[Dailydrool] the power of the drool

[Dale Rutz]

Hi all, Dale here.
So I've been drooling for over 8 years ..... and I've learned a few things from this mailing list.  First and foremost I am CLUELESS, so if ever I have a question as to the wellbeing of my hound, I should call the vet.  I learned that a basset should have an ophthalmologist, even if the hound has healthy eyes, just in case.  Snoopy's discovered that Snoopy had dry eye and the medication saved his vision.  I know that you never, ever, ever, even consider waiting if you suspect something is wrong with your dogs eyes.
Well Snoopy saw his ophthalmologist in late October who found him to be in perfect health, with a cataract in one eye which wasn't impacting his sight, just clouding the eye.  
Snoopy has been off the last few days, I was thinking it was because we are all very upset over the loss of Greg's mom, plus Greg is up in Oregon making final arrangements.  On Sunday though Snoopy dropped a treat and clearly couldn't see it, I had to pick it up and hand it to him ....... I blamed the cataract which had become much more visible.  Yesterday he didn't want to play with Chomper much, and even snarked him a few times.  This morning the third eyelid was up, eye ball swollen ...... OMG .... I called and they said they didn't have an appointment until next week, they said I could drop him but I can't leave 13.5 year old Snoopy in a kennel all day ..... they said if I didn't mind waiting I could bring him and they would work him in somehow ...... so I leashed up my dogs and drove over there this morning ..... they got us into a room to triage ....... pressure in his good eye 9 ....... the one I was worried about came in at 77.  For those who don't know under 25 is normal, 45 feels like a broken bone, 77 feels like your leg had been chopped in half ..... they started emergency medications every 5 minutes trying to bring pressure down ..... several hours later we were at 55 and they sent me home to eat and let the dogs have a potty break ..... we went back and it was down to 44 ... they gave me meds to take home, told me to keep up the drops and bring him back in the morning to recheck and decide on next steps.  We spent over 3 hours in the doctors office today, and a gazilion dollars.
We may have saved his vision in this eye, or not, we won't know for 2-3 weeks.  We have certainly saved the good eye as the drugs prescribed will help it fight off glacoma, as old as Snoopy is now hopefully they will work for the rest of his life (average 32 months with meds vs 9 months without).  He was in agony and couldn't tell us.  On the one hand I feel terrible for not realizing until Tuesday when he couldn't see his treat on Sunday.  On the other I knew enough from the drool to NOT wait for the appointment next week.
Snoopy is sound asleep on a dog bed right now heaving heavy sighs of relief every few minutes.  Don't ever play around with the eyes folks ..... have an ophthalmologist .... know your dog ..... listen to your gut.
Best,Dale
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