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Living with a blind dog

@seeth07 , your story hit me where I live. We rehomed a St. Bernard because it was getting aggressive w children. Turned out she was going blind from retinal dysplasia. Sad to hear the diagnosis, even though it narrows your decisionmaking. You can help your dog get around with smells. Dogs' smell is as acute as human vision, more or less. By using scents (bacon!) your dog likes, you can help him get around and encourage him. Later, got something in my eyes now. I hope you will keep us posted, and ask if you need something. PM if you wish.
 
seeth07 said:
Yup, it's lymphoma. Due to the loss of his eyesight and the fact that he is over 6 years old, there really isn't a hard decision here about what to do. We could do chemo treatments and that at best would extend his life by up to 1 to 2 years but it won't be an easy or pleasurable life necessarily. Without treatment, the vet told us to prepare for 2 weeks to 2 months more of him being comfortable and happy. He is unlikely to make it 4 more months.

Tough days ahead for us for sure. We don't have kids because we can't so our canines are our children.
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Sad for you.....Make sure to contact the breeder and let them know.
 
Sorry to hear this. We had a dog get lymphoma. It was quick, and we made the decision to make it quicker when he couldn’t eat because of the metastasizing lymph nodes. Make the most of each day.
 
Quick update on my dog.

He is learning how to get around without seeing. Still is bumping into stuff and his trust of where he is going isn't fully there yet but getting better. He really struggles going up and down the wood stairs to our bedroom but today we are going to install a bunch of grip tape on them hoping that will help.

He isn't 100% blind but dang near it. We were doing some testing the other night with a flashlight and from 10 feet away, he can't really follow it but once we get to about 5 feet away, his head will follow the flashlight. Get any closer and he starts to squint. We are thinking of maybe using a flashlight to help guide him walking around. My wife was going to do some testing with it today to see if it helps.

He is on prednisone and it seems to be helping with the enlarged lymph nodes. We have noticed that a they are slightly reduced in size.
 
I hate to hear that we had a Rottweiler that had lymphoma as well and currently have an English mastiff that is blind. He has been blind since he was 2 and he’s currently 10. One thing that really helps out a lot is putting rugs down in the house to the doors. It’s like a path for him to follow. It’s really amazing to see how well they do without being able to see, we also have a “radar” for him I’m not sure the manufacturer. It hangs on his collar he can hear it when he comes up to walls and stuff when he’s walking slow helped out tremendously but all in all they get along really good for being blind.
 
David5155 said:
I hate to hear that we had a Rottweiler that had lymphoma as well and currently have an English mastiff that is blind. He has been blind since he was 2 and he’s currently 10. One thing that really helps out a lot is putting rugs down in the house to the doors. It’s like a path for him to follow. It’s really amazing to see how well they do without being able to see, we also have a “radar” for him I’m not sure the manufacturer. It hangs on his collar he can hear it when he comes up to walls and stuff when he’s walking slow helped out tremendously but all in all they get along really good for being blind.
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Got the rug thing down :)

20221206_183833.jpg
 
while he has been doing very well with getting used to being blind, we are having some setbacks these last two days that I'm not entirely sure he will recover from. Its not looking good. Yesterday, we noticed he was limping on his left front leg but everything else appeared fine. This morning, it has significantly swollen up and he can't walk on it at all. Furthermore, he just started to cough up some yellow mucus.

I'm thinking the likely cancer is all starting to catch up with him and the vet saying we might only have 2 weeks to 2 months left with him might be looking right. We will see how it goes through the weekend but my wife and I are both starting to think that it might just be time to end the suffering that he surely must be feeling right now.
 
Saturday went well but Sunday was not good. Wouldn't eat, didn't want to move around much and last night right before bed just started to randomly cry. We both agreed that if today there was no improvement, it was time. Well so far today its not going well. Called the vet and scheduled to have them come to our home tomorrow so we can be at home with him tomorrow while the vet puts him down. Pending some miracle improvement this afternoon, looks like this is it.
 
seeth07 said:
Saturday went well but Sunday was not good. Wouldn't eat, didn't want to move around much and last night right before bed just started to randomly cry. We both agreed that if today there was no improvement, it was time. Well so far today its not going well. Called the vet and scheduled to have them come to our home tomorrow so we can be at home with him tomorrow while the vet puts him down. Pending some miracle improvement this afternoon, looks like this is it.
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I'm so sorry, Seeth. Praying for peace and comfort for y'all.
 
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