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How many of you chow chow owners have come across a blind chow or whose chows have gone blind. Wanted to see how common it actually is

I saw a couple that were rescued that were blind, but didn't meet the personally...it was a neglect case, so I couldn't say if it was from that or their old age [maybe both]. My male chow never did. Our female chow went blind late in life, at the very end where she passed days later.

Our first girl, Chia, developed canine glaucoma, which as we were told, is not unusual in chows, shar peis, and some hound varieties. We actually caught it quite early, at the first visible sign of onset, which merely consisted of tearing and a watery eye, we had her at our vet's that day. We ended up driving her to Purdue University, an Indiana university with a fabulous veterinary school. We had her back and forth to Purdue 5 times in 8 days, they did several laser surgeries, and she still lost all sight in her right eye. They told us that canine glaucoma is a bilateral illness and would strike the other eye, but there way no timeframe, just that "it will happen..." Over the next year or so, we had her back numerous times, we had surgeries, and she still lost the sight in her remaining eye roughly 18 months later. BUT, the good news, if there is such a thing in that situation, is that she continued on for several years and unless we told people, no one knew that she was blind. We continued to take her for walkies every day and she was so used to the routine, that she stayed on the sidewalk unless she needed to potty. She bumped into the Christmas tree one time, never bumped into it again. Truly, while we were heartbroken, she was fine. Her surgeons recommended we get her a companion, which is how we ended up with Emperor Ming, who was a 6 week old puppy when we brought him home. While the transition was difficult for her, they ended up being the best of friends, he would steer her away from the fence while they were running through the back yard, and when we lost her, he mourned her so very much...

In fact it's quite common because the breed often suffers a genetic fault called entropian, ( where the eye lashes are turned inward and rub on the actual eye), and if not properly treated, entropian leaves scars, ulcers and trauma on the eye that results in blindness of varying degrees. In fact, it is a reason that many chows are dumped in shelters unfortunately. Too often, many owners, rather than treating the problem surgically, they rid themselves of the problem because of the cost.

As I mentioned, many dogs are prone to canine glaucoma. At one point, Chia was on 18 different medications and eyedrops PER DAY. It was not fun. But, when they're a member of your family, nothing is too much. She never suffered from entropian, but we have had a chow since then who did. My biggest complaint to that was that I thought it was horrendously unfair that they had their eyes fixed before I had mine done!

My second chow had glaucoma secondary to melanoma of the eye. the eye was removed and the other eye showed no signs of problems.

Tippsy started to lose her sight as she aged. If she had lived longer than her 10 1/2 years, I have no doubt she would've lost her sight completely. She'd also started losing her hearing.

Our Black Chow Zeva is 5 and half yrs old. She has become blind in a matter of two months. We too her to the vet for the eye looking strange out of the blue, they sent us home with drops for a week, took her back, they gave her anibiotics for 10 days, 10 days go by we took her to a different vet, she was diagnosed with glaucoma and her pressures was 58 in the left( the infected eye) and 33 in the right eye. So more drops, more checking, finally the pressure in right got down to 15, but the left still in the 50's. Two days ago I called her down for her meds and she didn't com. I thought she was just being funny. So I went up and put meds in eyes not noticing anything strange. Well about 20 mins go by and her daddy came in and she usually runs down stairs to play, e went to her room and found her trying to get off her bed, she couldn't see! we rushed her to the vet, who got us in to a specialist in Atlanta 160 miles away. After three hours in the waiting room (not complaining at least she got us in) She had to poke her eyes to drain them, walked out with her pressures in the single digits. Today they was 7 and 8 still. But my girl is blind in left eye and only light and shadows in the right. Its going to be a learning experience for her as well as us, But She is our baby girl. Right now I'm not sure what the future brings and if they got to be removed or if anyone has had this happen this quick with there chow too The specialist said it is a chow thing.

The above post sounds alot like Uveo Dermatological syndrome that my girl has. She is 4 and has had one eye removed. She is blind in her remaining eye. The symptoms started with swollen conjunctiva gland. Rapid high pressure which caused glaucoma. This is a wicked and very rare condition caused by a hiccup in the spleen which manages the immune system. For whatever reason it attacks eyes and in some cases hair loss. Typically the hair grows back grey or white.

There is no cure. Our girl is on drops, Immuran and occasional steroids. She is stable and as above noone knows she is blind. Confident ownership is needed especially with Chows.

Whilst I am no vet I have dealt with this rubbish illness for 2 years now. If anyone ever wants help please drop me a message.

hey guys, my name is JC and iam from Brazil. I have a 10 year chow chow, like a year ago he got blind of 1 eye, and then now the other went blind too. The problem is that our little guy dont let us threat it. He is very agressive when confronted, and dont let us to put the medicine in th eye. It seems it was glaucoma. We had to remove the first blind eye, now we will remove the other, because it seems that glaucoma makes a pressure on his eye, and this can be very painfull. If this happend with someone or is happening, msg me, so we can talk about it and learn ways to help our little friends. Anyway, sorry about the grammar mistakes and cheers!