Diabetes and Blindness

These decisions are always tough ones --- I guess I'd think about her being 90 yrs old and go from there ...

I would think it depended on what type of surgery it was...getting all the facts is imperative to decision making for me.

Yes, what type of surgery and would it improve or extend her life? Diabetes affects healing. Our little 5 lb pom/chi Poquita needed a surgery the last couple years of her life (no diabetes) but with her CHF, our old country vet said no. Such a hard decision, but I hope you have a vet who will give you his or her realistic opinion.

Our vet said at her age it would be very iffy. Not only the outcome but the chances of it recurring. I am just sitting here with the new pup bouncing off of KC wanting to play (I do keep them separate when he is in the house) and it makes me think how nice it would be if she could see this little culprit. Maddie does keep him in check though lol!

You still have not mentioned the surgery that is proposed

Are you talking about cateract surgery or?

She's old. She's blind. She's probably gotten used to both conditions.

If she were mine, I'd let her have her graceful decline. She'll probably get the whip hand of the pup without any intervention if only because the old Proverb of Geezers applies just as much to dogs as it does to humans:

Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill. ;)

emzee wrote:
A long time ago I talked about our pom KC who had been diagnosed with diabetes. She is doing good, her numbers are anywhere from 137-170 or 200 tops, it depends when I take her blood. I know I should be more consistent but things happen.

Anyway, this isn't the reason I am posting. I wanted to know if anyone has info on doing surgery on a 13 year old pup who is blind. I just wonder if it would be helpful or safe. I haven't talked too much about it to our vet. She did say it was expensive. I never got into the percent of dogs that get through it and are good to go. Any info would be appreciated.

The best source for this type of information is from a State University Small Animal Vet School. I went to UC Davis and they put a pacemaker in a bull terrier of mine years ago.

We had an Australian Kattle Dog and found out she had lost her sight. Took her to the vet and he said she had been diabetic. Being an outside dog we never caught it until she became blind. I, too, asked about surgery and took her to a specialist. The surgery was about $6,000, was not guaranteed and they said it would not restore her eyesight completely, she would only be able to see shadows. Back to the original vet and he said in her advanced state she only had six months to live. Two insulin shots a day and feeding twice a day let her live another FOUR YEARS!....she still played ball and romped in the backyard as normal. The only thing she didn't want is to come inside the house and we had to leave everything in the backyard as it was or she'd bump into it.

With our current pet, we found out this past summer that she too was diabetic. Some dogs are more prone to the disease than others. We are currently giving her the same treatment with the meals and shots and her eyesight is fine so far. We hope to let her live her life to the fullest.

Hope you make the right decision. I thought the surgery was too expensive. They will learn and adapt.

P.S. The way we found out she was diabetic was she started drinking more water than usual and peed in the coach which she has never done. Took her to the vet thinking bladder infection but tests showed the diabetes. If your dog is drinking more water than usual, take her to the vet asap. Early treatment can help your animal enormously.....Dennis

Assuming cataract surgery, the surgical procedure is the same that is done in people. The procedure has advanced over the years and is routinely done in people, I had both my eyes done in December. The diabetes is a little complication, but no a reason not to do the surgery.

The question is: will this really improve quality of life? Most dogs adapt and do quite well without the surgery. They don't need to have the visual acuity that we do to read, drive or just do day to day activities. The gradual development of the cataracts make the adjustment easier and most don't show any distress with the partial loss of vision.

Doug, DVM