In honor of Raina

If the lampshade fits...

Jack has had a wet, squinty eye off and on over the last couple of weeks. He wasn't scratching it and never acted like he was in any pain, so I figured maybe he had something in it or a little infection or something. Our vet appointment was this morning at 830.

Should you find your pooch in a similar situation, don't wait. What likely began as a small scratch or irritation had turned into an ulcer. In his eye. I was shocked because other than closing the eye he didn't seem to be in pain. Dr. McGhee reminded me that dogs are pack animals, and as such often refuse to show weakness.

Because of how eyes are put together, in dogs anyway, it's hard for them to heal on their own. So they kept my boy, knocked him out, and basically SCORED his eyeball. The scoring allows the antibiotic eye drops to get in there and kill the bacteria so the eye can heal. Antibiotic eye drops administered at the rate of one drop in the eye, every two hours, for the next 48 hours. And when they said every two hours, they mean EVERY two hours. And then once every 8 hours until we go back for our follow-up visit.

So if you need me I'll be up at 130, 330, 530, and 730am. The pain pill, or half pill because he's a little guy, thankfully is once a day (we're having it after dinner).

I bitch, but when it comes down to it I'd do anything for my boys. What amazes me is what a tough little dog he is. The vet said he'd be groggy, but when we got home he was happy to see Alex and wanted to go when I took Al out for a walk. He's snoozed most of the evening, but he's nearly 11, so he does that every evening. I can't imagine he likes having us pry open his sore eye and put in a cold drop, but he takes it without a sound and promptly goes back to his nap.

On the bright side, he's weighing in at a svelte 18 pounds, does not have heartworms, and the little bump he's had on his leg is a benign cyst!