For those with sight, it might seem like an impossible feat to navigate through life without vision, especially if that life is walked through on four paws.

Three Newtown residents shined light on how they have adapted their lives to help give the best quality of life to their blind pet, the challenges they have faced, and helpful advice to those considering adopting a special needs pet.

A Working Dog

Behind the scenes at The Newtown Bee, there are two loyal canine colleagues who take their jobs very seriously. Golden retrievers Rosé and her younger counterpart, Piper, come from a prestigious line of office dogs owned by the Baggett family.

The dogs' range of work skills span across all departments, including greeting visitors, requesting tennis balls be thrown, and delivering paperwork from their "mom," Business Manager Sherri Smith Baggett, to their "dad," Head of Production and Circulation Manager Scott Baggett.

They adopted Rosé (also affectionately known as Rosie) when she was only 8 weeks old. Having turned 12 years old last December, Rosie had been healthy most of her life, until September 2015, when she was diagnosed with sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome (SARDS).

"We didn't know what it was," said Ms Baggett. "With us experiencing it for the first time, it was a little shocking."

Prior to the formal diagnosis, Ms Baggett recalls how on a Tuesday she noticed the droopiness in her dog's eyes and brought her to Newtown Veterinary Specialists (NVS) for an emergency visit.

At NVS it was discovered that there was a lot of pressure in Rosie's eyes, appearing to be glaucoma. Ms Baggett became increasingly concerned and was able to secure a visit the very next day with Dr Charles Stuhr of Animal Eye Clinic in Wilton.

"She was at the point where she was hitting things trying to walk. She couldn't really see," Ms Baggett said.

By the following Tuesday, only a week after the first sign of her vision being impaired, Rosie had gone completely blind.

For the next five months, Mr and Ms Baggett would put drops in Rosie's eyes every morning and night, to Rosie's dismay. With no vision, Rosie's eyes had also become increasingly painful. Ms Baggett explained, "[With SARDS], the eyes are like a migraine headache to them; they have a pain all the time."

With the discovery of an erosion on Rosie's eye and the family's frequent worry of her accidentally scratching her eyes and causing more damage, the Baggetts decided to have Rosie's eyes surgically removed in February 2016.

Not only did it take Rosie's pain away, and bring her back to her tail-wagging self, but it also changed how Rosie navigated throughout the office and at home. Ms Baggett noticed how Rosie began walking carefully with her head down, using the walls to guide her.

Since so much of her navigation is through memory, Ms Baggett says one of the main ways she helps Rosie is by keeping her environment as unchanged as possible. By not rearranging furniture, Rosie can maneuver through spaces with more ease. The family is also attentive to making sure she does not have access to certain areas, like the stairs, when they are not home.

In the past, to help Rosie steer, Ms Baggett would give verbal cues like "turn" to help guide her.

This year, however, Rosie was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer that is affecting her hearing, so the Baggett family is continuing to adjust to helping Rosie navigate through life.

Fortunately, Rosie's sense of smell has only become stronger. She does not let lack of sight or hearing deter her from enjoying an active, treat-filled life.

Kitten With A Healed Heart

The same upbeat philosophy applies to a 10-month-old kitten named Paddington, who was diagnosed blind and deaf when he was only 6 weeks old.

Laura McHugh has experience helping vision and hearing impaired animals as the foster and adoption program manager for The Animal Center in Newtown. She has adopted out many special needs cats into loving homes, but she and her husband, Ian McHugh, had never adopted one themselves - until Paddington came along.

The Animal Center had received a call from a woman in Redding concerned about a mother cat under her bay window. When the group came out, they found that the mother cat was desperately trying to take care of her 4-week-old kittens.

Once the cats were put into foster homes, it became clear that not only was Paddington the runt of his litter, but he seemed cognitively off.

"We could tell there was something not quite right with him compared to the other ones," said Ms McHugh. "His siblings were blossoming."

When he was taken to the vet, it was confirmed that not only was he blind and deaf, but that he had a rapid heart rate. Concerned that it could be a congenital heart defect and that he would not make it, Ms McHugh brought him home to let him live out his life comfortably with her family and older cats.

"What I noticed with him when I first brought him home, is he was nose to the ground like a hound dog. Very carefully sniffing around, trying to figure out where things were," Ms McHugh said.

Miraculously though, at Paddington's next check-up visit the cardiologist told her that his heart appeared to be perfectly healthy.

"He'll be with us for 20 years instead of two months. We're excited - we love him," Ms McHugh said. "The uncanny thing is that my foster had named him Paddington, and my first cat - who I had for 19 years - was named Paddington."

Now, months later, Paddington knows where everything is and does not crash into things. Still, his movements are usually slow and deliberate.

To help him be familiar with the area, she has avoided moving furniture around and keeps the litter boxes in the same spots. Also, she has found it helpful to always feed Paddington in the same spot, so he gets comfortable with the routine.

Since he is very sensitive to smell, they have found that he reacts well to catnip toys, which are a great alternative since he cannot chase other toys.

Ms McHugh said if people have additional questions they can reach out to The Animal Center for guidance about owning a blind pet.

"Overall, I would say keep things kind of the same in the rooms and not to get frustrated in the beginning if they have an accident," said Ms McHugh. "And just to love them."

A Quick Witted Cat

Being blind has never slowed down tuxedo cat Ray Charles, though.

"I would never say Ray has a handicap. He lives a full happy life," said Ray's owner, Michele McLeod. "He is the most amazing animal that I have had in my life."

He can do anything a cat with sight can do, if not more, she explained.

Before coming to her home at 14 months old, Ray had been a feral kitten who stumbled upon someone's deck on a snowy day in February. A good Samaritan took him inside, and he proceeded to walk up and down the stairs like he had sight. When The Animal Center came and brought him to a vet, though, they found out that his eyes had ruptured from a virus.

"He was enucleated [surgical removal of eyes] because his eyes were causing him pain and there was no visual potential," Ms McLeod said. "As soon as that surgery was over he just became the most happy-go-lucky guy."

Prior to being adopted out to Ms McLeod, Ray had been adopted by a women who took only handicapped cats. He was returned shortly after because he was too high functioning and was disrupting the other cats.

Now eight years later, Ray rarely bumps into anything and is always eager to have a new adventure and explore his surroundings.

"It turns out Ray lives for diversity. We have changed the furniture around to accommodate the Christmas tree. Anytime there is a change it is not frightening for him. He loves it because it is a new opportunity," Ms McLeod said.

"He doesn't know he is missing anything. He also has really developed his other senses, without even knowing it," she continued.

After hearing how others operated the foot pedal garbage can, Ray learned how to jump on it and grab items off the top. He has also been caught opening plastic jugs of pet food containers, stealing pizza off the counter, and is the first to greet visitors.

"He even caught a mouse before my sighted cat," Ms McLeod said. "He's faster than any dog or cat I've ever owned to find spare kibble."

Being so active, Ms McLeod says the changes in her life have been to keep Ray safe from his mischievous ways.

"My challenge is that he is so high functioning," Ms McLeod said. She has since had to get a different garbage can, a different oven, and not leave things he can grab unattended.

Still, even with the challenges, Ms McLeod says she would recommend others to adopt a cat with special needs.

Ms McLeod said, "We should all live life the way that Ray does. He's happy and has this confidence in life that everything is fine. Being blind never slowed him down."