6 weeks after cruciate surgery and learning to cope with a blind dog

And it was all going so well.  Recovery from TTA surgery has been fantastic.  Our walks are now up to 25 minutes three times a day.  His leg looks really good, so good you'd be hard pressed to know he was operated on less than two months ago.  He has returned to his upstairs bed, although he is supported with a sling up and down stairs, and the descent is hard work and needs lots of support and care.  We have had three trips to the park this weekend, which is great.

On the down side he has clearly found it increasingly hard to see since his first surgery.  I had thought it general clumsiness from time to time but in the past two weeks his eyesight has declined rapidly, to the extent that he cannot see things right in from of him, not even the rubber stick he carries round or his food bowl.  It has been a shock to say the least. His eyesight hasn't been perfect in a while but the speed at which he has lost it completely took us by surprise.  We noticed he banged in to things a little a few weeks ago, and he bobbed his head around when in his pen as if trying to work out where we were.  By mid week last week he couldn't even find his bowl when I put it down in the kitchen, rather than in his pen.

It's possible of course that his eyesight has been far worse than we thought for a while.  From what I've read dogs adapt well, and it is not uncommon for owners to think it happened suddenly. Perhaps with being penned for around 8 weeks now he has lost his mental footprint of the downstairs of the house. Having said that, at the end of January he was happily playing with his ball on the beach and in February very much alert to his surroundings before he tore his cruciate.  He seems in reasonable spirits though, and very much enjoys his walks.

Will be considering whether cataract surgery is an option over the next few weeks.  Having just gained another new leg it seems so cruel that he has lost his sight.  Hopefully we will be able to get him seeing again, and if not then we will just all have to adjust.  Heartbreaking though.