Just a little background for anyone who doesn’t know the whole story: Rita was dumped and showed up at our house . . maybe 5 years ago. I can’t remember. I do know it was in October because I was fixing to go to MO and I saw her. I tried to get her to come to me but she ran off. I put food and water out for her, told Vince I thought I saw a chihuahua. While I was away, he saw her and tried to entice her to come to him but she was too afraid. He caught her in a Have A Heart trap but she got away from him. He finally caught her by sitting outside with food in his hand and she came up to him. She was friendly from the beginning. We had ourselves a chihuahua.
In 2017, she began having eye problems. Her eyes were watering and she was constantly wiping at them. I took her to the vet we were using for Speck . . I think we took her three times but it might have been only two. He kept telling me it was allergies . . dogs have allergies too. Finally, I took her to another vet and he said “I think it’s glaucoma and she’s already blind.” I fell apart. We took her to another vet in town and he said the same thing and sent us to a ophthalmologist vet in Austin who confirmed that she had glaucoma, she was already totally blind and the vet wanted to remove her eyes. I just couldn’t do that . . even though I knew she was already blind. We’ve been using two different drops, three times a day for about three years. We’ve cut back on one drop to twice a day and had to add a third drop but we can see that here eyes are degrading and looking like they may be getting ulcers. They need to come out and we had planned to do that after our March trip to MO but . . life as we knew it has been disrupted!
I’ve never been comfortable having it done in Abilene. First, it’s day surgery. We take her early in the morning and bring her home that evening. Under normal circumstances, we’d eat out, do some shopping, visit the garden centers, etc., then pick Rita up and come home. Not doing that now. From our house to Abilene, it’s right at two hours so we’re not driving two hours there, two hours back, then going back to get her, and it’s too hot to sit in the car all day. Another thing is .. what IF something went wrong. Neither of us drive after dark so if we had to rush her back to Abilene, we’d probably have a problem.
I’ve called the vets here in town and none of them will do the surgery. I was talking to a friend who told me her vet in Nevada, MO was going to remove her dog’s eye that was injured and then it healed. It’s the same vet we used for Speck when we lived there. I called them and they will do it. They do it fairly often and the lady who answered the phone told me that they had to have her own dog’s eye removed. She told me to call them before we leave Texas, they’ll make an appointment for the pre-op and do all the blood work, schedule the surgery for the next day and if we’re staying there two or three weeks, she’ll be completely recovered by the time we leave.
The vet’s office is probably not even 5 miles from the apartment – probably 3 miles!
I know I’m going to cry like a baby when we leave her and I’ll try to hold it together when we pick her up in case she can sense that I’m upset.
My plan is to go to MO and get Addie soon and bring her back here. She’ll probably say somewhere between 2 days and 4 weeks. 🙂
Then when I go back to take her home, Vince and Rita will go too and we’ll get the surgery done then.
Right now we have too much going on with the fruit trees and the garden so Vince will stay home when I go to get Addie. Plus, my car is loaded to the gills with stuff for the apartment. When Rita goes, we have to take the crate and her bed and there’s not room in the car this trip. It should all work much better when I go to take Addie back.
Ideally, I will leave sometime around June 10 – 15 to go get Addie, and she will stay here for about a month. By mid-July, most everything in the garden will be finished and we can walk away for a few weeks. If not, I may have to go to take Addie back, then Vince, Rita and I go sometime in August or September. Darn . . not ANOTHER trip to MO. 🙂
I was telling Vince about the vet in Nevada and what they charge vs. what the vet in Abilene and Austin will charge. I said “See! We should just move back to Nevada!” All I heard was grumbling but it did not sound like “Great! That’s a good idea. Let’s do it!” 🙂
cindy says
If Addie is anything like my grandgirls, she will find plenty to do around your place to keep her busy and not miss home too much. As for Rita, she will be more comfortable after the surgery and really won’t miss her eyeballs. It will be harder on you than her. My dog also had glaucoma and got moved from one house to another while blind. She learned to walk the walls of the new house, never realized it has stairs so we never had to worry about her going up them and, and did great until she got old and just couldn’t function any more. At almost 18, I had to let her go. Blessings on your trips and doctor visits. Glad you found someone you feel comfortable with doing the surgery.
Susan Nixon says
I’m so sorry this has to be done.