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Lofty the guide dog

On Friday night Minxie suddenly went blind!! She had been out at 10pm in the garden as usual with no problems and then later as we were up late she suddenly could not see and was unable to find her way around. In the morning there was no improvement and off we went to the vet first thing. After being checked out and ruling out a stroke, glaucoma and detached retinas, we are now waiting to see the eye specialist in Kirkaldy at the beginning of the week for investigation.So after a difficult day yesterday guiding her around the garden and no improvement this morning we got ready for a walk. Minxie very keen to go but how to do this?? Brainwave-Lofty could be her guide dog!! We put them on a tandem lead and headed out round one of our familiar routes. Lofty was a star and adopted his pace to her more hesitant and slower one guiding her along and we successfully completed our walk with all the usual sniff stops for both dogs.So again an example of how adaptable these wonderful hounds are and we are happier taht if there is no treatment for her condition Minxie can still enjoy her patrol of the village with the guidance of Lofty.Will update on Minxie's condition once we have seen the specilaist.

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Oh bless her. She must be so confused.
I just hope that the specialist can sort it out for her but as you say, if not then Lofty will be her guide.

It's amazing how animals adapt to sudden changes, much better than us humans I think.

Hope you get some good news we will be thinking of you all.

Kaz, Pat, Ace and Jade

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Oh dear Guys.
That is terrible news. We don't understand what brought it on instantly. We are so very, very sorry for you all.
We hope that Mr Geddes will be able to do something.
Please give Minxie a huge cuddle from GRF.
Please keep us posted.
Celia and Jimmy.

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Hello,
It must have been such a shock for you all to have it come on so suddenly. I have a wee blind lurcher (Dylan) but he has untreatable retinal atrophy that developed slowly over several years so he has had time to adapt and he is just amazing the way he copes with it. I can't say the others are very helpful to him but they don't mind when he bumps into them by accisent .
I hope the vets can do something for her - they're supposed to be very good at Kirkcaldy so fingers x'd for you and Minxie.
Marion

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Hi Celia and Jimmy, just back from the opthalmologist. Mr Geddes in Kirkaldy is on holiday but our vet was able to get us an appointment with Mr Davidson in Edinburgh. After extensive tests this afternoon it seems that both Minxies retinas are detached due to corneitis - a severe sudden inflammation of the cornea only detectable with his specialist equipment. This is usually due to kidney problems or very high blood pressure or more rarely a sudden auto-immune response - in her case its the third one with no known cause. She has been put on very high dose of prednisolone to reduce inflammation inside the eyes and there's a 50:50 chance of partial restoration of her sight. So now we just have to wait till the end of the week with fingers and toes crossed that it works. Meanwhile Minxie is coping marvellously and navigating round the house and garden more confidently. Will keep you updated when we know more and thanks for your support.

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Sorry to hear of Minxies eyesight trouble. Our last boy went blind just before we took him. His optic nerves had wasted away, but prednisolone brought back his eyesight. He ended up on them for the rest of his days. It was Neil Geddes at Kirkcaldy who diagnosed it. There are minor side effects to prednisolone but they are nothing compared to potential gains. I hope she regains her eyesight soon, our thoughts are with you.

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Crossing all fingers that her sight wil come back

Sounds like your dogs make a great team

Mags

Re: Lofty the guide dog

Hi Guys.
Good luck wee Minxie.
Yes please. Please keep us posted.
All our best wishes,
Celia and Jimmy.