Lipids and Corneal Degeneration

W'sup!!! What a gorgeous day today leading into storms tonight..... Today was a huge day as in the first airing of The Office is AGES and thanks to our wonderful and volatile weather the last FOUR MINUTES of The Office were cut off because of tornadoes approaching our western "viewing area". Really, who cares about them??? Most of their audience is here in the 'Ville and WE WANT THE OFFICE!!! So frustrating....Brent's car thermometer read 84 degrees this afternoon on the way to the vet, that's prob a little high but our forecast was for 78. It's insane to think it was nearly 90 today! =)

So, Pippin's visit. We had a 5 pm appointment at the vet and as always we were seen right away. I love that we don't spend all day there like we did at our vet in the suburbs. We saw a different vet than our normal lady, but normally we go on Saturdays but I really didn't want to wait until the weekend on this one. And....I really don't know how to say this nicely.....but their was something wrong with her eyes. Like one of them she kept pretty much closed, and then all of a sudden it would be open, and then closed again....and then the other one would be sort of crazy.....and it was just so ironic since we were there for Pippin's eye problem. But she was very nice and everything, it was just....a little odd. And she scored major points by saying how great Bostons are since they are always friendly and never bite - and if anyone knows which breed is friendly it's going to be a vet!

Pippin couldn't have cared less and didn't have a clue why we were there, he was just glad to be licking some people. They did a dye test on his eye to rule out any scratches or abrasions and then looked at his eye with a light thing. I think that also tests for cataracts. She thinks it's corneal degeneration aka cholesterol/lipid deposits of the eye. Here's a link and another link. It seems to be common in Bostons, and other breeds with the larger, protruding eyes. It doesn't seem to be painful or really impair their vision. It can be caused by genetics, or thyroid issues, or cholesterol issues. In some cases I've read online they've had blood tests done and it's shown high cholesterol in the animals. (On a side note, Pippin has lost nearly a pound since his last visit for his annual exam a couple of months ago! Yay!! I thought he was losing, but it's so nice to have confirmation!) We've been thinking about changing his diet to organic foods, so this may be a very good time to do that and cut the fat back more.

On the down side, it seems in some cases it can form painful ulcers, possibly require surgery and lead to blindness. It's just one of those unpredictable things. She gave us some ointment to try, we have to (somehow) put it on his eyes 3 times a day for the next week and we have a return visit for next Thurs afternoon.

So, for now I guess I'm ok with this, it's not like I have a choice. I love the Woof board, I read a lot of forums where people came with the same issue and others commented about how their Boston has had it for a long time with no issues, so that's reassuring. I should have looked there earlier, they were great when Pippin was about to have surgery on his luxating patella (which is totally great now - you'd be AMAZED how many hits I get for people looking for advice on it. At his exam in January the doc couldn't even tell which leg he had the surgery on by feeling his legs and looking at them - she actually guessed the WRONG leg!! You wouldn't know he ever had any problems....if you came here debating whether or not to get the surgery GET IT!). So we'll lube up his eye over the next week, see what happens, prob get his blood tested for cholesterol & change his diet and then take the vet's advice about seeing a doggie ophthalmologist. Because if anything is interesting dinner party conversation I'm sure the price of visiting a canine eye doctor specialist has got to be way up there and I've been feeling like Pippin needs a whole new level of spoiled lately. =)

That's all for now!!! We're hoping for some hail in these storms tonight, you know, anything to help us with getting a new roof! From the sound of porch swing slamming against our front window over and over in this wind we may get that wish tonight.... Happy weekend!