Blind Austin Gets His Eye Exam

I took our recent arrival from Atlanta, the blind Beagle puppy Austin, to see our vet Dr. Brenda Culver in Helena this morning.  Austin needed the usual "oil, lube and filter" work -- neutering, blood panel, and urinalysis -- but the first order of business on any of our blind arrivals is a thorough eye exam.  We want to know what they're blind from and what else is going on in their eyes, so we can anticipate any future medical needs.  In the photo above Brenda is getting ready to use her slit lamp to examine his eyes while vet tech Jayme J. holds Austin.

I had mentioned in my first post on Austin that his eyes "are clear but appear a little odd ... a tad undersized, perhaps, but not what would be considered microphthalmia."  Yet I couldn't quite put my finger on why they looked odd.  Well, it turns out that his corneas are misshapen, which changes the appearance of the eye ever so slightly.  But Brenda found he's blind because the optic disc in each eye -- where the optic nerve enters the retina, also called the "head" of the optic nerve -- is misshapen and too small.  This condition is called 'optic nerve hypoplasia.'  So that suggests Austin has been centrally blind from birth, even though his retinas looked good and have plenty of blood vessels supplying them.

Using her Tono-Pen, Brenda measured his intraocular pressures as well.  Those pressures were within normal range, so there's no sign of glaucoma developing.

Here's Brenda using the slit lamp to look into his right eye:

In this photo Brenda is using her ophthalmoscope and a magnifying lens to get a different view of his retinas:

We won't have his blood work or other results until tomorrow, but at the moment -- besides being blind -- he seems like a healthy little tyke.  Austin is still very timid greeting new people ... he drops to his belly, tucks his tail and looks very afraid ... but after you pet him and coo over him, Austin starts wagging his tail and gets up for more attention.  He has a long way to go before he will ever be as brassy and bold as blind Widget (see previous post), but under her tutelage, I'm sure we'll have another bossy blind Beagle on our hands some day!