Winker facing losing another eye! I am a mess!

Hi all! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Samantha and my Pug daughter's name is Penny (she is nine years young!). I have had her since I adopted her as a rescue in 2009. She was a breeder mommy and she developed dry eye and before I took her home, she had that eye removed. Fast forward to present day and she's facing losing the other eye. I am terrified her quality of life will decline. She's pretty much blind as it is and she gets around just fine. She's happy, healthy and such a sweet heart!! Any of you with experience having a Pug baby with no eyes? I am worried sick that she will decline. any advice or encouragement would help immensely!

Hi, Samantha and Penny! Welcome to PA.I know we have people here with eyeless or otherwise-blind pugs and I know they'll stop by to talk to you.

I just wanted to say that years ago I had a Kerry Blue Terrier who went blind because of a genetic issue with that breed. I did have a year or so to get used to the idea that her sight was going and I used that time to get her familiar with word cues for "step up" and "step down" so that I could walk her in unfamiliar areas and up and down steps. We moved from a NYC apartment to a house in the suburbs when she had just a vestige of sight left. She quickly learned the layout of the house; I kept her on a leash in the yard so that she didn't walk into shrubs or bushes and physically injure her eyes (or any other part of her)! Somehow this blind dog managed to follow the sun's progress around the house and she always managed to sprawl out by whichever window was the sunniest.

After our daughter was born, Teddy (the Kerry) insisted on sleeping under the crib and would stand up and challenge anyone who went into the baby's room until she knew them or we told her it was ok. She never snapped at our daughter, and we made sure the child learned to be gentle.

It was important not to rearrange the furniture without walking the dog through the new arrangement and I always spoke to her before I touched her. We were also careful about not leaving the door to the basement open (but with little kids, everything was gated anyway). She lived for about 7 or 8 years after becoming blind and was a great dog to have around. Sometimes I'd forget that she couldn't see because she was so much a part of everything we did.

Hope you get some more info from some of the other members! And good luck to you and Penny.

I have seen MANY eyeless pugs in my time and they usually really thrive! You (and they) no longer have to worry about hitting a wall or something and rupturing the eye. Many of them have pain in the eye too so that is gone with the eye. If she already has little to no vision she will probably have an easy time of adapting.

We've seen a lot of eyeless and blind pugs in rescue, and they really do adapt amazingly well. Our last one was a few months ago, a little girl named Patty. She was missing one eye and the other was not salvagable. Well, her adoptive home says she can manage to get into EVERYTHING, and if she wasn't missing her eyes she'd never believe she was blind! Since you say she is mostly blind already, I bet she will manage just fine. Usually it's a relief for them to be out of pain. There are some good resources for blind dogs that I will post after work, if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Welcome to PA.I also want to add that I am quite sure this will be more difficult for you than it is for Penny. My pug, Ty was nearly blind and also could not hear for the whole four and a half years he was with me after I fostered him and then ended up keeping him. But definitely keep doors to stairs closed or fenced off.

Hi Samantha, welcome to the forum! Hopefully Blanche will see your post and chime in here. She has Hazel - a 13-14 year old pug gal who is missing both eyes. I shouldn't say "missing" because Hazel gets around just fine without them and probably doesn't "miss" them at all! If you do a search on the forum here, you will find all kinds of posts, pictures, and videos of Hazel. She is a hoot! I'm sure that Penny will do just fine since you say that she is pretty well blind anyway and like the others have said, that remaining eye may be hurting her anyway. Good luck and please keep us posted.

I have a totally blind old man pug and he does great. Bumps along and finds his way and does NOT want to be carried anywhere! I also have a female who I recently discovered was bumping into things more than usual and took her in and she has a detached retina in one eye and a mild cataract in the other eye, so she has very little vision at all. I think it was harder for her at first cause she could see and was very active and I do notice her being a little more tentative about jumping from the furniture, etc.

If Penny has little to no vision to begin with in the remaining eye, she will most likely not be effected by the loss of that eye and it may cause her some relief is that eye causes any discomfort. We as people are WAY more effected by the way they look with no eyes then they are with not having them! Her smell will get her around just fine!

You guys are amazing. I read all your posts of encouragement and reassurance and they brought tears to my eyes. Penny is my baby and i hate to see her like this but if it's what's best then I want to go forward.

I can't thank you all enough!!

Blanche's Hazel had both her eyes removed and you should see her go! Blanche posts a lot of videos of Hazel and she gets around like she has 100% vision, so much so that some people tell Blanche that Hazel MUST have some vision - with no eyes?? Hazel was a puppy-mill rescue and her eyes were very bad. Now she lives her life to the fullest, she is so exuberant and happy. Your girl is probably living her life now as a blind dog and has probably adapted more than you have.