Sudden vision loss in Westie (not mine)

[Mara]

My mom thinks her 8 year old Westie is experiencing a rapid loss of vision - “rapid” as in over the past couple of months. It has taken some time for her to put the pieces together, but it does make sense. He is suddenly hesitant where he used to be sure-footed (down the stairs). She had thought he was just slow, but now realizes he may just be uncertain when they’re out on their walks. And he has begun to occasionally bump into things and people.

He’s never been a real ball of fire, so she thought perhaps the slowdown was a touch of arthritis. Her vet prescribed Dasuquin on their last checkup about 3 months ago, and his eyes seemed fine.

He’s also got some brownish staining under one eye, which he’s never had before. I’m wondering if it might be keratitis sicca? He’s not blinky or squinty or anything.

They ARE going to the vet tomorrow, but does anyone have any thoughts?

[LauraKY]

Could be. My cocker has dry eye with the brownish staining and goop. We just use eye drops for it.

[SquishTheBunny]

Glaucoma can cause sudden onset blindness. Often its in one eye at first, but could develop at the same time in both eyes. Although usually its more acute than over a few months.

Lots of geriatric eye issues, keeping fingers crossed its something managable

[BuddyRoo]

Lots of possibilities.

BP could be a factor, diabetes, cataracts, etc etc etc. Really hard to know without a good exam.

We just had a patient in tonight who has a BP issue. But we also had patients in today who had cataracts. It’s just hard to say on the interwebs, ya know?

Good luck though!!!

[Mara]

Well, the vet says Fergus’ eyes look good - no evidence of cataracts, retinal problems, or anything else.

The thought now is that it’s just aging - they’re now suspecting he is probably older than previously thought (he is a rescue, and they found him wandering around a parking lot, so no one knows his exact age).

They did draw blood for a thyroid panel. Fergus has always been on the slowish side, especially for a terrier. He has his moments, of course, but even his vet commented a few years ago that his heart rate is on the slow end of normal. Plus lately he has had a voracious appetite, where for a long time he never finished a meal, and he has gained insane amounts of weight in a short period of time despite tightly regulating food intake. He’s truly obese now, so I know my mom is kind of hoping the thyroid comes back low - it would explain a lot. She’s been at the end of her rope trying to get weight off him.