Rapid Onset Blindness In Greyhounds?

[gr8mama]

A family who adopted a 4 year old dog from our group in early December called this morning to say that they believe their dog has gone totally blind within the last few days. Symptoms include walking into doors and walls inside, walking into the fence outside and not being able to find her way back into the house from the fenced back yard. They were referred by their vet to an opthalmology specialist and they have an appointment on Tuesday. The intake vet at the Specialty Clinic saw them this morning and make a very preliminary diagnosis of detached retina.

 

Has anyone ever heard of this happening in greyhounds? And, what are the chances that even if it did happen that it would occur bilaterally?

 

Does anyone know of any other cases where a greyhound went blind within a matter of days?

 

Thanks for any information or ideas.

[mychip1]

No advice....just best wishes.

[Guest sheila]

wikipedia has this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_acquired_retinal_degeneration

[Guest june]

So sorry

[Guest MnMDogs]

I think this happened to Jillysfullouse's Emmy. Hopefully she'll see this and can give some input. IIRC she also did have Cushing's...

[TheFullHouse]

My Emmy went blind within a matter of days. The first diagnosis we had was SARDS. Emmy had many other problems that happened after that, she quit chewing and had to have everything put in a blender and liquified to be able to eat. She was also diagnosed with Cushings. She had a small tumor that grew around the optic nerve.

 

I'd have the dog seen by a veterinary ophthalmologist. There can be so many things that effect the sight including brain tumors. Have your friend do some research on SARDS. It becoming more and more prevalent in canines. Hannahmom's beautiful girl was diagnosed with SARDS if I remember correctly. Hopefully she'll see this also.

[Guest hannahmom]

My Hannah lost about 80% of her sight in a matter of hours 3 years ago.

Diagnosis was SARDS

Article on SARDS

She was mightly confused for a few days - my little Monkey Girl was a high prey handful, but she's recovered from that 108% - nows she's a mostly blind high prey handful

Frankly, the loss of her vision hasn't slowed her down in the least.

I don't move the furniture,( DH is glad, saves his back) and I put small drops of essential oils at the top of the stairs and at houndie nose level in each room ( different scents in each room) so she gets where she wants to be. Other than that, we haven't had to make any changes in her routine. Until I read this, I hadn't thought about her visual impairmment for months!! There has been no additional impact to her health, and she continues to be the slightly snarky, beautiful PITA brindle Momma's shadow she has always been.

 

Hopefully the dog will adjust in time - they almost always do. If I can be of any help, please email me at t f k 3 1 @ y a h o o . c o m (remove the spaces)

In the interim, advise the adopters not to panic, to offer the dog reassurance but don't coddle and that extra stinky treats will help a lot.

 

Tena

Edited March 6, 2011 by hannahmom

[Guest mcsheltie]

Send them this ASAP:

 

In 2007, Iowa State University veterinary researchers led by veterinary ophthalmologist Dr. Sinsa Grozdanic in the College of veterinary medicine, reported (Article: Blind Dogs Can See After Treatment for Sudden Onset Blinding Disease' Released on May 30, 2007 - Iowa State University) to have successfully treated two dogs for sudden retinal degeneration syndrome (SARDS), previously incurable disease. The experiment treatment (April 12 and April 27, 2007) reversed blindness and restore sight for two dogs diagnosed with SARDS. The dogs were administered an intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg), a human blood product that contains antibodies from the plasma of thousands of blood donors. Previously it treated immune deficiencies, inflammatory diseases, and autoimmune diseases. Dr. Grozdanic said: "SARDS was first identified in the 1980s and blinds as many as 4,000 dogs each year in North America." As result of the experimental treatment, researchers were able to regain five to ten percent electrical activity in the dog's retinas. Dr. Grozandic commented by saying: "Although the dogs won't be catching any Frisbee, they can navigate and not bump into objects." Also, according to Dr. Grozdanic, the intravenous immunoglobulin treatment has limitations: Dogs with severe cardiac or kidney disease cannot tolerate the IVIg, and wont' work on dogs whose retina degeneration is advanced. Dr. Grozandic commented regarding the limitation said: "Once a dog gets SARDS, the retina degenerates quickly, so it's important the dog is treated with IVIg very soon after diagnosis. Usually dogs have SARDS longer than two months have severe retinal changes. The sooner it's treated, the better chance it will work."

[Guest KennelMom]

Sending prayers. Hopefully they're able to do something to recover some sight. But, if not, blindness is something most dogs adjust to just fine. Our Hanna lost her sight over time, due to Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and most days you'd never know she couldn't see. She scares the crap outta me in the yard sometimes!

[gr8mama]

Thanks so much to everyone who has posted. GTers are the best! I will share this info with the adopters and keep checking this thread. Will also post back after Tuesday.

