, but to find out what else I need to know about living with my wants.
michelleule says
Jean–On the advice of our niece, a veterinarian, we are choosing not to treat Suzie for Cushings. We made that decision based on the cost and the fact the medications will not relieve her blindness. I asked both vets we consulted and the canine opthamalogist if it would make any difference to Suzie if we had a more detailed diagnosis. The answer was no.
Several articles I read on line indicated treatment could help the dog deal with the effects of the disease, but for us, the blood work, vet visits and unlikely positive benefits were too high.
We love Suzie. As long as she is adapting to her blindness and not hurting, we’ll continue to cherish her and hope for the best. More than anything, she likes to walk around the lake and we do that several times a week. Best wishes.
Jean says
Thank you!
Jean