As humans can experience vision impairments with diseases and age, so can your pets. Unfortunately, unlike humans’ treatment options, dogs and cats don’t have similar options. This can affect your pet’s quality of life, especially among older pets whose other senses have diminished and rely more on vision.
As a pet owner, you can help your pet by learning how to know if your pet has vision problems, their possible treatment options, and how to adjust your care to ensure their quality of life continues to be enjoyable.
How To Know If Your Pet Has Vision Problems
Questions such as “Does my dog have vision problems?” or “Do cats lose vision with age?” are entirely understandable, especially among pet owners with older pets and pets with diseases such as diabetes affecting different body parts.
It’s important to note that how dogs and cats react to vision problems can vary. For instance, dogs rely on their powerful senses of smell and hearing. Conversely, cats have eye problems more similar to humans but are vulnerable to injuries that affect their eyesight.
Some of the most common signs of vision problems among cats and dogs include:
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The problem with spotting pet vision loss is that your pet’s vision can gradually decline. In the early stages, your pet can adapt to mild changes in their vision. As a result, they only begin to show behavioral changes when they’ve reached the later stages of vision loss. The best way to know if your pet has vision problems is to visit your veterinarian at least once a year to spot the early signs of vision impairment.
Vision Loss in Dogs: Can Dogs Have Vision Problems?
Partial vision loss or complete blindness is possible among dogs, especially older dogs and larger breeds that tend to age faster. However, this can be difficult to spot at the early stages as dogs can adapt by using their nose and ears to adjust. Their vision loss could worsen as they age and their senses diminish. This can result in visible behavioral changes that suggest vision loss.
Causes of Sight Loss in a Dog
Some of the most common causes of vision impairment among dogs include:
- Age: Many older dogs tend to experience different levels of vision loss, from minor impairment to complete loss of sight.
- Hereditary: Some breeds are susceptible to diseases such as diabetes associated with vision loss. Species such as Golden Retrievers, Labrador Retrievers, and Rottweilers are also more likely to develop Progressive Retinal Atrophy, leading to retina deterioration that leads to blindness.
- Injuries: Dogs may sustain injuries that lead to eye damage that could develop into partial or complete blindness.
- Other Diseases: Diseases such as diabetes can lead to cataracts, while hypertension, infections, heart disease, cancers, and tumors can lead to ocular problems that lead to blindness.
Can a Dog’s Vision Be Restored?
Can dogs get their vision back? This will depend on the cause of their vision loss.
Some issues, such as eye injuries, can be treatable for younger dogs. For dogs with diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, managing the disease can prevent vision problems from worsening, but it won’t revert your dog’s eyesight to its original state. However, causes such as Suddenly Acquired Retinal Degeneration have no treatment available.
For dogs with untreatable vision loss and blindness, the best solution is to adjust their care. Blind dogs can adapt to their condition eventually, though helping them through this by making your home more accessible to their needs can improve their quality of life.
Vision Loss in Cats: Do Cats Lose Eyesight, Too?
Cat owners may ask if everything above applies to their pet and ask questions such as, “Do cats lose vision with age?” Cats can go blind, and while some symptoms and causes may be similar, it’s important to remember that a cat’s instincts and behavior vary differently from dogs.
Although cats have similar eye characteristics as humans and dogs, their sense of sight is more vital as they have adapted to seeing predators in low-light conditions. So when their sight is impaired, it can affect their behavior and overall well-being.
Causes of Sight Loss in a Cat
Some of the causes of vision loss in cats include:
- Age: Older cats are more prone to vision problems and other diseases and conditions that lead to blindness.
- Injuries: Cats could accidentally scratch their eyes, get debris stuck, or sustain injuries during a fight with other cats.
- Other Diseases: Cats can develop vision problems due to hypertension, kidney disease, cataracts, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, glaucoma, and more. Cats infected with feline immunodeficiency virus or feline leukemia virus may also develop eye infections that lead to complications.
Can a Cat’s Vision Be Restored?
Annual visits to the vet can keep your cat healthy and spot warning signs of eye irregularities or diseases that could impair its vision. Additionally, cleaning their eyes of visible gunk and keeping your cat away from strays that could fight or spread diseases could prevent long-term complications.
Similar to dogs, however, treatment doesn’t necessarily return their vision to normal. While cats can adapt to deteriorating eyesight, because cats heavily rely on their sense of sight, those who experience total blindness may find it difficult to adjust. In this case, you must assist your pet and adjust your care to ensure they remain comfortable in your home.
Comfortable Pet Hospice Care at Loving Paws Veterinary House Calls
Pets deserve a good quality of life even as they experience problems like vision loss. If your pet is showing signs of blindness with no available treatment options, the best thing to do is to ensure their comfort through in-home hospice care. At Loving Paws Veterinary House Calls, we have worked with thousands of families to manage their pets’ symptoms and how it affects their end-of-life living.
In worst-case scenarios where their pets’ blindness is caused by terminal diseases and hospice is no longer painless, the humane solution may be giving your pet peace. We can provide in-home euthanasia services for a dignified send-off in the familiarity and comfort of your home.
Get in touch with us today for inquiries and appointments.
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