Ok, so I don’t take my dog to the doc’s and I’d be very alarmed to get a kiss on the head from a doc!
But: last Saturday I had to get my poor houndrel to the vet because his eyes were getting more sore and blinky. The vet did various eye tests and decided it was probably allergic conjunctivitis so I’ve been heroically applying eye drops single handedly to a patient dog. I had a return visit today, when Blue’s eyes are worse. He could barely open them in the bright light and bumped into a couple of gateposts as a result. Usually he races about, but I was having to gently guide him and he gave a good impersonation of a dog that can walk to heel.
I had “cheated” slightly through the week because, to me, his eyes looked horribly dry and I was using my old contact lens hydrating drops which helped.
Today? Unlike some medics, the vet was straight onto some kind of autoimmune condition, like Sjögren’s, affecting the eyes. He did the Schirmerr (sp) test which showed ( like my recent ones) zilch moisture. I have an eye ointment for him now which treats keratosis conjunctivitis sicca. It may take some time to take effect, and I have “permission” to help in between with the NHS drops that didn’t do much for me.
Apart from all this, how bizarre is it for an owner and pet to share an autoimmune disorder? My vet consulted his bumper book of strange conditions for dogs to have and possible causes, but Blue doesn’t tick any boxes.
Pay your pet health insurance folks. You never know how poor you may end up without it .
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Lupiknits
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🐕poor dog...how are you coping? Hard to see them suffering...freaky though, hope blue eyes is not chronic, like the rest of us....😲 and all is temporary....ml
It’s really heartbreaking when he’s been unable to see well enough to avoid bumping into things on a sunny day and just creeps along although is capable of 40mph usually. I’m hoping for the best. I’m also very glad that my own illness means we’re together virtually 24/7 so I can check on him. I rescued him, he rescued me, now we are in the same lifeboat x
PS In everything else like appetite and walkie excitement, he’s absolutely himself.
Ahhhh.. Nice to have four legged buddies...I am glad his personality is shining through, sounds like a great friend to have...speedy recovery, i hate when there are poorly....ml
😏 Felt like synchronicity when i read your post...cause i’d just been riffing here in Paul’s epic LUK Survey Question no3 post on the way quite a few of us have said we sometimes wish we could be treated by our vet too - here’s an excerpt:
...As the years passed, i learned to put a brave, cheery face on life, be self reliant & independent, keep calm, carry on etc, but i’d lost all ability to “trust” anyone even a little bit, including medics...and my own instincts. And i felt extremely sad inside all the time. In many ways, i think i was very like the abused rescue dogs my husband & i have known....
Very much so. My emaciated bundle of Blue boy bones when rescued had retained much of his faith in humans though. The one time he was terrified was when my son broke his heel and came to the door in crutches. I hate to imagine what memories that dredged up for him 😢
🤦🏼♀️ not hard to imagine....our last lurcher spider was skin & bones spider in the rescue kennel...looking ancient although only around 2 at the most. He imprinted on badger the moment they first saw one another...but he needed over a year to learn to even begin to relax with me (...i remember the quiet JOY i felt the first time he actually leaned on my leg, (that way sight hounds do...)).
he was our last dog....with us for 14 wonderful years...including plenty of 🌟 vet visits....all during the last ghastly phase of my decades in the diagnostic wilderness...he departed for the happy hunting grounds 2 years after my infant onset lupus diagnosis was recovered. We miss him dreadfully.
So, THANKS LK: i ❤️ everything you and others share about your dear 4 legged companions‼️
Tear to my eye Coco. My theory is that Blue had a happy puppyhood and very early years. He even had an out of date vaccination record, was chipped, and the special collar these run fast dogs need ( he still wears it) . I just don’t know what happened after that apart from his being kept outside in the dreadful winter we had about eight years ago.
He wandered locally a bit at first and took about three weeks of coming upstairs at 3am to let me know he was desperate for a wee until he got used to living back in a house. Now he just loves every person he meets and is even a favourite of the postmen. A raised stick or what he thinks is a raised fist terrifies him, but that’s rare.
The only time he’s done the leaning against my leg was when his eye started getting sore, though every other houndrel usually does that frequently. Glad now we are together pretty much 24/7.
Oh that’s a rather special tale I must say. Good to know your vet is on the ball but poor dog - hard to watch for you.
My Ruby has chronic pancreatitis, is prone to allergic dermatitis in her ears and often gets allergic conjunctivitis - especially in summer. She has also just has a large squamous cell carcinoma removed from her cheek. I have all these too!
She has her own bottle of hyloforte drops which she shares with our old dog, Fred.
Fred has a rather gross looking cyst under his eyelid which intermittently pops - won’t go into detail but I did console myself the other day that the resulting blood gushing into his eye is probably helpful if his old eyes are dry like mine because sicca sufferers are sometimes given drops made of their own serum?
Yes I agree re the pet insurance but our premium is through the roof now with both dogs imitating me so closely?! X
It is bizarre indeed. Only mentioning it here folks! Enough misconceptions without others assuming it’s communicable 🤔 and I get my doors nailed up as in plague days.
Blue has a cat bell that jingles on his ID tag ( that’s so I know if he’s following me like a toddler and don’t fall backwards over him). Double service as a leper bell I suppose 😉
My dog Gus [ who I lost last year] was diagnosed with colitis, luckily not the ulcerative kind I had, He also got hayfever too. I used to order an extra bottle of eye drops on my prescription for him. [ naughty I know] I did check with vet first to make sure they were ok for him. Thankfully he didn't get lupus.
Autoimmune problems are on the increase in both human and animal world. I say we have come to far from nature and our poor immune systems don't know if they are coming or going. Good your dog has an owner who understands and loves him. x
Thought I’d make you smile.... in the eary ‘80’s I had Lyme Disease, before it was well known and it was (another) long journey for diagnosis. I grew up on a farm and the vet had known my dad from when they were ‘nippers’. He could see I wasn’t well and prescribed me horse antibiotics! They made a difference and amazingly when I finally got a diagnosis I was put on the human version of the antibiotics prescribed by the vet!
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