Monday, July 13, 2009

The Girls

My gray ladies.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Catch-22

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’s Eye Follow-up

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

Hanging Out

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

Eye Doc Visit

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.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Ritual

The pugs all have their odd ways when it comes to settling down in their beds. Sol & Henry fall into the "circler" category. They get into their bed and turn around a few times before they plop themselves down. Benjamin & Luna fall into the "scratcher" category. They basically prop themselves up on their head and then use their front paws to scratch as fast as they can. It is quite an amusing sight to watch Luna or Ben practically doing a head stand so they can get their bed just right. And for once, I finally got a few shots of Luna in action when she was trying to settle.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Where You’ll Find Luna Most Mornings

Luna just loves to lay on the lounge chair by the pool in the morning hours before it gets too hot.  I’m hoping that I might be able to join her one day this weekend.

Have a great weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there.