 

Gail

Mom to GHs Radar (real brudder by the same mudder to the great Phoenix of Canada), Cricket and Stevie Nix.

GPA-DE

[Guest Hoolyghans]

My Louie has PRA which is not a sudden onset thing but I wanted to toss in my 2 cents that him being nearly blind is not a big deal at all.

They are doing the right thing by seeing an ophthalmologist but if she ends up loosing all her sight, she will figure out her new challenges and will be fine.

He's a youngin', only 2 1/2 and most likely has had very little sight since he was a little pup.

He does wonderfully in our not so tidy, kind of cluttered house. I do try to make sure the main pathways are kept free from tripping objects but with a Nerf gun loving 10 yr old (also mostly blind) sometimes things get left where they don't belong. Louie isn't phased by this.

 

Louie has his own way of figuring out where he is and what's going on around him. He loves loves loves the dog park. He gives himself a mental map by doing a lap around the fenceline and then he works his way in towards the middle to play and get scritches from the other owners. I think he must have a little vision left because he seems to seek out high contrast dogs... ones with strong color patterns or mostly white dogs. He even runs! It's not a full out gallop like a typical greyhound, it's more of a high stepping trot. Looks like a Tennessee walking horse. I assume he does that to avoid tripping over things.

 

Anyway, I wish them the best but let them know their dog can be happy and have a great life even if she's blind.

 

[tbhounds]

I have seen acute blindness in a 5yr old lab-- diagnosis=lymphoma.

[Hubcitypam]

It seems to me there was a girl pupper (oddly enough named Oracle) that went down hard in a race and detached both retinas. That has to have been at least 10 years ago. Anyone else remember that?

[seeh2o]

My beloved non-grey, Sheila, lost her sight within about 4 hours due to SARDS. It was probably more frightening for me that it was for her, she acted like nothing had happened. Please forward the information others have posted to her right away, she should also make an appointment w/an ophthalmologist right away as well. We tested Sheila for Cushings immediately, too. In our case, Cushings was ruled out.

 

Sheila was 11 when she lost her sight, she adapted well and lived to the ripe old age of 15.

 

Sending good thoughts to your friend and her girl.

[Guest Vers]

My Stella is between 60-80% blind due to a detached and disintegrated retina in one eye and scarring of the retina in the other eye. No one is sure when it happened -- she may have raced that way in her very short career. It may have been the result of an infection at some point (one opthamologist thinks) or hereditary (another opthamooigist we've seen thinks). I was a bit emotional when I got this diagnosis, but realized that Stella is fine with her situation, and is still a happy, silly, loving girl. The good news is, unlike other things that can cause blindess, this is painless for her. Also, she gets around so well, no one ever realizes that her sight is so limited. The only concern now is the chance she will develop glaucoma; we do regular re-checks with the opthamologist.

 

I'd assure your friends that blind and partially-sighted dogs can get around very well and enjoy just as good a life as any other dog. It is important that they get their hound in to see the opthamologist quickly since sometimes the retina can be re-attached. I'll keep them in my thoughts and will check back later for an update.

[gr8mama]

Bump

[gr8mama]

Have been in touch with the adopters and they have had two appointments with a veterinary opthalmologist. Diagnosis is now confirmed as SARDS and sweet Harmony is totally blind. She is a young dog (she will be 5 next month) and after the initial confusion, she is doing quite well. The adopters were scared and nervous in the beginning, but are surprised and relieved that she is getting around very well. The adoptive father is retired so he is home with her quite a lot.

 

Thanks to everyone for the information and positive thoughts!

 

Gail

[seeh2o]

Sweet baby girl, she will be fine. There are two things you may want to pass along to the owners. The Yahoo group, Owners of Blind Dogs, was invaluable in helping me when Sheila went blind due to SARDS. They gave lots of tips on how to help her adapt, such as using an essential oil to mark different rooms, so she knew where she was, putting it low on the door frame to each room to help guide her. Putting a bell on my other dog so Sheila would know where he was, I also wore a bracelet with bells on it for a month or so at home. I also bought her a Babble Ball as a toy, she really seemed to appreciate it at first, then went back to being able to locate her tennis balls by scent. My vet also put her on Drenatrophin (OTC by Standard Process) to support her adrenal gland. Dogs who have had SARDS can develop Cushings much easier. Sheila lived another 5 years w/no problems (she was 15 and simply wore out last October) and I truly believe the Drenatrophin had a lot to do with it. When my vet helped Sheila pass, she talked about how, although she'd had SARDS, she had really beat the odds, overcame it and never had another complication as a result of it. The same vet has Carl on Dreantrophin, she put him on it when he was diagnosed as hypothyroid, so I know it is safe for greyhounds.

 

Here is another great sight about SARDs.

