Tyler Update

Tyler seems to be doing better and better. I've been leaving the collar off of him for large stretches of time. I put it on when I go to work still, and at night when I go to bed. But otherwise it stays off ... except for those times when Tyler starts frantically trying to rub his eye in the carpet or paw at it, which he did several times last night. Then I put the collar back on for awhile till he gets over it. I'm sure it feels annoying and itches, but I'm really concerned about him doing some kind of damage to it - the vet said it's healing well, and the graft is fully adhered to the eye now, but all the same - it looks so fragile, that graft sitting on top of his eyeball like that. I just can't think rubbing on it can be any good.

The crate's been retired, though, which I'm sure Tyler's beyond thrilled about. During the day I pen him up in the dining room, from which I've removed almost everything, so there's nothing in here for him to hurt himself on. And at night I've been letting him sleep in the bed between me and Greg, then moving him to his dog bed when I get up in the morning. He's been getting restless at night, though, and I'm always paranoid of him getting up and walking off the side of the bed (which I've just barely stopped him from doing several times in the past) - so every time he moves, I wake up. It's not a good plan, and I may start just putting him straight to bed in his own dog bed. But at least he doesn't need the crate.

It's been great seeing him walking around with his eyes so wide open. Greg also commented last night that his eyes look huge, like bigger than normal. So it's not just me. I still don't know whether it's just because we're so not used to seeing them open all the way, since it's been so long, or if he actually is holding them open extra wide.

He's been a lot more active, enjoying his walks, even down to the corner and back, trotting the whole way. Yesterday I got several tail wags from him, something I hadn't seen in awhile. And he's been eating a little better, though he still seems really thin. This week I'm putting him back on a home cooked diet, which he likes better, so hopefully he will eat more.

And, he's navigating around the house just fine - which means the reason he started walking into things back in August probably wasn't a cognitive dysfunction, like one of the local vets said - it was because his eyes were so screwed up. I took him off the Anipryl the week he had surgery, mostly just because there was too much else to worry about, and getting an extra pill in him at that point had become too much of a pain in the ass - especially a pill that I suspected wasn't really necessary anyway. So he hasn't had any of that medication since Sept. 20, and he's doing very well with that. He still doesn't see everything, especially in dim light, but he's pretty much back to how he was this summer. The kids are here this weekend, and were in their room last night, and at one point I found Tyler in their room - he'd gone down the hall, into their room, and was exploring - and there's stuff laying around on the floor, which he was navigating around with no problem. No 'getting lost' in rooms or stuck in corners anymore.

So, screw the Anipryl, his brain's fine.

On October 20 he has an appointment at a holistic vet in Beaver, PA. I actually made that appointment some time ago, before all this emergency eye stuff happened. I'd wanted to take him anyway, to double check his diet and get some guidance on that - but now that he's got all this other stuff going on, I'm really glad we're going. I no longer trust his local vet, and Tyler has several other problems that need checked out. Problems which I'm hoping are relatively minor and/or treatable, but ... I won't know till I get the expert's opinion, and that sure isn't the local vets.

I had written a letter to that vet conglomerate, explaining what happened and how thoroughly I felt they dropped the ball, almost costing Tyler both eyes, totally unnecessarily - but I haven't sent it. I figure once I do, I won't be able to take Tyler there anymore because at the least, the vets involved would probably have a snarky attitude towards me after that.

I'm torn, because on the one hand, I feel the director of that place ought to know how bad they screwed this up. But on the other hand, I could never trust them for anything serious again, yet it would be handy to still have a local vet for mundane stuff like heartworm pills, thyroid medication, and routine blood work, since the holistic vet is over an hour away. I'll have to put some more thought to it.