Dog without eyes finds love with a new family - who went to the RSPCA for a cat

Hooch had his eyes removed after his condition went untreated for five years. He has now found his forever home through the RSPCA. Archant

A dog who had his eyes removed after a painful condition went untreated for five years has found love with a new family - who had gone to the RSPCA at Block Fen to find a cat.

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The Staffordshire bull terrier had both eyes removed after suffering from a congenital eye condition when he was first discovered by the RSPCA.

His new owner Tina Osler visited the centre near Wimblington to adopt a cat but she said: “I didn’t find any cats I liked and then I saw this poster on the wall of Hooch.

“I asked my husband David to come and have a look at him.

“I said, just one thing he’s got no eyes and David said ‘forget it’ but he came to see him anyway and Hooch started licking him to death and David just fell in love with him.”

She said: “I wasn’t sure when they first mentioned the idea of a dog without eyes, but we knew straight away when we saw him that he was the one.”

Inspector Justin Stubbs was called in January last year after concerns for the dog’s welfare.

Hooch, then known as Pooch, was suffering badly. His eyeball had become so swollen it looked ready to pop out.

Vets removed his right eye immediately and tried treatment for his other eye but sadly it could not be saved due to the severity of his condition.

Tina, from Wisbech, said: “He’s brilliant and has settled in really well.

“He’s coping very well without his sight too. He still bumps into things occasionally but on the whole he is brilliant, he’s adapted brilliantly.

“We try and make life easier for him. We live in a bungalow so he doesn’t have to tackle stairs. We were also told not to move the furniture around so his surroundings are familiar.

She added: “It hasn’t been as much of a challenge as I thought.”

“He’s just like one of the family now. He loves people which surprises me after everything he has been through and how he was treated.

“Knowing what he’s been though doesn’t make me sad, it makes me angry and it makes our family very angry.”

David said: “Hooch came over to me to sniff my hand and started licking it. That broke the ice.”

Inspector Justin Stubbs said: “Pooch was in a terrible state when I found him and his eye looked horrendous. It was like something out of a horror movie - his eyeball looked ready to pop out of his skull.

“His previous owner was told by a vet to have Pooch’s eye removed but this was ignored and she failed to seek any further professional advice.

“That means poor Pooch was left suffering from what must have been an extremely painful and uncomfortable eye condition for more than five years. It’s just shocking.”