Annie & Craig - Getting too smart!

[JayneN]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

ahhh...poor Annie, hoping you get some good news concerning her sight.

[Judi]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

interesting about the vitamins. Sending big hugs to Annie. I tap Jenny's food bowl on the floor. On her good days she doesn't need me to at all!

[farrwf]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

I sure hope this is a transitory thing.

[jgr789]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

CraigM asked: Are others using vitamin C & E supplements?

I would also be interested in knowing if anyone is using Vitamin C & E supplements. The only thing my Vet recommended was Vitamin B12.

Judy (and Sadie)

[buddingartist]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Poor little Annie. Hope you get good news and it is just a passing thing.

I know you test regularly and that Annie threw you some high numbers at odd times. Any correlation between days where her BG's were higher and those days that she visited the doc and the eye pressure was high?

I gave Buddy Vit E and Omega 3. He was also blind and it happened in a matter of days. Never heard about C for a dog.

Good luck with your little one Craig

Louise

[SandyL]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Poor Annie! Hopefully it's not a permanent glitch!! Hope t resolves soon

Sandy

[CraigM]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

I know you test regularly and that Annie threw you some high numbers at odd times. Any correlation between days where her BG's were higher and those days that she visited the doc and the eye pressure was high?

Not really. We only took fasting tests on the 4th and 5th and she was in the 150 area at breakfast, and 250ish in the evening. Yesterday, her morning test was 177 and evening test was a higher 355. Of course, don't know if the 355 was due to more excitement, less excitement, the additional eye drops, vitamins, or just one of those things. We are about to test in a few minutes.

I went out in the yard to rescue her a few minutes ago. She ran into the yard normally to do her "business", but got lost walking through the garden. She seems to have the house pretty much mapped out and is just a little slower than before.

We figured this would happen some day, just not so fast!

[jgr789]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Keep us posted. This is one of my greatest fears and I am definitely dreading it too!

[Shellie]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Aw, Craig...am so sorry to hear about Annie's eyes! Is the pressure painful to her? I hope the drops will help. Guess it will happen to a lot of us but is still hard. Hugs!

[buddingartist]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

I went out in the yard to rescue her a few minutes ago. She ran into the yard normally to do her "business", but got lost walking through the garden. She seems to have the house pretty much mapped out and is just a little slower than before.

Gutwrenching the first time it happens isn't it?. Proof that even with your extreme diligence, sometimes we just can't prevent this from happening.

That's when we realized that the yard was not <accident proof<. We built a wall on the side of the ramp (after Buddy went right out and fell off), removed a rose bush (after Buddy ended up being pricked by the thorns), we removed some of the pointed rocks (you guessed it, he ended up stuck in there). I don't know the kind of winter you get where you live but in the winter, Ron would plow some paths in the backyard and eventually Buddy learned where they were otherwise, he'd end up being stuck in a snow bank.

Let's hope little Annie gets her <spunk< back.

Louise

[CarolW]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Wishing Annie the best, Craig, in adapting to how her vision is going.
Sat, 7 Apr 2012 09:28:07 (PDT)

[Judi]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

ditto to what Louise said. We have a staircase that is open halfway down. Jenny almost ran right off it running UP the stairs. After my husband's heart began beating again, he put a lattice thingy up to stop her.

I hope this is temporary Craig. But if not, it is amazing how they adapt. Jenny explores the yard pretty well now. She still has bad days and good days but more good than bad.

hugs to you, your wife and Annie. Judi

[CraigM]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

Is the pressure painful to her? I hope the drops will help. Guess it will happen to a lot of us but is still hard. Hugs!

I don't think (?) so. There wasn't any itching, or anything that would indicate pain to me, but they seem to hide pain pretty well.

She still brings her ball to me to throw, I just don't throw it too far and try to let it bounce off the wall near her so that she can hear it. She'll go into a little search pattern for a minute until she trips over it, then brings it back to be thrown again! The "game" just takes a little longer than before.

we just got home from shopping and she jumped off the sofa without hesitation, so maybe the sight comes and goes?

[Shellie]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

I have heard that different types of light...or rather how much light there is can also be important. I know that Hank does better when I use a flashlight at night when we take our walks even if there are streetlamps. His cataracts aren't bad yet but I can tell some days that his right eye can't see very well. Jumping off the sofa shows a lot of confidence in her location. Is your house set up for her? I've been slowly working on things like making sure I remember not to leave things in his usual paths and am going to be getting a different coffee table without those sharp corners. I'm not really sure how to handle the sofa/bed and getting up there for him tho. A ramp would be perfect but what will keep him from falling off the side? I am thinking perhaps those soft stairs and then putting wooden sides on them. There is a lot of thought that has to go into caring for them blind!

[Patty]

Re: Annie - Getting too smart!

I'm sorry to hear it Craig.

I am a supporter of certain vitamins. Certainly nothing can truly prevent blindness in our diabetics but I like to do all I can in support of eye health.

Ali gets 500mg of Ester C with bioflavanoids and 400IU of vit E (I also give a B complex). Both are good antioxidants. Here are her sources:
http://www.iherb.com/American-Health-Ester-C-500-mg-with-Citrus-Bioflavonoids-240-Capsules/10241?at=0
http://www.iherb.com/Now-Foods-E-400-Antioxidant-Protection-250-Softgels/304?at=0

Here's a good article on what type of vit C dogs absorb the best:
http://www.organic-pet-digest.com/vitamin-c-for-dogs.html
Articles on vit C and eye health:
http://www.allaboutvision.com/nutrition/vitamin_c.htm
http://www.jacn.org/content/13/4/344.abstract
http://health-nutrition.todio.info/i...coma-1065.html

And dosing by Lew Olson:
http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/vitamins-supplements/
At 17lbs, she would recommend 100-250mg of C and 50-100IU of E.

Astaxanthin is another big supplement for eye health. It can be found in the Omega 3 supplement krill oil.
The dose for my 46 lb dog would be 0.6mg. The dose for krill oil is less than that for fish oil, about half. Ali was getting 2000mg of fish oil a day so she would get 1000mg of krill oil a day.

I'm using the Mercola Kid's krill oil so I can split her doses. The kid's product has 320mg krill and .18mg of astaxanthin. http://mercola.fileburst.com/PDF/product-labels/kids-krill-label-web.pdf
So we switched to 2 caps AM and 1 cap PM = total of 960mg of Krill oil which includes a total of 0.54mg of astaxanthin.

There is a concern with the combination of astaxanthin and other meds because of the way it's processed in the liver:
Astaxanthin may interfere with the way the body processes certain herbs or supplements using the liver's "cytochrome P450" enzyme system. As a result, the levels of other drugs may become too high in the blood.It may also alter the effects that other drugs possibly have on the P450 system.
(Sorry I don't have the link to this reference handy right now but a google search will site the same information.)

The interference lies with Pain meds, Anti-seizure meds, and kidney toxic antibiotics (namely Gentamicin and Amikacin). With a dog that is hypothyroid and taking meds, a reduction in the amount of astaxanthin would be recommended. I've been told Heartworm meds are fine to use in combination with astaxanthin.

Most of my info was targeted at eye health in general or cataracts instead of glaucoma, which I know is Annie’s issue. But thought I’d share what I had.

I also use motion sensored night lights around the house for night time (found at Lowe's). Ali's nuclear sclerosis affects her night vision some so they are really helpful. Last night she tripped up 3 stairs because I didn't turn the light on and we don't have outlets where the steps turn to go up the 2nd set. Sorry Ali .

Patty