Personal History: Sherman T Dog

Well, after a visit to Sherman’s regular vet Friday afternoon (who said, “Get this dog to an ophthalmologist tomorrow,”) we went to a specialist early Saturday morning, down in San Mateo.

It turns out Sherman has glaucoma in his right eye, and cataracts in both. We are treating the glaucoma with eye drops, but he only has vision in his left eye (so far he's not bumping into things so I think his vision is still OK). There are two different eye drops. One will cause the pressure in his eyeball to go down, and the other will cause the inflammation to go down. The right eye gets treated twice a day, the left (just as a preventative---no glaucoma there yet, just cataracts) once a day. The medicine will not restore his vision in his right eye. It will relieve the pressure and discomfort.

One reason he is pokey (the doctor said) is probably because the glaucoma makes his eye uncomfortable (though not really painful). The medicine should take about two weeks to kick in, he said.

Even after two days (I’m actually writing this on Monday) he does seem a little perkier. After the vet we went with Mike and Monty for a walk on the beach (San Gregorio)---I think he enjoyed it, but was still a bit pokey (I carried him part of the way cause I am such a sucker). He is still eating just fine, so he can’t be that badly off.

The cataract in the left eye can be operated on (the right eye is pretty much gone due to the glaucoma), but the doctor suggested not doing that unless the cataract has made him blind in the left eye (the surgery, of course, also carries with it small risks).

Saturday, October 28, 2006