Saturday, December 13, 2008

Beau goes to the eye specailist

Today was the day I was going to find out what was wrong with our boy Beau. We were in the waiting area and Beau was getting to see other dogs that were there for some really serious reasons and it just broke my heart when I saw a mother and daughter coming out crying.

Dogs really become part of the family and to have to put them down or know that they have some serious illness is heart breaking.

People in the waiting room were giving Beau compliments even with a bummed eye, and believe me he was loving it.

Here comes the eye specialist, he ask if this is Beau and I said yes really nervous. He introduced himself and said Beau is a good looking boy. We followed him into the exam room and asked me a few questions and put drops in his eyes and waited to see if his 3rd eye lid would go down with the drops and it did.
He said just what I thought. I asked him what and he said Beau has Horner’s Syndrome, I never have heard of it. The Doctor explained to me that Horner’s syndrome is a loss of sympathetic never supply to the eye, eyelids and muscles that dilate the pupil. The sympathetic nerves are part of the nervous system that control “automatic” body functions.
I said ok will what caused it and what can we do about it? He said that the signs associated with Horner’s syndrome are usually unilateral (one sided). They include, drooping of the upper eyelid, constriction of the pupil sinking of the eye, and elevation of the 3rd eyelid. That is exactly what Beau’s eye looks like.

He said that in most cases, the cause of Horner’s Syndrome is idiopathic, or unknown. However anything can create a disruption in the nervous pathway can cause Horner’s syndrome i.e. trauma/injury, infection and tumors. We are thinking maybe injury, he could have hit his face or playing with our other little dog Dunhill.
For most dogs, the signs associated with idiopathic Horner’s Syndrome will resolve within 6 months. They say it isn’t painful.
In some cases Horner’s Syndrome will interfere with vision because the eye is covered by the third eyelid.

We are going to wait and not do any MRI”S at the moment and hope that it will go away so we will just have to play the waiting game. I have faith he will be just fine!!
It is a little bit ironic that Beau his patching buddy is having issues with his left eye, just like in our books.
He will also get better!

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Our dog Beau

Our dog Beau
Preston's eye patch buddy

Preston and his eye Doctor

Preston and his eye Doctor
Eye Exam

Preston and Beau Eye Patching

Preston and Beau Eye Patching
Eye Patch Buddies