We took our 2 1/2 year old JRT, Lucy to 24 hour emergency vet
last night. She suddenly went totally blind (we know for sure she could see 5 hours before she was totally blind) and the vet diagnosed her as having optic neuritis, and no guarantee that she will see again. She put her on Prednisone, but we took her to our regular vet clinic on Sunday for blood tests, and to be referred to an ophthalmologist. Her blood test showed a high white cell blood count, so they said not to give her anymore of the Prednisone.
The vet that saw Lucy at the emergency clinic didn't sound very encouraging that she will get her sight back, and her regular vet today was even less encouraging. We will still see the ophthalmologist next week to get a final diagnosis. I looked this condition up on a veterinary information web site, and it sounds like after 3 weeks on Prednisone if it isn't corrected, it is then considered to be permanent blindness, and that the long term prognosis is still not good because it tends to be recurrent. If anyone has any personal information/experience with optic neuritis I would love to hear from you! Other than the information I've had from the two vets that saw Lucy in the last 24 hours, the information I found on this condition was here:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/courses/vet_eyes/conotes/con_chapter_12.
html#opticneuritis
We spent most of this next day just feeling numb, and still in shock over
how this happened to our Lucy so suddenly! And even worse, with not much hope for her to regain her sight. By this afternoon all we could do was be "amazed" at how quickly Lucy has adapted to not being able to see.
She knows our house and yard so well that she can now walk most
anywhere in the house without running into anything, and walks the
yard like a pro!
My sister, Janet loves Lucy just like she was her own dog, and when
she heard the news she came over. We decided to take the dogs to the
off-leash dog park to find out how Lucy was going to do with that
since it is her very favorite thing to do!)
AMAZING is all I can say! Even though I am still just devastated
about this, Lucy was so happy to be at the dog park, and even felt
confident enough to jump up onto the picnic table (her favorite hang-
out place) all by herself in the first 5 minutes we were there! She
was a little overwhelmed if there was too much dog "action" going on
around her, and she got bumped (this is a small dog area... so they
are all under 25 lbs.) but after 30 minutes or so she started to not
be as concerned about what was happening around her. Janet took Lucy
down to the end of the park where there were no other dogs, and she
was rolling a tennis ball across the dry grass for Lucy. She would
tell her "go" and Lucy would go pretty much straight to the ball give
or take a few inches.. but could smell and find it. She was so proud
of herself... and we were so proud of her!
The real highlight of the evening though... was when a Cockapoo named
Stitch came to the park, that Lucy had never even know before
tonight. He was just about her size, and Stitch just walked right up
to Lucy, and she immediately went into "play mode" with him, jumping
around, wrestling with him etc. She could tell/hear where he was all
the time, because there were no other dogs there anymore (except for
our Holly) and to watch them play you never would have even guessed
that Lucy couldn't see him!
So, as badly as we are feeling about this right now, I am now able to
feel so much hope that Lucy WILL still have a very active/fun JRT
life ahead of her... if she did this well on her first day of being
blind
Thanks for any advise anyone might have on experience with optic neuritis, or experience with helping a blind dog live life to the fullest! I'll post again once we learn more on if there is anything that can be done for our sweet Lucy girl.
last night. She suddenly went totally blind (we know for sure she could see 5 hours before she was totally blind) and the vet diagnosed her as having optic neuritis, and no guarantee that she will see again. She put her on Prednisone, but we took her to our regular vet clinic on Sunday for blood tests, and to be referred to an ophthalmologist. Her blood test showed a high white cell blood count, so they said not to give her anymore of the Prednisone.
The vet that saw Lucy at the emergency clinic didn't sound very encouraging that she will get her sight back, and her regular vet today was even less encouraging. We will still see the ophthalmologist next week to get a final diagnosis. I looked this condition up on a veterinary information web site, and it sounds like after 3 weeks on Prednisone if it isn't corrected, it is then considered to be permanent blindness, and that the long term prognosis is still not good because it tends to be recurrent. If anyone has any personal information/experience with optic neuritis I would love to hear from you! Other than the information I've had from the two vets that saw Lucy in the last 24 hours, the information I found on this condition was here:
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/courses/vet_eyes/conotes/con_chapter_12.
html#opticneuritis
We spent most of this next day just feeling numb, and still in shock over
how this happened to our Lucy so suddenly! And even worse, with not much hope for her to regain her sight. By this afternoon all we could do was be "amazed" at how quickly Lucy has adapted to not being able to see.
She knows our house and yard so well that she can now walk most
anywhere in the house without running into anything, and walks the
yard like a pro!
My sister, Janet loves Lucy just like she was her own dog, and when
she heard the news she came over. We decided to take the dogs to the
off-leash dog park to find out how Lucy was going to do with that
since it is her very favorite thing to do!)
AMAZING is all I can say! Even though I am still just devastated
about this, Lucy was so happy to be at the dog park, and even felt
confident enough to jump up onto the picnic table (her favorite hang-
out place) all by herself in the first 5 minutes we were there! She
was a little overwhelmed if there was too much dog "action" going on
around her, and she got bumped (this is a small dog area... so they
are all under 25 lbs.) but after 30 minutes or so she started to not
be as concerned about what was happening around her. Janet took Lucy
down to the end of the park where there were no other dogs, and she
was rolling a tennis ball across the dry grass for Lucy. She would
tell her "go" and Lucy would go pretty much straight to the ball give
or take a few inches.. but could smell and find it. She was so proud
of herself... and we were so proud of her!
The real highlight of the evening though... was when a Cockapoo named
Stitch came to the park, that Lucy had never even know before
tonight. He was just about her size, and Stitch just walked right up
to Lucy, and she immediately went into "play mode" with him, jumping
around, wrestling with him etc. She could tell/hear where he was all
the time, because there were no other dogs there anymore (except for
our Holly) and to watch them play you never would have even guessed
that Lucy couldn't see him!
So, as badly as we are feeling about this right now, I am now able to
feel so much hope that Lucy WILL still have a very active/fun JRT
life ahead of her... if she did this well on her first day of being
blind
Thanks for any advise anyone might have on experience with optic neuritis, or experience with helping a blind dog live life to the fullest! I'll post again once we learn more on if there is anything that can be done for our sweet Lucy girl.