Toys

Pets are picky if you give them enough choices. Blind pets are no different. The degrees of pickiness varies with each pet.  A labrador might prefer to destroy a tennis ball before going on to destroy a car tire (not advisable, please use supervision) where a poodle might prefer to play with a puzzle toy then destroy a tennis ball. Carlos can't see so he loves texture and noise.  He loves water bottle toys, squeaky toys, and crinkle toys. He loves toys with smells too.  Dogs' prey drive includes chasing, using their feet to stomp, and their teeth to bite. It also includes using their brain to formulate plans and learn how to do things. This allows them to adapt easily. Which means with trial and error, you can learn how to play with your special-needs pet.

 Spookie, my brain-damage kitty, has horrible depth perception and his vision is bad. He also has rear leg muscle weakness. I get feather light toys that have a bell on them and put the toys against his paw. This way he can swipe and catch the toy right away. Once he's interested in the toy I will drag it across the floor. He now knows what it is, and will chase it because it's not scary and he can hear it. His vision problems kept him from climbing a cat tower at first. Until I would hold a treat halfway up the tower for another of my cats who then jumped up and "hung out" halfway up the tower long enough for Spookie to inspect what was going on.  Once he realized how it worked he learned how to go halfway up. From there he figured out the rest on his own.  He's now the fastest out of all 4 of my cats that gets up the tower.

Carlos will play fetch with himself. He'll throw a toy around (by tossing his head) and then he'll go and find it, whether he finds it by smell or listening to where it lands or if I verbally tell him general directions where to go, he can adapt and find it. After about 2 minutes I'll get it for him if he hasn't found it.

Experiment. You don't have to throw a hundred toys or games or ideas at your pet at once. That will be overwhelming. Try one toy one month, and then add a new, different texture the next. Try it week by week, or day by day. Your pet can pick the pace and you can watch the learning happen. If you coddle too much then your pet isn't going to learn how to learn and your pet won't learn how to play on their own. Most people can't be with their pet 24/7.  Give them the tools to entertain themselves while you're away.  Be Kind.