Tired of Playing Second Fiddle…

… Dudley decided that it was high time for him to have a little attention, too.

Now for those who have read this blog for awhile, you know that when Dudley wants attention, he does not  waste time with mild symptoms, but rather required trips to the emergency room for stomach surgery, or the like.   On Wednesday night, my sweet large gray dog started an odd “squint” with watery eyes and rapid blinking.   Casey took him to the vet who sent him to the doggie ER for a glaucoma test.   Apparently in dogs, glaucoma strikes rapidly and can cause complete blindness in 24 hours if not treated.  

The glaucoma test was negative, but we were told to follow up with a canine opthamologist in the morning.   So Thursday morning found Kenny and Dudley and I in a 6 by 8 foot room for AN HOUR AND A HALF as the opthamologist ran every ocular test there in on the Duds.   Her findings were odd and inconclusive – hemorrhaging in the iris, swelling   and white blood cells floating in front of the pupil.   There was also a pressure in his eyes that while not ranking high enough for glaucoma, indicated that there was a threat of “secondary glaucoma” which is glaucoma that is caused by something else: infection, parasite, immune response or certain types of cancer.     So she took five vials of blood from my not-so-little guys arm and sent them off to the lab.   She also handed us five prescriptions, three of them eye drops, to cover the bases until the results came back.

Has anyone out there tried to put eye drops in a weimaraner before???   Impossible, right?   Well, the clearest indication I have that something is really wrong with Dudley is that he is not only letting me put these three different drops in each eye twice a day, but he is laying on the couch, groaning when he moves and not jumping after me when he hears the word “walk.”   I am starting to get worried.   Our follow-up with the eye doc is Tuesday, but I’ve left messages with her and our regular vet for tomorrow morning.   He is definitely not himself.   He has symptoms of various ailments (according to the webMD for dogs), but I don’t want to freak myself out by continuing to read any further.

Oh – Did I mention that Kenny has spent the evening throwing up?   He’s sleeping now (after changing his bed and pajamas four times), and the big question tomorrow will be, which doctor gets a visit first?   Hopefully Kenny won’t need to go – he has no fever, and this came up so quickly it has to be a 24 hour thing.   Or something he ate.   Washing the various chunks off his pjs and sheets this evening – which included samples from everything he’s eaten today, I started to panic to think of the crazy things my prego-tummy has craved today and the buffet of foods that could possibly by re-appearing if I catch whatever he’s got.

So here I sit, rubbing Dudley’s head between typing, eating my fourth rice krispie treat (why did I make them?   I need to start making broccoli casserole and compelling myself to eat that when I have the munchies), wondering what tomorrow will bring.