Kosmo
Mark,
I read “Rescuing Sprite” last month, as did my wife & daughter; we were all moved to tears. Coincidentally, our older male mini-dachshund, Kosmo (9 yrs old, about the same age as Pepsi), began acting despondent. We knew something was wrong, & had multiple tests run, which indicated nothing wrong, other than a significant weight gain. It was only when our daughter brought her dog here for Christmas that we realized that Kosmo had gone blind, or nearly so.
Things have gone downhill from there, we pretty much diagnosed him as having SARDS, & the vet indicated that he was in good health otherwise, but permanently blind. Kosmo was always in great spirits but now is totally depressed & inactive. Being winter, we don’t know how to begin getting him out of this condition. I’m a basket case, as I work from home & the dogs (Kosmo & 7-year-old-my-shadow, Rita) are almost always with me. I ordered Caroline’s book from Amazon, but it could be awhile to arrive. Could she have any basic suggestions on how to acclimate a newly-blind dog to his condition?
I’m a Reagan Republican & your book just *may* have converted my stalwart Demo wife & daughter – they now realize that we’re not ALL hanging out in airport restrooms, in wide stances! Plus, they both think that Hillary is Satan-in-a-pants-suit, no matter the party.
Thanks, Mark, for the book & all of your great commentary; without the likes of great ones like yourself, this country is gonna live up to Buchanan’s predictions.
Steve from IN
January 4th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
My first dog also had SARD. She went blind at 5 years old and lived to be 15! I think I took it harder than she did. I had to learn to let her find her way. She bumped into things for a while but adapted well, as long as we didn’t move things. She even knew where things were in the house. It was amazing to watch her, and to watch when we took her to my parents house. She knew where she was there too. The only thing we had to be really careful of was walking her outside, we had to be her eyes for things in the road. Try to keep his routine as normal as possible and try to encourage him to play and walk with you. He may be sensing your “basket case” too and feeding off that. They are way too smart!!!! I wish you the best with Kosmo!