Solo & Coco’s story

The second dog we owned was a beautiful, gentle natured bearded collie up until she was eight she was a normal boisterous beardie, loving her walks & games . Then she started getting a bit more subdued & very quickly started bumping in to furniture etc. We took her to the vets , who sent her to an opthalmologist in High Wycombe, who said it was sudden macular degeneration & nothing could be done. She lived until she died from mouth cancer at 14. She was never the same dog again & was never too fond of walking , except on a lead, so we walked her until the end, she found her way around the house, except if any furniture was moved!

Coco is a Tibetan terrier, a smaller dog than Solo, he is nearly nine & has always been lively, playful & rather vocal! In the Summer of 2013, he started suffering from weeping eyes, we visited our vet here , who gave us numerous drops. We spent a lot of time in Dorset at our caravan, & as it didn’t improve,took him to the vets in Bridport, who immediately diagnosed PLL & said he needed an immediate operation on his black eye & had to be at a veterinary hospital in Devon the following morning at 8am. He was operated on for the luxated lens & was then transferred to be in the care of a consultant in Northolt, who we visited every three months to measure the pressure etc. He needed drops in his eye twice a day.

This year we noticed his white eye (surrounded by white fur) seemed to be turning whitey blue, his operated eye got an infection in it, followed by the white eye & he was in trouble with these infections, having to have 48 drops a day, which was no mean feat for my husband Roy & although he couldn’t manage all every day, he did his best & I took care of eye hygiene with saline.

His black eye recovered & he is able to see in the distance & we aren’t sure about what else he sees, but he sees cats on the fence & doesn’t bump into things! Then the consultant said the glaucoma was bad in his white eye & tried to lower the pressure, but last week said it would have to be removed, which horrified me, but reading about glaucoma, realised he had been suffering pain & that isn’t fair!

So yesterday we took him at 8.40 for his operation. We picked him up at four, he had a collar on & was having trouble seeing. We were told to give him a light meal, so gave him cold chicken & Natures menu with his painkillers. He did cry a bit, but stopped once the tablets kicked in. He has been out in the garden today & managed okay.
It has been a long rough ride, but we are praying & keeping fingers crossed that he will improve every day.