Any time we go to Abilene for one of us to see a doctor, we schedule an appointment for Rita to see the vet there. There’s one vet, as far as I know, in Abilene who can measure her eye pressure and the next closest ones are in Austin or Dallas.
I thought when Rita was first diagnosed with glaucoma that the vet in Austin told us it was very painful. The pressure in her left eye was good today. The vet said it’s the best it’s been in the 1-1/2 years they’ve been seeing her. But, the pressure in her right eye is way too low and I’m not putting any drops in that eye. The vet said having the pressure too low is very painful but having the pressure a bit too high isn’t so painful. The vet said they were taught in med school that putting drops in one eye doesn’t/shouldn’t make much difference in the other eye but we’re all thinking it does. We’ve been putting drops in Rita’s left eye 4 times a day but she wants us to cut back to 3 times a day to see what that does for the right eye.
I feel like this is a no win situation . . we just can’t get it right. It’s frustrating . . to say the least! Every now and then she does seem like she may be in pain. She will sleep a lot and not be very active. On those days, I give her half a pain pill. I think that happens maybe once every two or three months, which I guess isn’t too bad. Most of the time, she’s running and playing ad appears to be having fun so I don’t worry about her on those days.
Also, the vet told us that it’s pretty rare to have a dog that has glaucoma that isn’t from high blood pressure, trauma, kidney disease. I think she called what Rita has “primary glaucoma” but when dogs have it and it resulted from other conditions, they call it “secondary glaucoma”. She said in 10 years of practicing, she’s only seen 2 other dogs that had primary glaucoma and Rita is the 3rd. Dang it . . why Rita?
We really feel like she had trauma . . like someone hit her and may have caused damage that resulted in the glaucoma. When she could see, she would panic when I got the broom out. Forget trying to dust the ceiling fans because she had a full blown panic attack. We felt like that was because someone had hit her with a broom or something similar but we don’t know that for a fact.
Anyway . . every time we go to the vet, we learn more about glaucoma . . something I never wanted to know and wish I still didn’t know. But, I’ll always be thankful that Rita came to our house, where we were willing (1) to put up with her bad (very bad) bathroom manners til we got her house trained and (2) deal with the time and expense of treating her glaucoma. We’re lucky to have her and I’d like to think she’s lucky to have us.
Kathleen says
Rita is so fortunate to have you. Bless you for caring so much.
Dottie says
She is definitely lucky to have found y’all!!
Tricia says
Try to remind yourself that you are doing the very best that you can do. Rita is a very lucky dog and has an otherwise amazing life! We should all be so lucky in our old age…
Cilla Tyler says
I agree with all of the above. y Little Latte, a Dachshund, had glaucoma at age 4 and had to quit agility. No trauma for her but it was painful. Rita is very lucky to have you both as parents. Hugs to both of you.
Nelle Coursey says
I think she is lucky to have you. It works both ways. They are so much comfort to us. She always looks so happy in her pictures. Our first chow was a good dog, but we had someone coming in to do housework (after I had hepatitis) and after that lady started coming, he was afraid of brooms. I don’t know if she chased him with it or if she used it on him, but he did not like them! We soon got rid of her! Haven’t had one since!
JEAN says
Judy, You are blessed to have each other. Thank you for sharing that with us.
-Jean
<3
dezertsuz says
It is good for all of you that she came. Until your posts about Rita, I didn’t even know dogs could have glaucoma. It sounds as though that’s still an up-in-the-air learning experience for vets, too.