Eye Exam

I’ve been so busy lately that I rarely have time to post. A few months ago Hush had an encounter with an insect on a hike and her face swelled up like a balloon. It was incredibly scary, and the normal Benedryl routine did not work. Her face continued to swell, her lips were so puffy I measured them at 1.5 inches wide, and we rushed to the vet.

That afternoon, I had taken Hush and Milly on a short hike in the woods at lunch, as I do almost every day. After our hour long wooded jaunt, I gave her water, brushed her coat, and put her back in her crate and returned to my office. When I came home after work, about 2 hours later, I noticed her eyes seemed red and funny looking, almost droopy. I gave her Benedryl, and kept an eye on her, but when I noticed she was getting much worse and her face was rapidly swelling I headed to the vet. At the vet, I was told it was a good thing I brought Hush in, because if the swelling had continued her airway may have become obstructed. The vet gave her more a Benedryl injection, some steroids, and sent us home with instructions to give her Benedryl (2 pills x2 daily for one week). The swelling immediately went down. Within two days the only trace of the reaction was her red and droopy eyes.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the eyes still had not cleared up. Because Hush is a show dog, and I plan on breeding her at some point (after she has passed her clearances), I did not want to mess around with vision and made an appointment with a veterinary ophthalmologist. She had a complete eye exam – they dilated her eyes and examined them just like a human retina specialist would – and was given a clean bill of health. Her eye problem is a non-contagious form of conjunctivitis, and not at all serious. Hush was prescribed a month of eye drops, and we left the vet relieved this was not a major health problem. The vet assured me this will in no way hurt Hush's vision, thank heavens!

Well, that was 6 weeks ago, and her eyes have not changed at all. So, it is time to head back to the ophthalmologist. Unfortunately, she is out of town for the next few weeks so we won’t be seen until June 2^nd, and now I need to decide if I should take her to a regular vet in the meantime, or just wait it out. I’m eager to get this taken care of, first off, because conjunctivitis can’t be comfortable, though Hush doesn’t seem to notice. And secondly, the red droopy eyes are unattractive, so our dog showing is on-hold until this has cleared up.