You may think that a dog or cat without any eyes would never be put up for adoption. In some shelters that may be the case. Not at the San Jose Animal Care Center (SJACC).

At SJACC, the veterinarians evaluate each animal that comes in for medical issues. Being blind is not necessarily an indicator of a medical condition that would prevent an animal from being adopted. As long as the animal is otherwise healthy, being able to see is not necessarily going to impact quality of life, especially for animals that slowly lose their vision over time as is the case for many animals with cataracts.

A recent dog who came into the shelter was surrendered by its owner for euthanasia because the dog had been blind for two years and the owner did not believe that was a good quality of life for the dog.

When we took the dog into the shelter we didn’t see a sad, withdrawn dog. We saw a dog who was keenly aware of his environment, who sat at the front of his kennel and wagged his tail eagerly when he sensed by smell, sound or vibration that someone was approaching. We saw a dog who was full of life and didn’t sense there was a quality of life issue at this time.

This pup had one enlarged eye and one shrunken eye, with no vision. The enlarged eye was likely affected by glaucoma or high pressure within the eye, which is very painful. We opted to remove both eyes.

Blind Dog Healing After Bilateral Enucleation Before Going Up For Adoption at the San Jose Animal Care Center

The end result was an even happier dog now that he doesn’t have the pain from the glaucoma plaguing him.

The future home of this dog will have to be patient with him as he adapts to his new surroundings. He will, in time, create a mental map of his new home and be able to navigate the home without bumping into things. For tips and other info on living with a blind dog, please CLICK HERE

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