A question for people with handicapped pets

[Xan Krieger]

Let me start off by saying I have a mostly blind beagle, he has glaucoma in both of his eyes. He had pressure in his eyes but eye surgery took care of that. Now he can't see for the most part but he's not in pain and seems to enjoy his life. Sure he bumps into things from time to time but never hurts himself, he even plays with my dachshund.

My question is this: Do you own any pets with a disability and how do you cope with it? My family never moves the furniture around because the dog has a mental map of where everything is. We don't take him for walks but he does run around in our backyard.

 

[Catfood220]

One of my cats had to have his tail amputed after he came in with chunks of flesh missing from it. It hasn't had a massive effect on his life, his balance is sometimes a little off and he gained the nickname "Stumpy" it hasn't really slowed him down.

 

[DugMachine]

I had a dachshund who slipped a disk and was paralyzed from the waist down so we made a wheelchair type thing for him. It's a hassle but it's so much easier with tiny dogs.

 

[Jinxzy]

I have a cat that is 17 years old and her hearing is now gone, also her eyes are not what they use to be. We still treat her the same way we always have but I noticed our other cat will stick by her side a lot. Even groom her because she can't groom herself any more. I'm shocked that my other cat stepped up and helps her when we really aren't around or she goes under the bed. The only thing we changed is when you want to call her over you put your hand down so see can see it and wiggle your fingers. She trots over as fast as she can.