Fire investigations dog goes blind 'overnight' - but there's hope he could regain some vision

Kai, a 10-year-old Belgian Shepherd who works for West Midlands Fire Service, lost his sight overnight last week.

His handler, Mat Dixon, said Kai went to bed at their home in Penn completely normally on Thursday, January 5, but when he woke up the following morning it didn’t take long for him to realise something was wrong.

“It became obvious pretty quickly he couldn’t see,” he recalled. “He tripped over the side of his basket. I called him and he walked into the wall next to the door. I thought ‘something’s not right there’.

“Talking to him I could see he was looking in the direction my voice was coming from but not at me.”

Kai was taken to a vet in Wolverhampton and has since seen a specialist in Derby where tests were carried out to try and work out the cause of his sight loss which has enforced his retirement from the fire service. The Belgian Shepherd’s retinas were found to have detached and his optic nerve has swollen.

The reason for this is still being investigated, but on Friday Mat said test results proved negative for infectious diseases, meaning Kai has started a strong course of steroids.

"Hopefully it’ll reduce the swelling in his optic nerves, possibly allowing his retinas to return to a more natural position, with the chance of him regaining some of his vision," Mat said.

Mat described Kai as “quite unsettled” in the first couple of days after going blind, with his tail tucked between his legs and not being up for playing with another of his dogs, a cocker spaniel named Jyn.

“She was confused about why he wasn’t playing,” he said. “But on Wednesday he played back for a few seconds.” Before going blind Kai was used to help sniff out flammable liquids at fire scenes once blazes were extinguished to see if accelerants had been used and arson committed in a role that meant he relied on his nose just as much as his eyes. One of only a handful of dogs trained in such work, it meant he travelled across the country despite being based with West Midlands Fire Service.

Mat believes that work means he has “adapted quicker than a lot of other dogs would have done” and within days was using his nose to follow Jyn.

Kai has continued to grow in confidence. “He has absolutely blown me away,” Kai added. “He’s adapting for quicker than I could have imagined, and quicker than I am.”The issue he seems to he having some trouble born out of me not thinking, or not moving stuff or letting him off his lead and not thinking he can’t see, then he gets stuck in a bush.”

Mat has shared videos of Kai chasing tennis balls and running around, and has promised his four-legged friend he will enjoy a comfortable life in his new-found retirement.

He's also thanked the people who have supported him and Kai, by sending toys made specially for blind dogs and kind messages.