When my phone rang on Thursday at 1 p.m., I knew immediately who it was. When I answered, all she said was, "He can see!"
Followed by, "And he's a pistol!"
It was our veterinary ophthalmologist, Dr. Sarah Hoy, who had just performed cataract surgery on Max, the Dachshund who arrived a month ago. We realized in retrospect that when he first came, he was able to get around so well with just very limited peripheral vision in one eye. But in the month he had been here -- and in the three weeks since Dr. Hoy had first examined him -- he had lost the rest of his vision and was walking into walls, missing doorways, and acting lost.
When I drove over to Burlington early last Thursday morning to drop him off for surgery, Sarah had noticed how much he had changed since she saw him. She looked at him and said, "It's amazing how fast cataracts can grow sometimes."
When Alayne drove back on Friday to pick him up, Sarah's vet tech Patty brought Max out to the reception area. From a distance of about 15 feet, Max saw Alayne, processed the information, then realized who it was and began wiggling and wagging. Alayne said, "You could see he was trying to put the visual information together with my voice, and it suddenly connected -- oh, it's you!!!"
(He's already a minion, so getting his first real look at the Minion Leader was a most exciting moment.)
After leaving the eye clinic, Alayne took Max over to our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Tanya Donovan. In the month he's been here, Max has had urinary incontinence. At first he had a bladder infection, which we successfully treated, and although the follow-up urinalysis gave us the all-clear, the incontinence not only continued but has become worse. So we wanted Tanya to ultrasound his bladder and kidneys, do a neuro exam, and anything else she thought necessary to figure out what was going on.
Ever since he arrived we noticed Max had a slightly odd gait in his hindquarters, so we suspected the all-too-common Dachshund disc issue as the source of his incontinence.
Tanya found all of his plumbing looked great, and he didn't have crystals, stones or other obstructions. But she determined he most likely has chronic spinal disease that is the underlying cause of the incontinence, and at this point there isn't much we can do about it. We will need to do routine urine cultures every 1 to 2 months because he is at increased risk of urinary tract infections. But the main fix is, well, diapers!
That's the blue band you see in the photo above, and here's a better view:
We haven't had much success with diapers on other dogs in the past, because they tend to get pulled, chewed or ripped off in a few minutes, but Max is actually tolerating his very well. I think he's trying to strike a deal: "I'll leave the diaper on if you take the confounded cone off!"
He'll wear the cone for a couple of weeks, and he gets multiple eye drops throughout the day. Dr. Hoy will recheck him in two weeks.
Yesterday afternoon I noticed blind Sophie the Dachshund and Max heading straight for each other in the yard at a rapid clip. It was like watching a head-on collision just about to happen (we've seen this movie before). But at the last minute, Max simply veered around Sophie and kept on going. Yes, I think that boy can see.
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In other good medical news, I took blind Penny the Yorkie back to Dr. Donovan last Thursday to recheck her blood work. Last month her pancreatic enzymes were sky high, in the absence of pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer. Well, this time her bloodwork was normal, which means we must have had a lab error of some sort earlier. So now we're focused on just trying to get her to gain weight.
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Please Vote for the Farm!
The new Shelter Challenge started Monday, April 9 and ends at midnight on June 17. Grand prize in this round is $5,000, plus $1,000 for weekly winners and $1,000 for state winners. There are also other categories ... please see the Shelter Challenge website for details.
*** We are now LISTED UNDER OUR NEW NAME, ROLLING DOG FARM. State is still NH for New Hampshire. ***
Please remember, you can vote every day ... consider bookmarking the voting page to make it easy.
We just won $1,000 as a weekly winner for Week 4 of the last contest, and thousands more in the previous contests. The Shelter Challenge really does bring in a lot of money for the animals here!
You can vote in the Shelter Challenge here.
Thank you for your votes!
Thank you Rolling dog. You always give me a Smile to see the Great work you do and the wonderful animals you help.
Colleen :)
Posted by: Colleen Healey | June 01, 2012 at 09:28 AM
The pictures of Max ans Penny look Great! and Bless them and all your Furry Family!
Posted by: Kathy Ryan Hutton | May 31, 2012 at 07:28 PM
So glad to hear of the surgery success...our Molly, also a dachshund has incontinence...she uses Pee Keepers...
http://peekeeper.com/
Posted by: Susan | May 02, 2012 at 10:36 AM
GREAT NEWS!!!!!
Posted by: Steven Goldsmith | May 01, 2012 at 01:04 PM
What joyful news! A pistol that can now see. :)
Loved your latest newsletter by the way- the cover made my heart ooze with happiness.
