My dog gone dog gone it

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Tell you what man, if I composed country I could fill plenty with lyrics last two years. It would be a shock to the system but 2011 was no treat either, seen it before. But such is life right, runs in spurts, for me anyway.

I inherited two shepherds from my mom right, I wouldn't change that for a moment. One was left for dead long story. Gave her 9 months a happy life. The male and I have grown quite close, he's my best friend right, a certain co-dependency. He was found in a field before my mother adopted him, a dated picture when he was a young boy puts him at about 6 years today.

Well, on Wednesday I saw hints he was having vision issues, and since progressively worse. Today I took him to a respectful place, six hours later they completed all the tests. Everything well within normal but both retinas detached. Tick disease pending. WTH? I've had quite a number of dogs, none with vision concerns less one on death's door anyway.


So they referred an optometrist one city over. Thing of it is, the longer this goes the more likely permanent. I know he can see some things. Dogs will fool you though, especially this one, he's all around me anyways. $500 fee for emergency right, thought maybe to wait till Monday. So I call tonight, and "Because of COVID we're closed Mondays". Say what? Dogs don't have (*)^^ COVID. Don't get me started on sorry-ask COVID excuses, I think we've seen enough already.

I think I'll call it an emergency tomorrow. Call me crazy, and I'm not saying either way, but the dog has allergies. Before I knew the symptoms I thought to try my 24 hr. allergy meds two days ago. Somehow it appears to be improvement maybe halfway into the doses. In other terms, there are certain areas of the house he has more problems with otherwise. Could be nothing, who knows. Other than that he's perfectly comfortable. Playing with his ball, normal stuff. I'm afraid he picked something up when we went camping 2.5 months ago.

Aint no joke man, I may have a blind dog and his name is Lucky.

[dieseldawg142]

i would be careful, my mastiff died in 2015 from a tick a few months after a camping trip. little tiny micro bug brought down my 240 lb girl...

some dogs can go threw life completely healthy, and others can be a medical nightmare. i had a lab retriever in the '90's who rang up over 10k in vet bills before he passed, my last dog, Dieseldawg cost me zero in medical his whole life, untill the very end.
my new dawg Rumble has cost me a couple grand already, and he's only 20 mos old. most of his costs have been accidents, cuts and stitches, although his latest bill he is still healing up from. a tumor popped up on his head in less than a week. being part bernese mountain dog which are extremely susceptible to cancer, we had it removed and tested, it was malign luckily.
hoping he's not gonna be like my lab retriever....but even if he does, you always find a way to take care of them and pay their medical bills.
i've always said we don't put our grandma's down if they break a leg or get diabetes, why would we do it to our pets.
their our companions who are there every day for us, no matter how good or how bad our day went, i personally will do pretty much whatever it takes to keep my boy healthy and with me
how could you not?

'nother 8 hundred clams....seems like every time i get some extra money saved for my truck- something happens....
2 weeks ago


and the other day


like i said, how could you not....

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

That appears to have been a large tumor. Glad he's doing well. Just my experience only, I've sworn off removal/tests for cancer on dogs on more than one occasion, because it's only made things worse, every time and all the time.

Last time we thought, okay, give it a shot, "low level" cancer right. Well, the dog was miserable from the surgery, had to be stitched up twice, and he died 2-3 months later from cancer. Had one that upon surgery it shook-up what was there, a day later the cancer attacked his brain.

I've left a call for emergency optometrist. The assistant suspects there's nothing that can be done, pending another phone call.

[Snarl95]

Have them check for Pannus

https://www.rexspecs.com/blogs/news/...pannus-in-dogs

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Originally Posted by Snarl95

Have them check for Pannus

https://www.rexspecs.com/blogs/news/...pannus-in-dogs

Most definitely, thank you. I'm no doctor, but I think I'd take that over congenital. He's always had unusual eyes, a lot of yellow. A trainer thought some Coyote, but he's just Shepard.

Looking back this has been going on a while. All I know is just more than two weeks ago he was chasing down a hardball 220 feet away on pavement, no issues. Took him out last week, I figured he just wasn't interested.

The optometrist doesn't feel this is an emergency. they're closed tomorrow "cuz COVID", so first thing Tuesday morning. Today he could chase a tennis ball down 10-15 feet. This evening he appears fully blind. I get a part time dog most times, which returned today to find his partner blind. Didn't take long before he figured it out. In short order he cut the Shepard off from striking the door jam.


Edit: Based on my eye test pardon the pun, he's got Canine Uveitis. http://www.eyecareforanimals.com/con...figc1kHcDwRtnk

Edit: Yep Uveitis. He was fully blind but he's making a comeback, big improvement today. 9 pills and four drops a day, steroids, anti-inflammatory and anti-biotics. Lucky just might get Lucky. Downside is something has to have caused it, all tests normal, and no we're not doing body scans for cancer. He's otherwise normal.

You know, some dogs got sick from all the smoke, I wonder if that's what did this or exacerbated. Unfortunately German Shepherds are susceptible to eye conditions.

[Snarl95]

Glad he's going to be ok

[Stocker]

Good to hear that the problem has been identified and that he's responding well to treatment. Hope he makes a complete recovery.

[Ol Blue K20]

I'm glad your buddy is doing better. Good luck Lucky.

[71CHEVYSHORTBED402]

Thanks a bunch. He's back to his old self less peeing a lot. Comes with the steroids. With Lucky he'll see the rest of a long time.

Thought perhaps all this time his being up my ash when an exit was involved was a sign this has been going on a while. That wasn't it, once he could see again he's the pest he always was