Virginia, the Blind Dog

[baldguy]

From Boing Boing:



One of my dogs, Virginia, went blind late last year. I knew it was coming; she has glaucoma, and lost sight in one of her eyes a while before. We'd been keeping the other eye alive with lots and lots of medicine, but the vet told us it was just a matter of time. So, when the morning came and I found her running around crazily all over the house, nose to the ground, I shouldn't have been surprised.

Still, I was pretty alarmed. And while I read lots on the internet about this, and even saw the articles that said not to panic, the dog will adapt, those articles were almost invariably written by the sort of hyper-caring earth-mother women who could say taking care of a limbless, eyeless, incontinent sea lion was an easy, rewarding experience anyone could do. I didn't really buy it.

So, when she went blind, I did end up going a bit nuts. She's a profoundly sweet-natured and smart dog, and seeing her struggle, without benefit of understanding why, was wrenching. I looked into research into artificial vision, surgeries, other medications; everything was either a pipe dream, insanely expensive, and almost nothing guaranteed any vision retention. It was crazy, and while I was being an idiot, Virginia was out there, rewiring her little brain to make it work.

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/07/27/virginia-the-blind-d.html

[BuelahWitch]

1. What a sweet story that is!

One of the boys in my office has a cat who is completely blind. He said it gets along just fine using its other senses to make up for the lost one.
:hug: to all who stand by their pets when they need them most!

[Taverner]

2. Dogs can go blind and not skip a beat

Lose their hearing or smell however...and they can go into a depression

[KamaAina]

3. My friend who is blind had a blind cat

Stevie the Wonder Cat! :rofl:

[hippywife]

4. Awwww...

she's such a pretty puppy. So feminine looking. :hi:

[Kali]

5. aww

I've known a few blind dogs - they do fine. Got one now who is going deaf and he does alright too, although he's always been nervous about snakes and now he can get real jumpy in tall grass. Not that tall grass is any kind of problem lately. sigh

[Vidar]

6. Bless you & Virginia.