Edited March 17, 2011 by seeh2o

[Guest BobbiD]

A family who adopted a 4 year old dog from our group in early December called this morning to say that they believe their dog has gone totally blind within the last few days. Symptoms include walking into doors and walls inside, walking into the fence outside and not being able to find her way back into the house from the fenced back yard. They were referred by their vet to an opthalmology specialist and they have an appointment on Tuesday. The intake vet at the Specialty Clinic saw them this morning and make a very preliminary diagnosis of detached retina.

 

Has anyone ever heard of this happening in greyhounds? And, what are the chances that even if it did happen that it would occur bilaterally?

 

Does anyone know of any other cases where a greyhound went blind within a matter of days?

 

Thanks for any information or ideas.

 

To all who responded, thank you for your help. We now have another potentially serious issue with our girl Harmony. We posted a topic titled "Regarding Sudden Onset of Blindness" on March 17.Please see new post for further information.

[Guest Rob1969in]

Hello all, on searching for possible reasons why my little Greyhound girl lulu has seemingly suddenly gone blind ,I came across this thread.

 

My Lulu is 10 years old and I have had her since she retired at 4 years of age, over the last couple of weeks she had become a bit less sociable and in the last week she has refused to eat from her dinner bowl, on Wednesday I took her out for her normal pee in my garden she has never needed a lead ,she normally nips out does a quick pee and then comes back in to her bed but this time she kept walking away from me and wouldn't come back I am not the fittest but I ran after her desperatly calling her ,but she took no notice ,she eventually ended up on the main road and as it was a busy time there was lots of traffic, luckily they saw her and stopped ,I managed to shout at a trucker coming towards me to try and catch her ,she ran away from him which was good enough as she ran in to the recreation field, anyway after 15 mins of trying to catch her and her just running away, trying to get in to gardens etc she went through the hole in the edge leading to my house, and as she normally goes straight to my front door and waits for me to come let her in that is what I assumed she will have done, but she hadn't she had kept walking up a path for half a mile, luckily there is a gate at the end of it and luckily the gate was closed, I was exhausted by this time so I asked a school kid if he would run and cut her off, within five minutes Lulu came back down the path towards me and I managed to catch her, but on getting her home ,the stairs that are normally no problem for her became impossible to get up so I went to pick her up and carry her to the top but she turned on me and bit me on the hand, she was obviously very scared of what she had been through, I then took her to the vets ,who on examination said he thought she was blind in at least one eye, and prescribed her some carprelieve for her arthritus and injected her there and then, she has suffered from a sore neck for as long as I can remember due to a racing injury but it only gave her discomfort if she had a mad one and ran around too much with her new mate ,Murphy a male grey of 19 months, who I adopted for my mother after she lost our beautiful Male Greyhound Malcolm 4 months ago, my Mother lives locally to me so Lulu and Malcolm were inseparable ,Lulu and Murphy are not as close and I know Lulu misses Malcolm a lot ,so when Lulu became a little less playful etc I assumed it was because she misses Malcolm, anyway since the Vet visit Lulu has gotten worse ,she hardly leaves her bed ,has to be fed by hand as she will not go to her bowl, although she will drink water from her drinking bowl, and she is very shaky on her legs ,the carprelieve does not seem to have worked and she has about every 30 seconds a shake like a spasm when she sort of jolts forward suddenly and she also pants a lot ,but she has eaten quite a lot today , steamed fish for breakfast and her usual dog food tonight, does anyone have any idea if this is normal ,I am thinking she may have had a stroke or a brain tumor ,but wouldn't the vet have thought the same? or is this normal for a dog that has suddenly gone blind, I am heartbroken seeing her like this and I sob everytime I look at her. Does anyone have any suggestions to what has happened ,I go back to the vets on Wednesday or before if I can get an appointment .

[macoduck]

You said your vet examined her. Did he do any lab tests? Now that she is home and has been eating, when she walks does she go in a straight line or stagger or go in circles?

Does she react to a light shined in her eyes? Does the pupil contract? Do her eyes simply dart side ways back and forth?

I presume you will keep her leashed on any more trips outside.

[Guest Rob1969in]

No he said he will do lab tests on the next visit if she has not improved, yes I keep her on her leash at all times she goes outside now, she does tend to go in a circle and she does stagger a bit, the vet tested her pupils and he said one of them was 100 percent blind and the other one reacted a bit to the torch, I just can not imagiane how she must be feeling having no sight all of a sudden ,it breaks my heart , I just wonder what has caused it, because she isn't herself, but obviously she wouldn't be with a sudden lose of sight, she is panting a lot too, it is not hot in my house and she has drank, I took her out for a pee an hour ago and she just walked around in circles.

[macoduck]

Rob1969in, please start a new thread in the Health & Medical section and repeat your story there. Hopefully you will get more responses and suggestions.

[Guest Rob1969in]

Thank you very much I will do that .