Thursday, July 23, 2009
On Monday night, shortly after we got back from our walk with the pugs, we realized that we had forgotten to run out and get cat food for Cupid earlier in the night. Having about a half hour before the store closed, we headed out and we decided to bring Luna with us. From time to time we try to do things with the pugs individually. And since most of Luna's one on one car trips usually involve a visit to the eye doctor we thought she would enjoy getting to take a field trip to the pet store.
Since we were there for cat food, we headed to the cat section first. Luna didn't seem to care that she was in the cat food section and all the bags of food smelled yummy to her.
After we stocked up on Cupid's food, we went to the dog section, got a few chewies and let Luna explore a bit. Out of all the bones they had on the lower shelf, Luna showed the most interest in this bone. A style of rawhide bone that I don't think she has ever had before. She took one tiny lick and then she was on to bigger and better things.
She patiently waited as we checked out and right before we left, she posed atop the mound of dog food they have piled by the door.
Monday, July 20, 2009
I'm not exactly sure what Luna does when I put her food bowl down, but about two seconds after her meal is placed in front of her it looks like her bowl has exploded. We have tried bigger bowls, bowls with higher sides, but no matter what we give her she ends up with food from one side of the kitchen to the other. It is almost like she prefers to eat off the floor. Whatever her preference, it sure doesn't make it easy to keep the kitchen clean.
Monday, July 13, 2009
My gray ladies.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
As the months pass we are learning more and more how to communicate with Sol. Sol isn't just hard of hearing, she is completely deaf. At first I wasn't convinced, but after observing her since she arrived there have been numerous occasions when she doesn't even flinch an ear when loud sounds occur.
The main thing that we have learned is that Sol is very in tune with vibrations. Before we learned this, if she was looking away and we wanted to get her attention we would have to walk over to her and giver he a little tap so she would look our way. But through a little experimentation we quickly learned that if you stomp your feet, she will pick up on the vibrations and turn your way.
The only problem with the stomp your feet attention method is that it freaks Luna out. Feet stomping, kicking, or any other sudden movement with your feet causes Luna to immediately drop to the floor, her bellying touching the ground, and cower. The fast moving feet issue is the lone issue that has carried over from her previous life. As an added bonus, Luna has very poor vision, which makes it even easier to startle the little one.
So, the method to get the deaf dog's attention sends the blind dog into a panic.
As much as I love the feet stomping method to get Sol's attention, you can only use it if you are 100% sure that Luna is not in the room. I feel like a Venn Diagram is in order to help illustrate when it is appropriate to use the feet stomping method to get Sol's attention. Then I could file it away with all the eye drops spreadsheets we have for Luna.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Luna got to go on a field trip to the eye vet last week for a re-check of the obstructed gland in her eyelid. I was feeling fairly confident that they would not have to drain the gland because it had greatly reduced in size since we started her on the prescribed medication. However, the bump was not 100% gone so I was unsure what they were going to say about that.
Luna's eye doc was pleased with Luna's progress and suggested that we up the NeoPolyDex drops that she gets in that eye from every other day to twice a day. Easy enough. We will do that and in 4-5 weeks Luna gets to go back to see how things are doing.
The only difficult thing has been remembering the new drop schedule. Luna has been on her current schedule for a little over a year now so breaking our routine has been a bit tricky.
Here is Luna's new drop schedule:
- Tacrolimus: 1 drop both eyes, twice a day
- Cyclosporine: 1 drop in the left eye once a day
- NeoPolyDex: 1 drop in the left eye every other day, 1 drop in the right eye twice a day
- Genteal Ointment: At least one drop in the right eye each day. May administer whenever the right eye is looking dry.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Luna never jumps onto the back of the sofa to sleep. Unlike Benny & Cupid (the only ones that will actually jump up there on their own), Luna is afraid that she may overshoot the back of the couch and end up plummeting to the floor since our sofa does not back to anything. And that is a risk that a girl with poor vision just isn't willing to take.
The other day, I was holding Luna and walking to the kitchen. I got distracted by something else and needed two hands, so I just plopped Luna down on the back of the sofa. I went off and did whatever ticky tack thing that needed to be done and when I returned I was surprised to see Luna still on the back of the sofa looking quite pleased with herself.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Yesterday, Luna & Sol visited the eye vet for their checkups. Sol's visit was just for a routine checkup. The last time we were there, they put her on drops to slow cataract growth and we have seen a great improvement in the cloudiness in her eyes. The Dr. agreed that Sol is doing well and we are going to keep the same drop plan for her.
Luna was not due for a checkup, but we brought her in with Sol because we noticed a small bump developing on her upper eye lid. Given her history, we didn't waste anytime getting her in to have it looked at. Her diagnosis was an obstructed gland in her eyelid. At this point we are hoping we will be able to clear this up with a few medications. In about 2 weeks time we will know if the medications are going to work and we will revisit the eye doc with Luna. Hopefully, things will have cleared up, otherwise, Luna will need to have a procedure to drain the clogged gland. She will not need to be put under, however. How they will drain the gland without putting her under is beyond me, but I trust that they have their ways.
The silver lining in all of this is that the blocked gland does not seem to be bothering Luna at all. They eye doc said that she would be pawing at her eye if she was experiencing any discomfort and we have not seen her messing with her eye at all.
She is a trooper. She takes all her many drops each day like a champ and has battled through all of her different eye maladies as well as anyone could expect. I feel bad for her because it seems like we never get any good news about her eyes, but overall, I think she handles her limited vision very well. She runs through the house with the rest of them and adapts very well to new situations. Over the years, we have learned her limitations and her weaknesses and that has helped a lot. It at least keeps her from doing face plants at the beach.
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