Pepper, our twelve-year-old pup, has been showing signs of aging/slowing down from some time. While she used to freak out at the sound of the smoke alarms in our house (set off usually by my cooking!), she now seems to be almost entirely deaf, not hearing us when we return home through the front door and acting startled when she gets touched.
We've noted her eyes getting milkier in the last few months and her vision going (I hesitate to diagnose my dog, as I've tried to do in the past; however, I fear this is probably cataracts, a side effect of chronic prednisone). This week, it seems like she's become almost completely blind. She stumbles around on walks outdoors (especially in darker hours), bumps into furniture, and misses steps, curbs, and more. Her heightened sense of smell leads her to almost constantly digging and rummaging in various bags and baskets around our house. Maybe since she's familiar with her home environment, she is still able to navigate around the furniture and onto her preferred couch "perch." However, I can't help but wonder what kind of quality of life this gives her. She doesn't seem to be in pain, and still enjoys cuddles and licks (and snacks).
I have an appointment with the vet in a couple of weeks to ask them what this new loss of sight means for the last years of her life. Is cataract surgery a *thing* in dogs of her age, and at what cost might it be worth it? These are tough questions -- if your dog isn't in pain but is losing their senses and connection with the world, when and how does one make the decision to let her go? For now, we're trying to take lots of pictures of our fur-child and relish all the good times and memories over the last decade+.
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