My Eye, My Eye...

OK, let me start by saying in no way does my eye situation even come close to what sweet, handsome Ike went through, but when it come to anything related to the eyeball area me and my Mom are...how should I bark, um, wusses!!!

So as I mentioned yesterday, I've gots this spot thingy on my right eye and Dr. Marsha noticed these wayward eyelashes so off to the eye dogter I go. I went to a place called the Animal Eye Center in Rocklin. Everyone there was very, very nice and they came very highly recommended. What I especially liked about everyone is I gots TONS OF TREATS!!! W00T! Well I gots tons of treats until they started poking and prodding and shining lights into my eyeballs!!! So annoying and uncomfortable. They also put the drops in my eyes and poked something right in my eyes...now that doesn't seem right, does it??? But I was very well behaved and everyone really liked me...heck, if your giving me treats, I'm an angel - BOL!!!!

Anyhowl, I'm now going to turn this over to Mom to tell you about what they found.

Hey everyone, Michele here. So Ruby is not lying when she said I have issues when it comes to eye stuff. I knew before I got a Boston they are prone to eye issues, but thought I lucked out because Ruby's eyes weren't very 'buggy'. So when my regular vet (whom I trust very much) suggested I go get things checked out, I didn't hesitate. So here is what we found...

Issue 1) The 'spot' (pigment) on her sclera is nothing...at least not now. We have to monitor it and if it starts to look raised or gets larger I need to come back in. OK, I'm good with that.

Issue 2) My vet noticed Ruby had what looked to be distichia. The eye-vet concurred with this and Ruby's diagnosis is mild distichia in both her eyes. Distichia are tiny hairs growing from the sweat glands at the eyelid margin. The hairs rub on her eye and causing squinting, irritation, tearing and discomfort (gee, I thought Ruby just had allergy issues!).

Issue 3) In Ruby's left eye, she has an ectopic cilia. Ectopic cilia are also hairs growing from the sweat glands, but the hair protrudes from the inner surface of the eyelid rubs right on the cornea. They tend to be very painful and can cause corneal ulcers - OUCH!!!! My poor baby!!! This is common in younger dogs and in Bostons (surprise, surprise)

Issue 4) Vitreous anterior chamber in the left eye. This is when the lens zonules break down and cause lens movement. This can either be an inherited thing or caused by head shaking...let me see, hmmm...I'm thinking it's caused by head shaking when she goes in for the stuffy kill! It's good that we caught this early...longer term on this, her lens could start moving around, come detached and ultimately cause glaucoma. The way this is tested is by checking lens position and her intraocular pressure which right now in her left eye is 9 (right eye is 10). The vet said this was good, but we need to check it every year...oh and I need to stop her from shaking her head - wish me luck on that!

So, although that all doesn't sound great...Ruby's in good shape overall, but I need to keep a close 'eye' on her eyes. They are recommending Cryoepiltion surgery to remove the distichia and the ectopic cilia. Cryoepilation is when they use a liquid nitrogen probe to freeze the hair follicle and remove the offending lashes. It's 90% effective...meaning there is only a small chance of regrowth. To do the procedure, they will need to put Ruby under anesthesia - which I'm not thrilled about and her poor little eyelids will be swollen for 3-5 days...and she's going to need to wear a cone too.

I was very happy with the eye-vet. She took her time to explain things to me and gave me very detailed information. I need to consult with my regular vet, but based on the research and talking to the eye-vet, I think I'm going to get it done (I tentatively scheduled the procedure for 8/31). I really want to do what is right and don't want to take any risks with my girl's big, beautiful brown eyes!

Any of you vet techs out there...any advice or experience would be most welcome. I'll turn this back over to Ruby.

Thanks Mom...can we bark TMI??? Anyhowl, that's the situation. So looks like I need to got get my eyeballs frozen or something to get rid of these rebel eyelashes. Asta, Lacie...I might need some nursie-ing soon. Oh, the eye-dogtor gave Mom some gooey ointment to put in my eyes...it's no fun, but it has made by eyes feel better and Mom gives me a treat each time she does it...so on that note, I'm off to get a treat!!!