Dog Gone It

It's all about the dogs - or so it seems the past week.  First, we took Mocha up to Eliot, Maine for two days of Newfie Fun Days.  And fun days they were!  She traveled up the 8.5 hours with no problems and was very well behaved the whole time we were there.  Kind of crazy to see her, all 127 pounds of her, compared to bigger Newfs.  There was carting classes, water rescue demonstrations, stuff to buy, grooming classes and so on.  What was amazing was how all of the dogs got along and there was not a bark to be heard.  My mother won two of the raffles and was kind enough to give us a big, wooden, handmade/hand painted bench with a scene of a Newfoundland looking over the water.  We only had a couple of days but got to get in some quality time with friends and family and stayed one last time in the Cafe.  It was at the Cafe where we met Newfie Captain Oliver - the dog that inspired us to get a Newfoundland.  He and Mocha got to play and visit every day.  At night we brought food home and Mocha just socialized and went to bed in our room.  She loved swimming in the cold waters of the ocean and walking along the beach at night and in the morning.  It was tighter quarters for Mocha coming home (with the bench) but she did great and we made the trip in record time of 7 hours.

After we were home for a few days, Britni the beagle's right eye suddenly clouded over and looked like she had an eye infection.  Very lethargic.  So Lucie took her to the vet and they gave us the bad news that she had sudden onset of glaucoma.  The right eye pressure was at 98 and she was blind in it.  The left eye was at 28 (normal is 10-15) and she would probably go blind in that one soon.  The pressure was putting her in terrible, migraine like pain and we were going to have to make a decision about eye removal and possibly putting her down.  Shocking how quickly it happened...  After an emotional night and day, we took her to a doggie opthamologist who examined her and said she could probably save the eye and treat the other one.  So we went ahead with the procedure and sure enough, the next day the pressure in both eyes was down to 10!  She doesn't have full vision in the right eye but it looks normal now and she is back to her old self.  We have to put drops in her eyes the rest of her life to control the pressure but she is home.  What a relief!