The Schnauzer Forum

Sorry to hear this, hugs to you and Roofie.

I have a few things you may want to do, first contact the Schnauzer Club of Great Britain health co-ordinator and tell him as much as you can about Roofie, his eyes, what the vet has said, who his parents are (you'll need his registration papers to give their kennel names) and who bred him and when. He will add this to the information he holds about affected miniature schnauzers and the SCGB are currently one of the breed clubs working with the Animal Health Trust into finding out the genetics behind the eye diseases to develop a DNA test. The health co-ordinator is Tony McDermott
Email: Lichstone@aol.com Please put Schnauzer Health in the subject line.

This is from Tony's Health Matters summary in 2009;
"What should I do if my Dog has problems?
If your dog is diagnosed with any of these eye problems or any other, it is in the interest of all Miniature Schnauzers, to advise The Schnauzer Club of Great Britain, Northern Schnauzer Club or the Miniature Schnauzer Club, and the breeder.
If my dog is diagnosed with CHC, HC or PRA, why should we tell anyone?
Things occur even in the most carefully planned breeding programmes; it is only through exchange of information that will we eventually eradicate these problems from our favourite breed. It is important to tell the owners of the sire and dam, because neither parent should be bred from again. Also, it is important to tell owners of the other puppies in the litter, because those should not be bred from."

Tony will then probably put you on to the Animal Health Trust. (http://www.aht.org.uk/) who are in the process of collecting DNA samples in order for them to find out which genes are responsible for the eye diseases in schnauzers.

In addition, you say this came on suddenly but I wonder how true that is, dogs are fantastic at hiding all sorts of problems and she may well have hidden this for several weeks or months - he clearly knows the layout of your house from memory already and I imagine alot of how he behaves on walks is dictated by his ears and nose. It sounds horrible to think that you may have missed tiny signs that all was not well but it is very possible and that does not make you a bad owner. The reason I say this is not to make you feel terrible but to offer some hope - if he has managed to hide this from you, the person that knows him best, I think he will be OK. The kids will learn not to leave things out that might hurt him, you'll learn how to best manage outside and Rufus will carry on in his happy, smell and sound filled world. Dogs live in the moment, he will not miss his eyes. A dogs primary senses are smell and sound, he will still hear you come home, he will still stand behind you whilst you prep his dinner sniffing in tail-wagging appreciation and he will still want to go on walks to have a sniff at the verges and lamposts that make up the Daily Dog newspaper.

Suzie wrote:Hugs to Rufus. I am sure with your love and care he will be just fine... he will be loving all the extra cuddles I am sure.

Just out of curiosity - with schnauzers being prone to eye problems, is there anything you can give them eg. a supplement with their food to attempt to prevent this kind of thing in advance?

Not that is known about. Mini's can inherit one of tree eye conditions and all lead to blindness. There is currently no cure or preventative and we do not have a definitive DNA test yet but that is being worked on. That is why it is so important to make sure that puppies come from a long line of eye tested ancestors - it's the best chance you have of having a puppy that is not affected although it is no guarantee.

I agree, I don't feel that any food or supplement could of helped Rufus, but I do feel he maybe from an overbred litter, and with my inexperience I did not pick up on this.

However, Rufus is lovely and I wouldn't change him for the world xxx

brilliant day today, rufus had a lovely shower and long walk with patch, still tugging on the lead, but all is well, and only one small collision with a parked car!

Thanks peeps, so glad i came on this forum ;)

I walk Mouse on a longish lead so she is out in front. I find it easy to "steer" her and make sure she doesn't walk in to things.
Occasionally I get distracted (cute blonde or something) and I walk poor Mouse in to a wall or a post or something but I feel so bad about it that it doesn't happen very often.

Hehe. I'm getting Roof a new lead a very thick hard wearing retractable thingy, think that may work

good luck Roofie ... to save repeating myself on our experience with Primrose,who suddenly went blind a few weeks ago, I have attached the topic link below ... I will also be updating her 2012 tour topic shortly .... hope some of it helps

http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 1&start=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and the tour topic ...
http://www.schnauzer-forum.co.uk/viewto ... 48&t=10793" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Nawrrrrrrr not primrose too xx I'm sad to hear that x

Poor Roofie....what a week...

So he needed the blood test on monday, but now has a very swollen neck and lots of yukky puss coming out of the wound.....back to the vet we go

Oh no, sorry to hear that, poor Rufus, he is going right through it at the moment

Poor boy, hope he is feeling better soon.

What a rough time you have both had, fingers crossed things begin to look up for you

I hope the vet can sort out his pus quickly! I can't advise as to life with a blind dog, but there are a few on here. Prim's fairly recently diagnosed & I know they've spent a long time researching aids to help them & her ( I really like the hi-vis vest & the walking space protection bar they found)

So sorry to hear about the problems you are having with Rufus...we have Daisy, who has no sight in her right eye (cataract)- and has had that since we got her 2 and a half yrs ago-she is 7- but left eye closely monitored and fine last time she had it checked at the specialist....has the vet suggested Rufus be referred to a specialist ?...it costs about £100 for the annual check up...which seems a lot but gives us peace of mind that any further problems will be picked up early. Others may have more experience and or advice on that.

We were told she may be able to distinguish light and dark with her bad eye... or maybe not. We were also advised that keeping her eyebrows short may make it easier for her. She still has one good eye and bombs around a bit much for my liking.... so I hope Rufus will start managing well and being a bit more like his usual self.

Best wishes to you and Rufus.

Caroline