My dog is just recovering from a severe bout of distemper which attacked his central nervous system and we very nearly lost him. He is doing very well now but still has a long way to go. At first I put his clumsiness down to him being weak and the fact that his co-ordination went whilst he was ill but now I have realised that he is actually blind in his left eye. He only reacts to movement on his left side when the object is literally about a centimetre away from his eye and he blinks, even that may be a sensory reaction to the change in the airflow (i.e. if I wiggle my fingers next to his eye I think he is really feeling the 'breeze' they are creating). His right eye is fine. My worry is that he was a very active dog and we used to go for long off lead walks, which I want to get back to, trouble is if he is blind in his left eye is he at risk of it getting seriously 'poked' when he is snuffling around in the undergrowth and could he bang into things, thus injuring himself? He has already bashed into our cars a couple of times when they were parked on the drive, though not hurting himself, also he finds it difficult to judge distances, he tried to jump into the back of the landrover when I last took him to the vets and he made a bit of a mess of it bless him! Will he learn to adapt or do you think his eyesight may return as he gets even better? If not, and at risk of sounding totally 'thick', do they do special doggy eye patches that you can put on dogs when out walking to protect his eye? Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Sarah.

Hi Sarah, was wondering how you were both getting on :) Sorry can`t be of any help with his blindness but glad to hear he`s recovering :)

Christine, Spain.

just adding that he will adapt to limited sight

Hi Christine, thanks for your interest, yes he is SLOWLY recovering, think this will take some time, it has been a very tiring and worrying time for all of us, I am sad to say that if anything happens to Sam I really will not have another dog, despite the happiness he has brought I just couldn't stand the emotional turmoil when he was so seriously ill, I never realised how attached I had become. Anyway, that aside, he is definitely if not blind then nearly blind in his left eye, sadly as well I think his sense of smell has diminished somewhat, which I find quite upsetting as he lived by his nose bless him and he just doesn't seem as interested in nosing around as he used to. Perhaps that will come back with time, I do hope so (or have you any homeopathic suggestions???) I just hope he is happy and that we did the right thing by persevering, I'd hate to think he is miserable, though he doesn't seem it but his enthusiasm when I get his lead for a walk is nothing like what it used to be, saying that he still has a long way to go, so I am building his walks up v slowly. Sorry for rambling on, I am trying hard not to be a Miss Worrybox about him but it is difficult!!

Sarah

i hav a girl who is now totally blind in one eye. its her left eye and she has become totally used to it, she is still always off the lead except when near main roads and she can catch a ball wherever it goes and also darts round the woods.

when she was partly blind she was also in a flyball team!!!!!

i think its most likly he will get used to it. As it is dog rely on sent and hearing more then eyesight so i dont think he will get lost aslong as you call him.

There was a lab with only one eye who used to compete fairly succesfully in Working Trials.

Thank you Tohme & Icequeen, thanks for your reassuring posts, it is encouraging to know that my lad has a good chance of adapting, I do hope so as he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box to start with bless him, trouble is I think his sense of smell has diminished too but I am hoping that will return as he gets better.

Sarah