smimlitsch

My 12 year old best friend Fred is going blind. In fact he is blind in his left eye. His eyes started to appear foggy and white a few months aga and the vet told me it is Narrow angle Glacoma. Well in the past month he has gone from foggy to almost totally blind. His left eye is gone and hopefully his right won't get any better. the vet said it is hereditarty but I have his brother Walter and so far he has shown no signs of it. It is a shame to watch him bump into things. What do I do? The vet said he will adjust give him time. He was my first bassett and I will never own any other type dog. HELP!!!

Desiree_D

I have worked in ophthalmology for years, I am in no way an expert on canines, but I will say glaucoma should not cause a "clouding". Cataracts are what you can visibly see and are a natural aging change. I know there are surgeons that do cataract surgery on dogs. Glaucoma is an elevation of intraocular pressure and there are no signs or symptoms. It is typically treated with eye drops. If that is what he has maybe you can find a vet that will prescribe the drops for him. As a general rule of thumb though, once you have lost vision you do not regain it (other than removing a cataract). However untreated end stage glaucoma can become very painful so the drops can help reduce the pressure to gain comfort but not vision.

Lightning&Stomps

Lightning has a degenerative problem in his eyes that sounds similar to what is going on with Fred. As opposed to the bluish/whitishness being behind the cornea, which is age-related and not a problem, it's in front, which is a problem. I don't know how much eyesight he has left, but he's getting along great. However his problem progressed much more slowly than Fred's. We've had more than a couple of blind bassets on this forum over the years, and their owners can chime in, but they adjusted very well. You would never know they couldn't see. I know how scary it can be when you are told your dog is losing his eyesight, even when everyone says they will adjust. But give Fred some time and he will figure everything out. Just don't move the furniture!

bubbad

Usually Primary Glaucoma is the hereditary kind and usually starts about age 4-6 years but the dogs didn't read the book so..... but if it is glaucoma sometimes the eyes need to be removed since they are very painful .

MollyMcFrecklesMom

Perhaps you could private message one of the forum members named BassetHoundHank. Her Hank had both his eyes removed due to glaucoma and he has been adapting well, it seems. Maybe she can offer you some good advice from her own experience

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Michelle - proudly owned by Molly (21 mos) and Winston (14 months).

Molly McFreckles' World:
The adventures of a Basset Hound living with Addison's Disease and a baby brother named Winston

barneysmom2510

When I used to groom I groomed a few blind dogs and they had adjusted very well. Dogs are so amazing going blind losing limbs do not affect them the smae way it affects a human. I know it must be scary for you I am sorry you are going this it is so hard to watch our friends get older.

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-LISA


Mini daschunds Sadie Lou & Daisy dukes
Chihuahua Lola
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