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Sad doggy tale and a warning

Our dear girl was feeling a bit under the weather on Sunday and lacking in appetite - well it was pretty hot and none of us felt like doing or eating much. We thought...

One of her eyes was a bit weepy. I cleaned the eye with some saline of a few bits of debris, just the usual dust/bits of chaff in a dry summer in the country. We thought...

Her brilliant, deep amber eyes have been going a teeny bit cloudy of late, but she is 11 and that’s just natural ageing. We thought...

We were wrong on all three counts. By the evening, the eye had turned milky with a blueish cast, so we rushed her to the vet hospital first thing Monday morning to see the ophthalmologist. Too late! She had suffered total loss of sight in the eye and was rushed into surgery to have the eye removed.

Unknown to us, Glaucoma had been developing,  her lens had ‘luxated’ - fallen forward into the front of her eye, with a very painful build up in pressure through blockage of the aqueous fluid drainage channels,  a massive doggy headache and irreversible damage to the optic nerve. So she lost her eye in less than 24 hours.

If we had known about and recognised the symptoms and called the hospital on Sunday night, they could have done an emergency operation and saved the eye. She is now on medication for the other eye, which she was, and still is, in danger of losing too.

So just to say, familiarise yourself with canine Glaucoma (classed as a medical emergency in dogs) and be vigilant. Any cloudiness in the eyes, get it checked out immediately!
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
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Posts

  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    That's sad news Nollie. I hope she's recovering well.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    That’s worth knowing Nollie, can I use your post to warn my friends please? 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • AuntyRachAuntyRach Posts: 5,291
    I hope she is feeling better soon - poor lass. Such a stress for you too. 
    My garden and I live in South Wales. 
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Sorry to hear such sad news Nollie ... please don’t blame yourself ... ((hugs)) 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    Oh, that's so sad. Thank you for the warning. I hope her other eye can be saved
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • edhelkaedhelka Posts: 2,351
    I am sorry to hear, Nollie. Hopefully, the second eye will be fine and your dog will have many more happy years with you.
    One of our family dogs was completely blind and completely deaf in the last year of his life, but still loving everyone and recognising everyone in the family only by scent.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    That must be so stressful for you and her.  I've never heard of it so thanks for drawing it to our attention.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I'm so sorry, Nollie. I've never heard of it either. My old dog had cataracts and the vet said that even if he lost his sight he would be fine using his sense of smell. I hope the other eye will be all right.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Morning all, thank you for your kind words. @Lyn of course, spread the word!

    Sandra is feeling so much better, having lost the headache, recovered from surgery and adapting much better than we are to her eye loss. It was the speed of it all that meant we were in shock a bit. It’s true sight is the third sense for a dog but we are all adjusting to the new reality and being thankful she is now back to her usual pesky self!
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Lovely to hear she’s doing well 😊 hope you’re all recovering too ((hugs))

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





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