Hey y’all-
I am about to adopt my first grey, a retired racer of about 2 years old. His family has the PRA (Progressive Retinal Atrophy) gene, which has led to roughly half of the males in his litter losing their vision.
I am in love with this guy, and I don’t care if he loses his vision, but want to best prepare myself and my home to make sure I can give him the best possible life. I have reached out to the owner of one of his siblings with PRA for her insight, but would love to hear from other owners of dogs with PRA or general vision loss.
He has a specialist appointment scheduled, and I know he has a 50/50 shot at keeping his sight.
I have done a fair bit of research, but would love to hear about your practical experience with greyhounds with vision impairment!
Thanks! Morgan
So my 6-year old greyhound boy has been getting a bit clumsier (he has never been what I’d call graceful), running into things, barking more. Having to practically place treats in his mouth since he couldn’t see my hand.
At his last annual checkup, the vet found cataracts and gave me a referral to an animal eye center. Our appointment was yesterday and the good news is, no cataract surgery.
The bad news is that this is because cataract surgery would be pointless because he has PRA, or progressive retinal atrophy. It’s similar to macular degeneration in humans, and there’s no treatment and no cure. My boy will probably be 100% blind in the next two years. There’s a supplement that might help a little, ocu-glo, so I’ve ordered a bottle and we’ll try it, but I’m not optimistic.
I know dogs are adaptable and he’ll be fine, he’s not in pain and it’s a slow decline so his other senses will acclimate. But I can’t help but be a little sad.
Has anyone else dealt with PRA or a blind grey? Any advice?
Hi all, found out some sad news today that my 4 year old Bengal boy hima has Progressive Retinal Atrophy and will become blind if he is not already. For those who have experienced it with their cat or know others who have, what are some tips on how to improve his quality of life and what to expect in the future. The condition had gone unnoticed by us as he had only recently started bumping into furniture. My mum suggested getting another cat to keep him company, would this be a good idea? ( He has been friendly with neighbouring cats in the past)
My 13 year old ACD has PRA. Any suggestions/tips on maintaining quality of life and safety as she gets more blind?
MS4 here;
I don't understand the difference between Progressive muscular atrophy (the LMN variant of ALS) and Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type 1/2/3) except for the fact that SMA (atleast Type 1) affects infants while Progressive Muscular Atrophy affects adults.
Are there any other differences? How do you differentiate between a Progressive Muscular Atrophy and a Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 3 (Kugelberg Weilander disease), since SMA III does not present at birth?
Just released a much needed immersion mod that makes you lose skills if you stop using them:
Atrophy (SKSE) at Skyrim Special Edition Nexus
Now character builds actually matter, and you won't become a warhammer wielding thief - mage who's a master blacksmith and archer in the late game
Ever since my visit at the dry eye clinic I have been feeling immense anxiety and sadness.
The doctor showed me my right eye which had some atrophy but the good news is that there were some decent looking lines as well (meibomian glands).
However, when she showed me my left eye I became very hopeless. I feel the worst of my symptoms in my left eye. I'm always aware of my left eye and it is constantly bone dry.
When the doctor showed me a picture of my left eye there was a major difference! There was so much more empty space and the few lines that were left looked all clumpy and short. One line in particular was especially fat, short and squiggly looking.
I'm so afraid that it will always be this way. I've heard that some people have had no success with treatments.
I guess I just need reassurance... This has been weighing on my mind everyday and I can't take it.
1) Can my eyes ever feel comfortable again or will they always feel bad even with treatment?
2) You don't need ALL your glands for them to be comfortable, right? How many do you need for your eyes to feel normal again? Do I have enough left (especially in my left eye)???
3) Can dry eye progression be halted if manage well? Like if I continue to get treatments (IPL) once a year and continue my at-home treatments then can that stop my eyes from getting worse? Or is the meibomian gland atrophy guaranteed to get worse even with treatment? I'm just so afraid that eventually I'll have hardly any glands left or none at all and then no amount of treatment will make my eyes feel good!
4) How important are eyes drops? Are they important for Meibomian gland function? I'm asking because the eye drops they told me to use made my eyes inflamed and worse feeling overall, so I had to stop using them. They were: i-drop MGD eye drops and CandorVision Ocunox ointment with vitamin A. I don't know why but they were 100% making my eyes feel worse. I'm taking Restasis and I think it's fine, I haven't noticed any redness or worsening of symptoms after taking it.
Here's my assessment: https://imgur.com/a/b0xNuBJ
Thanks
My name is Christian Samoticha (http://www.samoticha.com), I am 47 years old and live in Cologne, Germany. Since my birth, I suffer of progressive spinal muscle atrophy. Due to the low muscular strength I have by now, I need 24-hour assistance (which is paid by the Landschaftsverband Rheinland) for all trivial things. I am no longer able to eat and drink alone, take care for my body (lustration, bathing), brush my teeth, shave and clothe myself. All these things are taken over by my personal assistants (http://www.samoticha.com/assistenz.html), which I have employed in my little „care-company“, by my utter satisfaction, in order to enable myself a self-determined life in my own home. In order to move, I need an electric wheel chair which I now control by a so called zero-way-joystick and which supports my independence by demanding practically no power from me. When I have enough energy, I like being away in order to visit my friends and my parents, to go to the cinema and to concerts.
I live by social care (comparable to Hartz IV).
You can get a good impression of me ...
on my homepage http://www.samoticha.com
I'm real, see: http://www.samoticha.com/pool/chrisamo@reddit.jpg
Please send me some dogecoins, THANK YOU!!
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Christian :-)
https://www.facebook.com/samoticha
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