Sophie and Chauncey are a part of our family. We wouldn't have it any other way.
Over Easter weekend we noticed that Chauncey's eyes were looking really red. We wrote it off as allergies and didn't think too much of it.
A few days later, he was in Adelyn's room with me. I caught a glimpse of his eyes in the direct light and saw something funny. It wasn't just redness- there was something else going on that didn't look right at all. It was a membrane/film that looked like he should be able to blink away but it was growing on the surface of both his eyes.
We both were hesitant to take him in to the vet- I mean, who wants to pay $40 to be told your dog has allergies? But as I kept looking at his eyes, I could just tell something wasn't quite right.
Well, I'm glad we went with our gut and got him in because we found out that what we were seeing in his eyes were ruptured blood vessels due to a condition called Pannus. It's not all that common but is primarily seen in German Shepherds (which we have always thought he had in him in addition to labrador). It is a progressive disease where blood vessels and scar tissue invade the cornea. It is a condition that isn't curable but can be maintained- especially since we caught it early.
For the time being, we have been instructed to give him eye drops 4 times a day for a month. After that we will reduce the amount and treat his eyes symptomatically. Since ultraviolet rays aggravate the condition, we will probably have to keep an eye on it in the summer time especially.
Or, even better, we could order him some doggles. :)
So overall, it's kind of good news and bad news. The bad news is we will have to be careful with him and keep an eye on things (no pun intended). But the good news is we caught it early before any serious damage has been done and are treating it. We can already tell a big difference in the appearance of his eyes and it's only been 4 days of treating it. Yeah.
And for good measure, here are a few more pics.
Adelyn was upset in this one because Chauncey took a bite out of her stick she was proudly carrying around. Drama.
Her "Moo Shoes" as she has named them.
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