I took five of our recent arrivals to Helena this morning to see our primary care vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, at Montana Veterinary Specialists & General Care. Brenda and her husband, Dr. Britt Culver -- a board-certified internal medicine specialist -- own the clinic and have been our principal vets since we first moved to Montana in 2000. (In case you're wondering, Helena is about 70 miles east of us, across MacDonald Pass on the other side of the Continental Divide.)
Brenda has a special interest in ophthalmology, and although she is not a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist, she is incredibly talented in diagnosing and treating eye cases.
So today I took four blind dogs -- Levi, Luke (a.k.a. "Vader"), Joey the Cocker, and Callie -- for eye exams, and also Cody the puppy.
In the first photo, Brenda is examining Joey, who has cataracts. In the second photo with Callie, Brenda is doing a 'menace response' test -- moving her hand rapidly towards the eye to determine if the animal can see it and blink. This is one of the first steps in a comprehensive eye exam. Jamey M., one of the clinic's vet techs, is holding Callie. It turns out Callie needed dental work, so she stayed behind at the clinic.
In the third photo, Brenda is examining Cody, who still has his 'rotary nystagmus,' or rapid eye movement. He was really squirming and Brenda will get a better look at his eyes tomorrow when he is under anesthesia for neutering. Brenda was making high-pitched sounds to try and focus Cody's attention, which is why her lips are pursed in this photo.
In the final photo, Brenda is working with Levi. As we suspected, Brenda determined that Levi went blind from trauma. There is blood pooled in his right eye, and you can see scar tissue on his left eye, too. Levi has a bad case of submissive urination, and we had wondered if he hadn't been bludgeoned at one stage in his past ... severely enough to cost him his vision and make him fearful to the point of submissive urination.
And then there was blind Luke. Unfortunately, I didn't get photos of Brenda with Luke, but the news wasn't good. In the exam room Brenda found his chronic right eye inflammation was actually caused by a sheared-off lens, flopping around inside the eye chamber. This is more painful than he was letting us know. Later this afternoon Brenda also did an ultrasound on his eyes and found his left eye had a detached retina and other potential chronic long-term problems. She recommended, and we agreed, to remove both eyes so he would at least be comfortable again.
We have one other dog, Patti, who has no eyes now, and it was a big relief for her because of the pain she had been in. We had to do the same thing on our blind horse, Chance, because of painful, chronically infected eyes, and we could tell he felt so much better the very next day. Although it seems like such an extreme measure, for an already blind animal it means comfort instead of pain ... and that's what we're after.
We'll head back to Helena on Monday to pick up Luke, Cody and Callie.
(Click on photos for larger image.)
Shiner, my dog, had his eyes removed 1 year ago. He had glaucoma and we were spending $200 a month on drugs to try to control the disease. Finally the vet convinced me to have his eyes removed. She sewed his eye sockets closed so he looks like he always has his eyes closed. Needless to say, he is an inspiration to everyone who "sees" him! He is happy, pain free and still my trail riding buddy!
Posted by: Tami | January 20, 2006 at 02:49 PM
Anything to make Luke feel less pain. They're all good dogs who are fortunate to be at the ranch and be getting regular exams and care. Hopefully Levi will be able to trust again.
Posted by: Roz | January 20, 2006 at 08:12 AM