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[mhitesman]

Eva,
I would have done the same thing you did -- keep the eye even though blind.  I tried; it ruptured, and the choice was no longer mine to make.  I know it sounds so stupid and even vain, but I look at my beautiful boy, and he is not beautiful to anyone but me anymore.  I love him as much as I ever did -- maybe more -- but I liked it so much when people admired him, loved on him, came from across the room to meet him.  Now all they want to know is what happened to his eye; his defect has become his chief feature.  When I try to tell them he is a hunting dog, that he is a title retriever, that he is very smart and responds to remote hand signals, ...they feel sorry for him!!!  Three days ago I was at my vet hospital getting the cat checked after his ear removal surgery (mast cell tumor), and I had Comet with me (River is in Raleigh for HIS surgery and rehab).  Another client came up to me and asked if my dog was a rescue!  That has never happened to me, and I am not sure why it bothers me so much.  I transport rescue dogs almost every weekend (volunteer), and if the competitions my husband ran did not require purebreed/registration, we would NEVER have a purebred dog unless it was also a rescue.  I guess it's because this woman's use of the word "rescue" in describing my dog indicated she did not see anything special in my boy.  Oh, I probably have it all wrong here, and I don't explain myself well because I dont know why it hurt so much.  I hope it's not that I am vain -- in that my dog is special therefore I am special  or something like that.  I am grateful every single day to have my boys -- all of them.  And I am so lucky to have them.  Anyone else relate to any of this jibberish?  I am so clouded by tears over Angus and Jackson and Gunner and Bosun and Comet and River and Marge ...I am just rambling.  Sorry

[Wilson3]

beauty is only skin deep we all know that and the people that only see the surf are the ones missing sooo much in life
out of my 3 aussies wilsonis the one that gets all the looks he has 1 blue and and a blue merle the color peeps that want aussies when  they treat my other 2 boys like chop liver lik ethey are no better then crap on th eground funny to they cannot beleive wilson is a rescue dog they say no way he is to pretty what do others really know
but joey and i knwo better all 3 boys never let anyone touch them when people are talking about them (wilson reall) they are just out of reach
the funny thing a freind of mine her daughter is 17 months old and she loves my boys also even the ones that are not so flashy
they love her and when she is walking down the trail with us all 6 aussies will walk around her to keep her safe kids at this age are so neat they never judge anything
whats that saying beauty is in th eye of the beholder and a dog/pet is not a show peice in my eyes but a family member and those that stare or make comments to those a bit different really have no clue to what we all know about love
wilson3

[evayola]

beauty IS only skin deep and the older I get, the more I realize it. Marge had one toe removed and now she has three toes on one foot and a blind eye and shaggy drool stained hair. When we are out with Homer and Marge- Homer gets all the compliments as well. He is absolutely beautiful and handsome. But, Homer is my problem child with his own behaviour issues. Marge on the other hand could do no wrong in my eyes. I often bring them to work but only Marge is allowed to come in front where customers are because of HOmers issues and the first thing people say is always ewwww, what happened to her foot? It breaks my heart that she is living with what society would call a "deformity" but they dont know her. Marge IS my rescue dog and I am dang proud of it. We drove 18 hrs round trip to get Marge and I will never forget that beautiful fall day for the rest of my life. She was so tall and lanky and shaggy and unsure of herself. We are so happy that we found her and have her because I dont think most people would deal with her original entropian eye surgery, torn acl, removed toe, and blasto. I understand where you are coming from with Comet because he is your purebred and people think that rescues are somehow damaged goods. Hold your Comet dear to your heart because I am sure he could care less what he looks like- Homer is handsome and still yells at himself in the mirror!  So many people told us that Marge is such a handful and they cant believe what we have done for her. They dont get it. People also dont get why we bought her a new queen size bed  The pic of her is on her bed and she is so happy that she gets her own bedroom that she doesnt share with Homer cuz he knows better than to get on the bed.
eva

p.s. one of cats is cross eyed and everyone comments about it. he was an abandoned kitten who now thinks hes a dog. (we heard him bark once but nobody believes us) i have learned to let it not bother me. i think we were all blessed with these animals for a reason.

[luvmyjacks]

Please let me clarify the Bosun link here.  Bosun was diagnosed with blasto and went totally blind.  the opth. specialist sai remove the eyes,  Rick said no way.  That took him to Guelph where they agreed to do the behind the eye injections which were experimental and had only been used on a horse or horses.  At some point Bosun was switched to fluconazole from Sporonox and from Itraconazole.  After the eye injections he slowly regained his sight - 100% as faar as they could tell.  But since then Bosun has developed cataracts and the vet wants to remove part of his lung where there is damage. Other than that he's doing really well and I think he is on a low dose of fluconazole at Rick's insistence after a weak positive showed up on the MiraVista test that Rick recently demanded.  Once he gets a reading under one they will consider the lung surgery.  You are right though, there is often a second act it seems.

Kristin asked me to  get in touch with Rick as Music of the Night wanted this info.  We then bumped the topic.  so yes, the info is old.

[mhitesman]

I hope this procedure saves the sight of more dogs.  But it is important to remember that this procedure cannot restore sight to a dog that has a 100% detached retina.  And, as many of us have learned, you can get from fully sighted to fully detached retina in a very short time as this disease is devastating.

[apope43]

The exact mix of the injection behind the eyes...

[Lolasmom]

This is really great new information.

PS. Marge has been an inspiration to us.

[Wilson3]

Look Bosun up in the case data base has more info and maybe contact the owner for more info
wilson3