Can my blind dog still have a good quality of life?

Question

Joshua Broadwater · Answer

Can my blind dog still have a good quality of life? This is a question that I get asked a lot in my field. With veterinary ophthalmology, we unfortunately see a lot of dogs that lose their vision because of different diseases with their eyes. The most important thing to remember is that most dogs can still live a very good quality of life as a blind dog, and most of them tend to adapt very well over time. As long as we make sure that whatever happened with their vision loss is no longer causing pain, they tend to adapt very well. It may take time, and we may need to help them with their other senses because their sense of smell, their sense of touch, their sense of hearing, those things will be amplified moving forward. Adding to those strengths and using things like toys with a constant sound to them or a smell to them, not changing things around in their environment so it's familiar to them, watching them around things that they could hurt themselves, such as steps or a pool where they could fall in, those things are important as well. But most dogs will adapt very well. There's a few that may struggle, but for the overwhelming majority, as long as they are no longer experiencing any sort of pain or discomfort, they will adapt very well. There are some resources that are out there. There's some products online, some harnesses that have a flexible wire that goes around the front of them or around their head that they would bump with that instead of their nose so they don't hurt themselves. There are some books, one of them is called Living with Blind Dogs on Amazon or online that you can get to help them adjust to this world of theirs, but most dogs can adapt well.

Ori Orion Stollar · Answer

Can my blind dog still have a good quality of life? Yes, yes and yes. Blind dogs can have great quality of life that sometimes might not actually be an issue whatsoever. The big tip that I have for blind dog owners is to remember that the dog will basically memorize things around the house, like the furniture, so don't move things around the house so that way it's less likely that your dog will keep hitting things. Also walks, try to be consistent walking to the same place every time unless you're there to supervise and make sure that the dog is not hitting anything. But yes, they will have a good quality of life, no problem.

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"Can my blind dog still have a good quality of life? "