cocoa had to go to the vet

[tessa_s212]

When I finally took the clippers to Cocoa and got the mop off her head, I saw her eyes better and sure enough they looked a little cloudy. I immediately thought glaucoma (because Fudge is her half brother), so scheduled an appointment the following morning and got her in that day. After a looong examination, Dr. A diagnosed it as uveitis and possibly early bilateral cataracts. Both can lead to/cause glaucoma eventually, but for now her eye pressures are too LOW rather than high. She's on eye drops for a week and then a check up with the other, more experienced vet to confirm diagnoses and see if there's any progress with the meds.

She checked her ears for me too.. they're doing alright. A little yeasty still, but she's not worried. Very little debri and they aren't getting worse. They are stable, and sometimes that is the best you can get with Cockers.

On the bright side, It is always nice to go to the vet. Cocoa always gets soooo many compliments. The vet RARELY sees (if ever) other cockers that behave so perfectly and be so still. During the whole exam she just kept telling Cocoa what a good girl she was and how great she was being for the exam. Makes me a proud fur-parent.

Why, oh why, do I have to love a breed with sooo many eye and ear issues.

[Fransheska101]

I hope cocoa gets better soon and that the drops help! and give her some extra lovins for being so good at the vets office

[Dekka]

I must be lucky.. I really only know well bred non rescue cockers.. but none have any eye or ear issues to speak of.

Poor Coco. And I don't know why people don't train their dogs to be nice at the vets. I get that too with the JRTs. Snip is in love with the vet (I have no idea what drugs they gave him during his neuter lol)

[MericoX]

I know plenty of cockers that don't have ear or eye problems. Same with X breeds that are suppose to be prone to the same issues (like my two breeds, schnauzes and poodles) and I hardly see any around here.

Though really it probably depends on breeding. We don't have a lot of mills around here.

[Brattina88]

I agree with Dekka. I wish people would take more time to train their dogs to behave at the vets. I get that a lot, too.
And I had to add that I've been around a lot of rescue cockers, and Tara is the first we've had with eye problems. And her's is due to neglect, mostly. So frustrating!

Poor Cocoa... I hope that she feels better soon!
What are you using for her ears? I've got some good stuff here that I've been using on mine (and the fosters) and it works very good. I'll have to go get some and read the label

I thought she'd already been diagnosed with glaucoma? Sorry if I'm remembering wrong !

[tessa_s212]

I'm using a recipe found on that really popular cocker forum. It works wonders.

All our cockers were poorly bred. Cocoa and Fudge were from a puppy mill. They had supposed "show dogs", but when we got there three litters of puppies were outside in rabbit hutches. It was snowing. Cocoa was 8 weeks, Fudge was 6 weeks at a time. All the adults were outside in crap filled kennel runs. If you look at their pedigrees, there was all sorts of inbreeding.

So far we've never had a dog make it to the end of their life with either hearing or vision. Both Ginger and Brownie were deaf and blind before they passed. Summer might be our only one to make it with full vision and hearing. Fudge already has one eye missing. Dogy has one eye gone and the other blind with cataract. Now Cocoa may have early cataracts. Blind dogs are nothing new to me, as you can tell.

Maybe it is just the area, but around here almost every cocker we see at our vets has ear issues. Less with eye issues, though.

[MericoX]

Could be they're all from mills and midly related.

Though if it'd be me... I'd be looking in my area/household if all your dogs are going blind/deaf. While yes older dogs seem to *contract* these it seems weird all your dogs have it.

[Dekka]

That sucks Tessa... could explain why some people are so 'anti' cockers.. if this is the experiences they have with them-ick!

Even before I was a 'dog person' I knew a few cockers and they all seemed to be happy out going kid friendly (I was a kid then) family pets. I don't remember any of them have much in the way of issues. So I never 'got' that bias against the breed.

[Lizmo]

Originally Posted by MericoX

Though if it'd be me... I'd be looking in my area/household if all your dogs are going blind/deaf. While yes older dogs seem to *contract* these it seems weird all your dogs have it.

I wouldn't make that assumption. You can't make a dog go deaf or blind unless you physically make it. Most older dogs do go deaf and blind as they get older and older.

[MericoX]

I'm not saying anyone did. But there are chemicals and such that could cause it. Just saying if everyone one of my dogs (or so it seems I have no idea how many dogs she has or who has/had it) went blind and deaf - or had ear/eye problems and were unrelated I'd be looking into it.