Hi everyone, So, if you've read my previous threads about Lucius, you may know he has had on going eye problems. We took him to the vet just over a month ago as we have noticed some vision loss especially during night time. The vet looked at his eyes and said he could see nothing wrong with them - however he was not an eye specialist so he told us to come back in a month and see if there's any improvement or worsening of vision. Since then we have taken him back to the vets as his vision has gotten much worse, we changed the layout of our home while we had work done on it and he immediately began bumping into things, more often the door frame as it was a different door he had to walk through. then, when we changed it back, he was back to normal. Over the past week he has, at nighttime when he's outside, started to refuse to go outside alone and when he goes outside with me to pee before bed he will wonder off for a moment, pee, then look back at me and his tail goes up - alert- and growl. I have to talk to him then (Usually its me saying "Lucius! what are you growling at you silly boy?" ) and he'll recognise my voice and run up to me like he's done something bad and wiggle like a puppy. Our vet listened to all of this and said that it has gotten worse quite quickly, and then proceeded to look at his eyes with an opthalmoscope - shining light into the eye to see whats wrong. Last time he did this he saw nothing, but this time he said he could see his right eye was not reacting as it should to the light and its possible he may be losing sight in his right eye. The vet told us he didn't really know what is causing it - he's not an ophthalmologist - but said he suspects PRA as we weren't sure if his parents were tested or not. We booked him to see an ophthalmologist on monday to see what they think. I did some research into his heritage and found that his great grand sire was a carrier of PRA, and a lot of his family tree werent tested for PRA, including his mother. And some weren't even tested for anything - including hips and elbows. His parents were both hip and elbow tested and were fine - with great scores. SO, that just about does it with the update. Will update again on what the ophthalmologist says on monday. Lucius (aged 8 months) who is 3 years old now. lucius' father (Murphy)
Oh dear, I am sorry, so young. However, if the worst comes to the worst and he does become blind, he can still live a good life. My neighbours asked me to look in and feed their dog while they were away and until the son arrived later in the evening. I took her in the large garden and we had fun quartering her and playing, when I came in and offered her her food, she had no idea where the bowl was, she was blind and the owners did not know she had managed so well! She still happily went for walks, but always to the same place.
Yes, I read somewhere that dogs can have up to 80% vision loss sometimes before the owners notice a problem as they cope so well. I know he'll cope fine, but I'm just worried about what is actually wrong with him. It could be PRA but no one is certain. I'm not sure what else it could be though.
So sorry to hear this. You must be worried. Hope your appointment goes well and that this is a fixable problem. If not, as Stacia says, many visually impaired dogs do lead good lives. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Thank you for all the well wishes. I am worried for him but he seems ok in himself - a bit more nervous but he's always been a bit jumpy. Will update when we see specialist on Monday.
