Annie & Craig - Getting too smart!

[Patty]

Originally Posted by CraigM

Guessing water soluble would pass any excess through the kidneys / urine.

Yep, exactly right. Excess is just excreted by the body.

Fat soluble stores it up and can become toxic in excess. Vit A is one of these to be careful with.

[buddingartist]

How's your girl Annie doing Craig?

Louise

[CraigM]

Originally Posted by buddingartist

How's your girl Annie doing Craig?

Louise

Really no change this week. BG has been good, but no improvement in her sight. She gets around the house just fine, even wants to play ball. Of course, it takes longer for her to find the ball. I take her out on leash more often than just opening the door, but she likes the company, so she might consider this a plus!

She has another eye vet appointment tomorrow (vet needs help with her Kauai vacation villa mortgage), but I don't expect promising news.

Although not all of our dogs go blind, this forum had prepared us for the possibility.

[Abby's Mom]

Originally Posted by CraigM

Annie is having eye problems. Looks like she has finally gone pretty much blind, will know more next week.

It was strange. She visited her eye vet on 27March and her eye pressure was a good 12. On 4April, I noticed she bumped into furniture and hesitated jumping off the sofa / bed. We took her back into the eye vet on the 5th and her eye pressure was a very bad 66. She was put on different eye drops and sent home. Took her back for a pressure test this morning, borderline high 19. The vet told us to continue the drops and to give both vitamin C & E.

Wish I had read the following link about vitamin C & E years ago!

http://www.holisticonline.com/Remedi...upplements.htm

Are others using vitamin C & E supplements.

Annie is getting around the house OK, but is still bumping into furniture. She has no trouble finding her food dish!

I have not been on daily, and I missed this post.

I am so sorry that Annie is having difficulty seeing. You just hope when you get the levels in good range, that this isn't an issue, but I guess down the road it can be.

I do give Vit C, E, and Bilberry for Abby, specifically for the eyes. I found a Vitamin E at 50 units, and a Vit C at 250.

Keep us posted.

[buddingartist]

Good luck tomorrow with <the next mortage payment on the vet's vacation home<

Hopefully, the pressure will be better and nothing more serious. By the looks of it, she seems to be adapting quite well. Leashed walks.... more bonding time with her daddy.

Louise

[Shellie]

So glad I'm not the only one (helping with my own vet's Vermont ski lodge mortgage payment)! LOL Nah...I'd much rather you never had another big bill! Had an idea on the ball with Annie...have you thought of getting a ball that has something that makes noise in it like those balls they have for cats that have a bell in them? Wonder if that would help her find the balls better.

[k9diabetes]

Hi Craig,

I'm sorry to hear that Annie's having vision problems. I'm not very familiar with glaucoma - http://www.animaleyecare.net/diseases/glaucoma.htm

High pressure does tend to be quite painful so I'm glad the pressures came down some. It's good to know that she seems to be happy and active.

Pain. Increased intraocular pressure (IOP) is painful. Dogs, cats, and humans have normal IOPs between 10 and 20 mmHg. Glaucoma often results in pressures of 20–28 mmHg in humans, but pressures of 30 mmHg and higher (often higher than 50 mmHg!) are common in dogs and cats. For this reason, glaucoma in pets is usually much more painful than glaucoma in humans. The pain persists in the form of a constant headache or migraine. Animals show pain in different ways than humans do–in ways that are often not noted by the owner. Pain from glaucoma is usually not obvious to most owners–it can result in decreased activity, less desire to play, irritability, and/or decreased appetite–but is often not apparent at all to the owner. There is usually no squinting nor rubbing of the eye

I see it also sounds like the blindness can sometimes be temporary... though the description of the permanent blindness sounds an awful lot like Annie's.

Vision Loss. Pressure damage to the optic nerve and decreased blood flow to the retina (the "film in the camera") results in loss of vision. However, if the pressure in the eye remains uncontrolled, the optic nerve and retina degenerate and vision is permanently lost. Permanent blindness can occur within hours if the pressure is very high and the glaucoma develops rapidly.

Maybe she can have a ball that makes a noise or holds a treat so she could hear or smell it.

Natalie

[CraigM]

Originally Posted by k9diabetes

Hi Craig,

I'm sorry to hear that Annie's having vision problems. I'm not very familiar with glaucoma - http://www.animaleyecare.net/diseases/glaucoma.htm

High pressure does tend to be quite painful so I'm glad the pressures came down some. It's good to know that she seems to be happy and active.



I see it also sounds like the blindness can sometimes be temporary... though the description of the permanent blindness sounds an awful lot like Annie's.



Maybe she can have a ball that makes a noise or holds a treat so she could hear or smell it.

Natalie

Thanks for the info. Strange, we didn't see anything out of the norm last week. She is always up for playing ball, and eats like a piglet!

The eye vet did mention that time at the elevated pressure was very important. I got the feeling she was telling me that I should have brought Annie in a day earier, and it was probably too late to save much of her vision.

We will know a little more tomorrow, but Annie is doing just fine in the house. In fact we have seen "the good side" of this: she doesn't go berserk when someone walks past the house with their dog! (yea, a little dark humor)

[JayneN]

Just thinking of you and Annie and hope her next eye visit goes well....(you are paying a mortgage for your vet...I'm helping mine support 5 kids!! )

[jjefferjo]

Craig
I have been trying to get to post just so much going on.
Hoping for the best for you and Annie. Not sure if you remember Ed had a 2nd eye surgery back in November to relieve pressure.
After his first surgery 4/11 he was fine - but pressures started to creep up - he was on a cocktail of drops. By Novmber we knew we had to do the 2nd surgery
His BG was great and sometimes when his eye pressure would spike his BG would spike as well- appetite would stop. (pain)
But this wasn't always true- sometimes app great- BG beautiful - attitude wonderful - presssure would be up - the only way to know would be to have tonometer (spelling)
so don't beat yourself about being one day late to the Opth. Again every dog is different-


My only is suggestion is that if you have to go regularly for pressure checks.
Try and keep your appt at the same time of day- readings will vary based on
on where she is on her drop schedule
If they have the software they can graph Annie's pressures as you go.


Ed is checked once a month - 1st appt 8:45- 9:00am he is usually between 8 and 9 around 2pm 11-12 so for consistency sake I go for the am time slot.

He is on three drops now ( 1 for pressure xalatan am/pm- 1 for inflammation - diclofenac (instead flurbiprofen) am/pm and 1 dry eyes Tacrolimus am only and this one may be going a way for good

You are a great pop to Annie and she is one happy girl and you are one lucky guy




I know it is discouraging - but hang in there.
I am not an authority on Glaucoma, but if I can help in any way just yell.
Jj