Losing Eyesight In Old Age

[NeylasMom]

This is more of a just to be safe - I started to suspect some time ago, maybe summer or fall of last year that Zuri was losing his eyesight. I had my vet look at his eyes and she said he had thickening of his lenses typical of his age and that there wasn't really anything to be done. Fast forward to a week or so ago when I realized that I think he is probably pretty much blind now in his left eye (which was always worse than his right). I can put my finger right up next to his eye and he doesn't reflexively close it like he does the other eye. They've also gotten really cloudy.

 

So I just want to make sure that this is indeed just age related and there isn't anything we can do. We have a good eye specialist near us who I took Neyla to because I had a typical Munchausen by proxy incident and assumed she had Pannus (she did not). I'm happy to take him to her if there is possibly something we could treat, but obviously don't want to spend the money unnecessarily. He's about to resume his underwater treadmill and PT sessions at VOSM which are $$$ on top of his existing acupuncture and cold laser treatments so I need to not throw money down the drain just because I worry so much, like I normally would.

[KF_in_Georgia]

How old is Zuri? I ask because I think it's not "normal" for a dog to face significant vision loss just because of age. If it were, wouldn't we all have nearly-blind seniors?

 

I think I'd like a specialist's opinion just to be sure there wasn't anything to do. Doggles for outside in the sun might be helpful or some sort of dietary supplement or eye drops--something that would help without breaking the bank.

 

Silver, 11 years old tomorrow, had an eye exam last week. (It was complimentary because she's a service dog, so I can't guess at normal price.) The vet said her eyes looked good for her age, but said she's probably starting to have some issues with depth perception.

[NeylasMom]

Zuri will be 12 in July.

Thanks for the feedback. I guess my vet "normal" in that it just happens to some dogs (but not all). But I would be happy to hear if there might be something we could do for him (although pissed if my vet said there wasn't and that resulted in him not getting treatment until things were this bad). I should have asked this question a long time ago.

 

For the record, if there is a treatment option, money wouldn't likely factor into whether to do it or not. I just don't want to spend the money on the consult if it's totally pointless. I will also ask my vet this question, but I don't see her until next week.

[KF_in_Georgia]

I do understand about hoping your vet didn't overlook something. I don't know if vets get used to seeing some problems and thus don't question them if they turn up in an out-of-the-usual situation or a different breed or something like that. I know some elderly greyhounds in this area. I don't know if they all have vision issues that owners and vets haven't spotted or if there's more vision trouble out there than I'm aware of. The veterinary opthamologist didn't indicate she thought Silver's vision was normal or better or worse than normal. She didn't say anything like "Her vision is better than most greyhounds her age" or anything useful like that. And she's seen Silver for two consecutive years and didn't indicate that things are noticeably different this year compared to last. (But this was Silver's last complimentary eye exam; she's retiring this year as a service dog.)

 

For me, I think that if "normal" is "normally good," I'm willing to take the vet's word for it. But if "normal" is "not-so-good," I'd want a second opinion.

[NeylasMom]

For me, I think that if "normal" is "normally good," I'm willing to take the vet's word for it. But if "normal" is "not-so-good," I'd want a second opinion.

Thank you. This is a good way to think about this, rather than thinking I'm a crazy person because I run to a specialist in response to every problem.

 

I did a little more looking around and frankly now I'm annoyed I didn't bring this up or just take him sooner. Distinguishing between something that is just age related and can't be addressed and something that could be treated doesn't seem as simple as just looking in his eyes. I also reported later on that he had a lot of eye gunk in one eye. There was some conjunctivitis going around Coventry that I thought maybe I brought home so we just did an eye ointment and that seemed to help, but he has staining around both eyes that he didn't have in the past. The vet never followed up and I didn't say anything because the ointment did seem to address the very obvious gunk issue. I think I'll just make myself feel better and schedule the consult.

[Remolacha]

I believe it is not unusual for older dogs to get "cloudy" eyes, some of my seniors have, some haven't, but it never noticeably affected their eyesight. If it were me, I'd have him checked by the specialist, just to be sure.

[NeylasMom]

I believe it is not unusual for older dogs to get "cloudy" eyes, some of my seniors have, some haven't, but it never noticeably affected their eyesight. If it were me, I'd have him checked by the specialist, just to be sure.

Yeah, that's the thing I read that alarmed me. I think what she was referring to is lenticular or nuclear sclerosis, where the lens thickens, but aside from some altered depth perception you don't apparently see vision loss. And that might fit with what I initially reported to my vet, but not with what I think I am seeing now. So we have an appt with the opthamologist on Friday. It will give us something to spend money on since the PT can't fit us in for underwater treadmill until 3 weeks from now.

Edited May 18, 2016 by NeylasMom

[moofie]

Hope the Opthamologist appointment goes well! We've been a few specialists now with Throp (not an opthamologist yet) and have found they've been able to give more detailed assessments and info than usual vet so has been worth the extra on consult fee, although neither were extortionate fees and can always decide after on any proposed treatments.

[NeylasMom]

Hope the Opthamologist appointment goes well! We've been a few specialists now with Throp (not an opthamologist yet) and have found they've been able to give more detailed assessments and info than usual vet so has been worth the extra on consult fee, although neither were extortionate fees and can always decide after on any proposed treatments.

Yeah, I agree. I think specialists are well worth the extra money and it turns out this one isn't even as bad as most - $113 to start though there will likely be tests so I expect we'll total near the higher end they gave, which is $225.

[greysmom]

You can't make a decision without having all the pertinent information. If you can afford the consult, I would do it. And you are!

[NeylasMom]

 

Really my vet should know me well enough by now that she should have just referred me with an "it's nothing you can treat, but you'll feel better if you spend the money".

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Hard for me to tell if Leia is bad or not (she turned 13 two weeks ago) but I am 99% sure she can see fine.

 

About 5 years she stuck her head into a aloe plant getting to grass and scratched her right eye. There was a grey tinge to the eye where the scratch was but the healing happened, the greyish tint stayed there , and the vet said it probably would never go away (this was an ophthalmologist vet,,,250 bucks to walk into the office). It hasn't.

 

So now that is still there but her other eye still looks perfect and for a fact I know she can still see because she spots the squirrels that are far away at the park,,,but lost all interest in chasing them (which was always really hard because I had to run at my full speed to keep up with her draggingme).

 

So my bottomline is,,maybe not always do their eyes go,,,,and yes she can see out of the cloudy eye fine too.

[Roo]

Not a greyhound, but Daisy the terrier has the same problem. Her right eye is worse than her left and the pupil is almost totally silvered out. The vet said it was totally normal for her age (she's 12) and that she's not blind, per se, but that she can't see close up and can see far away. My experience has supported this - she can spot a person or squirrel far down the road, but can't see a peanut drop in front of her

[NeylasMom]

[cleptogrey]

dogs with limited sight can do really well in their environment, just don't go crazy rearranging the furniture like i do!!! our elderly welsh terrier was deaf and just about blind. i think she saw high contrast and that was it near the end. but he was fine otherwise, doggie dementia was the problem. he did well with limited vision and i stomped my foot when i approached him when he was sleeping or wanted his attention. i also had a saluki who was totally blind in one eye, coursed like a banshee, nothing stopped him. he compensated by holding his head differently. dogs adjust well to handicaps, we don't. and every dog ages differently, don't compare.