Posted by: Barbara Techel | May 01, 2012 at 09:34 AM
Wow, it's so great to hear double good news today! I'm glad that Penny is just fine and that Max can now see. What a blessing! The care and love that you give everyone at RDF is outstanding and I'm always happy, happy, happy to read wonderful updates like this.
Since the male wraps come in different colors, Max can now be a fashionista whilst solving his problem!
Posted by: Ann | May 01, 2012 at 04:52 AM
Such great news about sweet Max!!!
Yes, looking at Alayne smiling at him at the vet clinic must have been very exciting indeed...:-)
Please give Max & Penny a big hug for me.
Posted by: Carla Polastro-Nigro | May 01, 2012 at 04:39 AM
This is the best way to start the week giving all of us happy news. Looking at Max and that cone just makes me smile. I know he will be so happy to have it taken off.
Posted by: Betsy | April 30, 2012 at 10:46 PM
Thank you for the amazing, happy news! Now Max...you find yourself a pretty little pup to court...
Posted by: Glenda | April 30, 2012 at 10:12 PM
I love it when you post happy news about the many minions of RDF!
Posted by: Mary H./Washington state | April 30, 2012 at 04:56 PM
Oh, that's wonderful. It must have been so exciting for Alayne to see him recognizing her voice and putting it together with what he saw. All the better to worship the Minion Leader... And maybe now that he can see and isn't running into things, the incontinence will be less of an issue. Even when there's an underlying problem like disc issues, stress can definitely take away the little control there is. Meanwhile, he looks cute in his diaper. Congratulations again to Max, and also to Penny.
Posted by: Tonya Allen | April 30, 2012 at 04:44 PM
LOVE RDF!!!! Every animal who is fortunate enough to be in your care has hit the LOTTERY!!!!
Posted by: Shirley * James/Portland, OR | April 30, 2012 at 02:14 PM
OH! Such wonderful, wonderful news!!! And an important lesson counter to thinking cataracts are just something inevitable with aging that you can't do much about...
I'm particularly touched by "he was trying to put the visual information together with my voice, and it suddenly connected -- oh, it's you!!!"
Such a truly priceless moment. You so deserve it. :)
Posted by: Margaret | April 30, 2012 at 12:16 PM
What a wonderful miracle you've given Max! And with the cone on for a few weeks, maybe he'll get so used to the diapers that when the cone disappears,he'll leave them alone (hopefully!). Turquoise, huh? I'd say he's a very stylish little man, duded up for summer.
Posted by: Debbie Burke | April 30, 2012 at 11:51 AM
For almost 15 years I was privileged to love and be loved by a miniature dachshund with degenerative disk disease. Would back surgery help Max? I know doctors are more reluctant to do it nowadays, but would it improve the incontinence? Bruiser, on occasion, would have "stool" incontinence if I didn't get him out within seconds of him letting me know he had a "need". We always assured him that it was okay, and those stools became known as "fairy turds". Max is so, so handsome.
Posted by: Kathleen Rivard | April 30, 2012 at 11:48 AM
Reading about Max was a great way to start my Monday! I'm going to share the good news on my Facebook page.
Thanks to Steve, Alayne and all of the generous supporters who made this possible!
Posted by: Julie and her 3 doxies, Annie, Lucy and Brody | April 30, 2012 at 11:10 AM
Fantastic! How wonderful to be able to regain his sight! I'm thrilled for you and Max.....sounds like the Vet was thrilled as well. Great job all around!
Hugs to all,
ginger & Tlingit
Posted by: Ginger | April 30, 2012 at 10:52 AM
What a week! Thanks for the updates of both puppies. yeah for Max and Penny!!
Posted by: Linda Murphy | April 30, 2012 at 10:48 AM
Outstanding Max. What a great thing to happen for you. I sure hope I don't have to wear the cone when I end up in diapers.
Posted by: Eric | April 30, 2012 at 10:45 AM
Congratulations to Max and to you, Steve and Alayne, for this wonderful news! Despite his other medical issue, Max will be so much better now--it was the best day in his life when he was chosen for RDF and is now an official Minion! Regarding Penny--please see the Pickets Poodles (MN) website as they had a very similar situation with a rescue named Connor whose liver enzymes went way down with no explanation other than a huge drop in stress once he was in a foster home for Pickets Poodles. Whatever the reason, Penny must be feeling a whole lot better--definitely a good news week at the vet!
Posted by: Jan from Winnipeg | April 30, 2012 at 08:51 AM