Blind Clients, health check advice

Re: Blind Clients, health check advice

Alison Clare Hickman — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 09:53:40 GMT

Spot on Mark! I've had/got several deaf (profoundly and impaired), blind (profoundly and impaired) and a deaf/blind pet owners. The best tip in my opinion is the one to ask how the owner currently cares for and checks their pet out and build on that. Many also have carers who can be brought into the fold re care for the pet too. I've also found that some elderly clients, who you'd not categorise as disabled but do have age-related visual, physical and cognitive impairments that can limit their ability to deal with/recognise health issues for their pet, also need extra advice - but with a bit of re-jigging of the normal and with respectful advice we usually find a way to help.

Ever onwards ever upwards team!!

Respectfully yours

Ali h

Re: Blind Clients, health check advice

Mark Hedberg — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 09:01:57 GMT

Sure - you can hear a chest wheeze or a nose sneeze, hear a cough, hear a dog scratching more frequently than usual. You can smell a bad mouth if there's lots of plaque or oral issues, or even ketones on the breath of an uncontrolled diabetic. You can feel for unusual lumps with your fingers, or ask a neighbor to let you know if your dog is losing hair. Weight loss is also something you can do a reasonably accurate estimate by lifting your dog (obviously not if it's a Rhodesian Ridgeback!)

Does your pet smell funny? Might be a skin infection there, or malassezia. Soft stool or diarrhea? Bet that smells too!

You might even ask the client what they do at home to check their own health - many things are adaptable to pet health.

Cheers,
Mark