I want to get a dog but I have to work, how does everyone on broadway market do it ?

Oh jeez. I hope he’s going to be ok. How old is he now?

Meanwhile Luna his gone from this

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To this

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12 years old. Still delinquent and full of enthusiasm.

That’s a pretty awesome recovery.

really hoping for the best possible outcome whatever that is at this point. tell them they're a good boy from me.

Sidney’s eyesight is much worse today than it was two days ago. So the optic nerve was damaged when the pressure was high yesterday. Normal pressure is 4mm hg, yesterday was getting readings in the region of 65-67mm. After the needle in the eye it reduced to below 10mm. We had been told to watch out for pupil dilation and sadly his pupil is very dilated which could indicate the pressure is rising again - at which point the pressure reducing eyedrops don’t work as they can’t get into the eyeball.

His eyesight has been deteriorating over the past few years but todays walk (on a lead) showed it has got much worse. He can see large objects but no detail, and was walking into twigs and tall grasses repeatedly.

If the pressure is elevated tomorrow when we see the eye vet again it may well be time for the tough call to remove his one eye. Then we will have to make sure his quality of life is good, that he is happy and not anxious or depressed.

Really sorry to hear that, that's such a tough thing to face! Fingers crossed things go as smoothly as possible.

Returned to the vet today. Sidney’s eye pressure is within normal parameters for the moment so the medication is working. However this is just a temporary stay on the problem. Once the medication loses efficacy the pressure will ramp up again and the eye will need removing. Have been told the likelihood is weeks or months not years. The boy is in good spirits, happy and affectionate as always. His eyesight is way worse than it was prior to the episode so perhaps this is just the period where he learns to survive with less eyesight before the total loss.

He is clattering into things and woefully overestimating his abilities. After feeding this morning he raced out onto the patio which has a 1m drop to the ground. I just managed to catch him before he went off the edge.

Doorways are a challenge he either won’t go through or charges too fast and hits the doorframe. Hopefully he will start to moderate his velocity over time.

It’s going to be a learning curve for all of us as to how to manage things now and as they deteriorate.

My heart goes out to you and Sidney, I hope it’s not too devastating.
I watched my parents deal with a severely epileptic vizsla for five years and it damn near broke them but as long as the quality of life is there, you simply do everything you can.

That’s going to be a tough one. I think it will take a lot of adjustment for you all.
Learning how to cope without sight at his age will be pretty challenging. Good luck.

Sorry to hear it's not looking good. My parents had a dog when I was growing up that went completely deaf and blind, she was seemingly pretty happy just pottering around the garden sniffing stuff most of the time. I'm sure it'll be an adjustment for you both but I don't doubt you'll make sure he has the best quality of life he can!

On a more optimistic note (although Viszlas are as dumb as nuts), here's a story:

I had a mate whose lab had a morning routine which included jumping a gate into a field. One day the lab jumped the gate WHICH HAD BEEN LEFT OPEN. He took the lab to the vet who cheerfully confirmed that the lab was blind and could well have been so for over a year. The lab lived a happy life for years after, only bumping into things when in unfamiliar places.

The outcome is not necessarily disastrous.

My wife recounted a story she had seen about a human boy who was gradually losing his sight. On one visit the doctor asked how it felt to now be blind and the boy said “I am not, watch me walk out of the door” which he duly did. The doctor said that was amazing and asked him to repeat this feat, and the boy walked straight into the doctor. The child was convinced he could see but his mental map didn’t include moving objects.

Thankfully Sidney is the more practical intelligent one of our pair of viszlas. If a door is shut he will walk around the house in an attempt to find an open one. Olive is the over entitled millennial, if a door is shut she stares at it performing Jedi mind tricks waiting for a weak minded human to open it.

Thanks to all for the kind words. Fingers crossed we will all learn to adapt and this graduated decline gives him time to learn. The fastest way to tire our dogs is making them do mental work (retrieving items or finding hidden treats) this period of brain work is leaving him exhausted by the evening. But otherwise he is still happy and full of beans.

Have been blocking access to much of the patio, so all he can access is the steps up and down which reduces his chances of falling off the full height.

We will all be ok, and he will be well looked after. It’s just heart wrenching when our worst fear for the one eyed boy was that he could lose the other one.

Sorry to hear that about your dog, there is a blind staffie on a group im on and his border terrier brother seems to help him get about. Infact I seen photos of the dogs on a hike the other day so hopefully yours can help the other one adapt.

Dog has eaten a chicken bone he found on the floor.
Should I be worried?

MrsDeth is on the phone to the vets and a cursory Google says it'll be fine, he needs to go to hospital and/or he will be shitting blood by the morning.

Reckon it was KFC, so he clearly has no class.
He isn't bothered at the moment and reckon he ate it whole as I tried to wrestle it from his mouth (I didn't feel it or see it)

How big is he?

Ours used to do it occasionally when we used to live near a fried chicken place, the vets recommendation was to make them a load of overcooked white rice, as it helps pad it out when it makes its way through their gut...

Small, 8kg Border Terrier.
Vets said to monitor him and feed him bread (to pad it out)

He seems fine, but reckon I'll be awake .ost of the night

Crumpet are all sorts of shit off the pavement when she was little, chicken bone (and a screw one time) included and she was absolutely fine. We were also told to feed her bread to try and stop the sharp ends getting stuck anywhere. I'm very glad she's grown out of her old street dog ways! From the sounds of it it's a bit of a roll of the dice as to whether or not a chicken bone does any harm.

Vets said to monitor him and feed him bread (to pad it out)

He seems fine, but reckon I'll be awake .ost

My little bastards have eaten chicken bones many times, but have never had any troubles. Idiots deliberately feeding them their fried chicken bones in the park has caused me to almost do a murder on occasion.

Vets said to monitor him and feed him bread (to pad it out)

Our vet told me that its rare to see a dog come to harm from eating a cooked chicken bone. Its kind of an urban myth with a little bit of truth. His reasoning was a 100+:1 ratio of worried owners to actual issues. Or at least thats what he said when Otto ate a chicken bone and we worried about it.

My understanding from previous similar anxiety is the issue would be crunching then eating a cooked chicken bone because the hardened shards that creates can be problematic. Eating whole (as most seem to do) is almost always fine

Thanks for the reassuring comments, its alleviated my fears.

@DethBeard
Our Border is a street food fiend and probably manages to snarf a chicken bone from pavement or park every couple of months. Not ideal obviously but she's come to no harm so far.

Sophie from Romania update:

https://twitter.com/ruskin147/status/1613811325255163904