Dear Dog

[marni]

Any word, Marni?
My old guy got cataracts in his left eye. His way of handling things changed, but he still goes and goes. Hopefully your young-one will be well.

Rowena had a visit with a veterinary opthamologist last week. The cataract is fading slowy but the lens in being reabsorbed. It makes no difference as it turn out since she apparently has been blind and is permanently blind in that eye . Vet said it was probably some sort of traumatic injury that possibly detached the retina when she was younger, before we got her. It goes a long way to explaining why she is so nervous and hypervigilant.

The good news is that she is incredibly well adapted since we never noticed anything wrong with her movement ever, even with the cataract. She doesn't need surgery sice it can't be repaired. Right now she is on steroind drops to hlep cut the infection and irritation apparently from the cataract. I will be weaning her off of them over the next two weeks. Other than that we just have to watch for changes in the eye that might indicat further infection or glaucoma, get her eye pressures check every six months and watch that she doens't start showing any symptoms of anything in the other eye.

I have dealt with blindness in a dog before, but it was due to old age and general eye deterioration. It's just odd to see it in one so young but it does't affect her quality of life, she still scampers, jumps and scrambles around, loves her pets, being brushed,and going walkies and gets along fine with cats and the other dog who is just old and crotchety.

[Wahine]

Dear Fosco,

You've been quite the handful the last couple of days. Don't get me wrong, I still feel like we won the rescue dog lottery. But did you have to roll in that dead what ever, just before our obedience class such that I didn't have time to wash you before we went? Did you have to mess up on your big recall moment tonight, right after I'd been bragging about how we'd been practicing and how well you were doing? And the whining in the car tonight, oy!

When it came time you did co-operate well with the bathing, even though you didn't much like it and now you're all cute and snuggly on the couch, totally passed out. I guess that makes up for it.

[snapdragen]

Stink = Greatness in the dog world

I remember during "finals" in obedience school with my first corgi, Rikki. She was in a down/stay, looks at me, then rolled over on her back and started "talking".

[Wahine]

Stink = Greatness in the dog world

I tried explaining this to my BF who has never had a dog before. He didn't seem to agree.

[skhill]

Dear Stella,

While your were nose to the ground, tracking where the rabbit had been, I was looking at where the rabbit currently was. Sometimes that nose blinds you to the rest of the world...

[skhill]

Dear Stella,

Happy anniversary! It was one year ago this weekend that you picked me out when I was visiting the shelter. Wonder if you knew you'd be coming to a home with cats who would insist you mind your manners....
Anyway, there's a porkchop bone with your name on it in the fridge, as a cake didn't seem like a good idea!