Dear blind dog community – I wanted to share some of our work that is starting to guide what we do with our patients.
First – a little introduction: My name is Dr. Freya Mowat, and I am an Assistant Professor at NC State University in Raleigh, NC. I am a veterinarian, ophthalmologist and scientist, and have received funding from the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists to study SARDS. We started by performing a carefully designed study of an immunosuppressive medication – mycophenolate mofetil, which sadly has not shown to have significant benefit in the treatment of SARDS.
Our current goals are to find differentiators of SARDS from a similar disease, hyperadrenocorticism (Cushing’s disease), and also to identify the role that the immune system has in SARDS. Our work is ongoing, and we are considering applying for more grants to study this disease further. To help us understand more, we need YOUR help to give us information on your own experience with SARDS – we have done this in the form of a survey, that takes about 10-15 minutes to fill out. Please consider participating – as of today (10/18/18, we have had over 400 replies (thank you!) but we are aiming for 700-1000! I know that there are a lot of you out there, and our work will have so much more impact if you can help us out. Thank you for reading!
Link to survey: https://goo.gl/forms/Zi171JNSO8LatCgn2
Hi I live in the uk but would love to help if that ok. Bella got SARDS when she was 5.
Hi, Kim, my sweet Valentina (Doberman) was just diagnosed with SARDS and I know there is no cure or treatment for it, everything happens so quickly in less than 2 or 3 weeks she got blind, I’m heartbroken I would appreciate any information any help you can bring me to tell me all about it…..thank you
Hi, I have tried to get info on bringing my buster to NCSU, can you help ?? He’s blind from cataracts otherwise healthy 13 yo 11 pound chocolate dachshund, I’m having a hard time :/
My APBT got PRD at age 5 and progressed over the next 6 years to total blindness. Not sure if you want dogs with PRD as well or just SARDS. He’s a great do and I’d love to provide any information you need and we could visit with you all as well. We are in Maryland but he travels well.
Hi, My dog started getting clumsy and hesitant jumping on furniture and going into dark spaces. It started about 6 weeks ago, in the last several days it got considerably worse. Yesterday, his pupils became dilated and he started bumping into things and staring into space. We took him to the Vet, she suspects SARDS. We cant get an appointment with the eye doctor for 2 weeks. Would like some feedback, it seems he still is seeing some shadows. I am hoping this is the worst of it. Praying and trying to keep the faith.
Click on this link to get some good information on SARDS. The quicker you deal with this the better.
Here’s the link: https://www.moxieproxy.com/Pepi.html
My 12 yr old Shih Tzu recently became blind over about a 2 week period. Was diagnosed by a veterinary opthamologist as SARDS. Had a Cushings test done which was negative. To make matters worse her hearing and sense of smell have also become diminished. She was very confused at first. Put her on Bright Minds wet food and Neurocare dry food and the confusion is better. Feel so sad for my sweet girl.