I'm worried about Rosie.

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Paravati
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Post   » Fri Nov 07, 2003 12:45 am


I just had to post these pictures Alex took two days ago.

Me and Rosie, completely passed out after some serious handfeeding:

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Does that look like one satisfied pig, or what??

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swannie
For the love of pigs!

Post   » Fri Nov 07, 2003 1:11 am


Yes, the green chin tells the tale. :)

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Paravati
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Post   » Wed Nov 19, 2003 4:41 am


Rosie is doing well. We're still calling him "Perma-Purr" because if you rest your hand on his butt he will purr and purr so long he sounds like a little motor. It's amazing he can sustain a purr that long. He's finally broken the 900g mark in weight, for the first time since he came to live with us. We are still supplementing his food with Critical Care by handfeeding him twice a day with a syringe and by leaving some in the cage for him to munch on as-needed. He is eating hay, pellets, and fresh veggies daily.

I am worried about his eye, though. When we went last to the vet, she confimed that he has cataracts (cloudy "spots" on the interior of the eye's surface) and some sort of eye injury related to malnutrition (cloudy looking "pinches" on the exterior eye surface). The malnutrition patches have cleared up a lot since he's finally able to eat.

However, she did confirm that his left eye's pupil (the eye visible to you in the bottom of the two pictures above) does not dilate when exposed to light. It's a fixed pupil. She told me he was probably blind in that eye.

Just in the last two days, I have noticed something with that eye that's really bothering me. I thought at first it was just light reflecting off the cataracts or off the malnutrition spots, but tonight when I was handfeeding him I realized you can see it in ANY kind of light.

It looks like his pupil is turning white. I'm not sure if it's really the "pupil" or not, since the area that's white is circular in shape, but it looks less round than oblong. It doesn't look like it's exactly the pupil, but more like the pupil and some other area of his eye. It's turning white and looks almost silvery underneath the surface of his eye.

He is not reactive to light, motion, or even touching around the eye. He can move it back and forth so he has muscle control, but the fact that it's turning white bothers me. It does NOT look like the cloudiness of a hay poke or other infection. His lids and eye moisture look fine. The surface of the eye (except for the malnutrition scarring) looks fine. This is inside the eye, and you can clearly see the sharp edge of some part of the eye that's just turning white. It's so weird looking.

Has anybody ever seen this before? What is it? Does he need to go to the vet ASAP?

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Wed Nov 19, 2003 7:12 am


He may be going blind. He'll be able to get along fine if he does though. If there does not appear to be an injury, I'm not sure what a vet could do. A veterinary opthamologist could definitely tell you what is going on.

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Paravati
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Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 8:40 am


Here are some pictures...

Rosie in one of his favorite spots - The Prime Pillow Position next to my computer:

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This is the eye that's "turning white":

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This is the "good eye".. He does have cataracts and some surface malnutrition scarring on this eye. You can see the "pinched" appearance a bit in this photo:

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So does the bad eye look like it's just going "blind"? We have noticed a drastic change in the last few days. I don't know what to do for him, really. If the eye is dying, will it need to be removed? The only experience I have with eyes (except for the usual hay poke) is Tigger's eye which had to come out.

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Lynx
Celebrate!!!

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 8:58 am


Can you haul Rosie along the next time you see a vet? I don't know enough either, to be able to say whether or not something else is going on. Eyes will cloud over when there is an injury.

Is the eye getting normal lubrication? Can you see tearing, fluids on the lower rim?

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Paravati
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Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:02 am


Yes, his eye looks lubricated. That's one of the things I check for daily, because when I feel his eyes are looking a bit "dry" - I give him a subcue.

He has been on Bactrim since before all this mess started for URI symptoms. They are being held more at bay than anything, and do not seem to really be clearing up. I'm worried because he's so old that there are maybe a few different things wrong. He's had an Xray and the vet says his heart looks fine. I just don't know. He's healtheir NOW then at any time since we've had him, and now this eye thing.

We have an appointment tomorrow at 5 with the vet.

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AuntyLaura

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:35 am


His eye looks like my dog's eye when the retina had detatched and he lost the sight in it. I hope that is not the case with Rosie. Good luck.

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:48 am


When the retina detaches, is there anything you can do? Why does a retina detach? If this is what it is, will he have to have his eye removed?

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AuntyLaura

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 9:58 am


In the case of my dog, the vet thinks it was from some kind of a blow to the head. We're not sure how it happened. The vet also said that retinas can detatch from disease, but that wasn't the case in Jasper. Jasper's eye didn't shrivel and didn't need to be removed, it was just white and funky looking. He lived like that for about 7 years, until he died at age 14.

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Paravati
I GAVE, dammit!

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:05 am


Oh, that's good to hear. Not that your dog had a detached retina, I mean, that he didn't lose the eye. I've been terrified that Rosie would need surgery. The vet won't neuter him and is very cautious about putting him under even for his teeth, because he is so old and frail. I seriously have doubts about him surviving any kind of really invasive surgery. Thanks, AuntyLaura.

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lisam

Post   » Thu Nov 20, 2003 10:34 am


One of my horses went blind in one eye, she had euveitis (also called moon blindness). Eventually the retina detached, and it caused her a lot of pain, since it would "float" around and bang into nerves (that's how the vet described it!). She did have her eye removed, a prosthesis put in, and the lids sewn shut.

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