My Greyhound Space

Our lovely Pingu whom we rescued two years ago has developed Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA) with the result that he is going blind.  This was a huge shock when we discovered it this week.

Our Ex-Racing Greyhound - Pingu.

We had noticed certain signs in the past but assumed his clumsiness resulted from his exuberant approach to life.  He tends to bound up to us, or our other dog Slinky and has even been known to bowl Slinky over!  It all makes sense now and needless to say, we're very upset.

Last week he was in our garden sniffing everywhere over and over again.  His head was swinging from side to side as though he was disorientated.  We guessed his sight was compromised and when we looked, his pupils were huge.  A trip to the vet and then to a canine ophthalmologist confirmed the worst.  He is totally blind in low light and can only make out large objects in full daylight as blurred shapes.  We understand that within 18 months the loss of vision will be total.

It is said that the owners of blind dogs are more upset than the dog and this seems to be the case here.  His behaviour indicates he's still getting used to the situation, possibly because of the varying level of vision he's experiencing.  What he can percieve at mid day is very different from that in the lower light level at 9pm.  The condition is incurable, being hereditary, and progressive.  Onset is probably from around the age of two.  Pingu is now 4 and so more into the advanced stage.

We all have to learn to live with it and take the appropriate precautions such as drawing his attention to any new, or moved, objects in the home.  Obviously he is needing a lot of love and attention.  We will, however, take care not to spoil him as we know from experience that dogs will take advantage if they can get away with it!

I'll write more about our dogs soon.