Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
*Spalko*
I know you get tired of being the animal gal but you are just so good at it.
Anyways my mom has a chocloate lab mix (Bella). Short verison is last week she has eye problems the vet said she scratched it. Gave her eye drops yto get twice a day. Everything was looking great until yesterday/today. My mom took her to the vet this morning because her eye was swollen and was actually bleeding plus bleeding in her mouth and some spots on her ear. She also had a spot come up on her left side which at first they said was a reaction from shots last week but once the vet saw her he said no that wasn't it because he can actually move it.
So they kept her and he called a little bit ago and said she has glaucoma in her eye and the only specialist we have in town won't look at Bella and the next closest is 3 hours away. He could treat her but she will probably lose her eye. And he is still running tests to see what that is on her side. Bella is about 5 years old so still very young and no other problems with anything before now.
So honestly is it worth it to do treatments or should my mom just have her put down? This is actually my brothers dog he basically just left with them and doesn't help them take care of her. We are kind of at a lose for what to do but I just don't think it is worth it for my mom to have to spend the money to treat Bella when it's not even her dog to begin with plus there is no telling what could happen from here.
Re: *Spalko*
Oh wow, that is a tough one!
I'm not sure I am understanding everything correctly but typically dogs with glaucoma don't actually need to have to eye removed, they just go blind. I am wondering if your mom misunderstand the vet when he said that Bella would 'lose her eye' He may have just been talking about her eye sight. Dogs can live perfectly normal lives with only having vision out of one eye. In fact, the doctor I work for has a dog just like that and you would never know that he can only see using one eye. I wouldn't recommend going to the specialist because honestly, they will probably try to talk you into some expensive surgery that the dog doesn't really need. Eye drops can be prescribed for the dog for the remainder of it's life, if that is something that your mother is willing to do. I'm thinking that the glaucoma is a secondary infection caused by whatever the bleeding is from. Being that it may be secondary means that chances are the glaucoma won't go to the other eye. If it were primary then it would probably go to the other eye and cause Bella to go totally blind.
I guess it all depends on how much your mom is willing to take care of the dog. I don't think the dog should be put down but if your mom doesn't want to put the money into her, she could always see if the dog can be surrendered to the veterinary hospital but chances are they might say no and the dog will be put down anyways. I'd hate to see her put down for something that can be managed with eye drops and regular trips to the vets. Surgery doesn't need to be an option and your mom shouldn't let the vet talk her into something she isn't 100% comfortable with. It is OK to say no to some treatment options and see if the drops can work for her.
As for the blood issue, I'm again not really understanding everything. The term for blood being too thick is polycythemia or erythrocytosis and to treat this you need to determine what is causing the condition. Is the dog dehydrated? Or the animal my be going into kidney and/or liver failure. Is the dog diabetic? One of the side effects of a diabetic dog left untreated is glaucoma. I guess I'm not understanding the term the doctor may have told your mom. The doctor I work for doesn't typically use that term so it is unfamilar to me. It could be a blood vessel problem usually associated with the liver or it could be that there are immature blood cells found within the bone marrow.
Blood being too thin is referred to as thyrombocytopenia which is anemia. This again can be caused by numerous things so it is important to understand what is causing the anemia. The dog hasn't been given any aspirin or anything similar to that has she? Administration of those type of human medications can cause ulcers in the dogs and cats so it is important to note if the animal has.
I apologize for not being very helpful here but I hope that I've given you some sort of advice. I feel like most of it is rambling
If you have any other questions, just let me know!
She has been given aspirin BUT that was after all of this started happening so I'm not sure that actually caused anything. He said her blood was too thick but that they were still running tests. And other than all of this in the last week she has been 100% healthy nothing more other than an upset stomach every now and then.
And I don't know what he meant about losing her eye I just know he makes it sound like more than just the sight and like the actual eye. The specialist is 100% out of the question and not even being considered by my mom. The vet said something about the bleeding in her eye with it. I'm honestly not sure.
Thanks for the advice!
Mom talked to the doctor this morning and he said Bella has internal bleeding as well. And also she keeps hemoraging (sp?) from where they draw blood and on different spots in her ear. Also she hasn't eaten in about 2-3 days now and she's not really getting up much. The treatment he has given her hasn't worked at all it seems to be making things worse.
They are just going to put her downsince she has so much going on. And since she has internal bleeding. The doctor wanted to keep trying treatment but mom said she doesn't want her to suffer and plus the bill keep running up for her because she honestly can't afford to put thousands into her after she has already put that into her for shots and her checkup and everything last week.
Anyways just wanted to update you and say thanks for the advice!