Its the weirdest thing. We noticed Sunday night that he was acting kind of strange. I held out a piece of food from my dinner to him and he just sat there looking around with my fingers no more than 2 inches from his face. I touched him with the food and he started, then took the food from me. I though it was weird, so we kept an eye on him (he had been fine, running around earlier in the day).
On Monday, we noticed that he would run into things. If we (or the other dogs) were walking in front of him and stopped, he would run into the back of us.
Tuesday we took him to the vet who said that his pupils were responding to light, but that he had lost sight in his left eye, but seemed to have periferal vision at best in his right eye. Blood test were run and Dr. Hamby (our vet) said that his kidney levels were elevated (which could have been from nothing more than dehydration), his lymphnodes were swollen (which may only be from allergies), and he seemed kind of lethargic. We were referred to an opthamologist because Dr. Hamby didn't think it was systemic after the tests.
Wednesday, Stan went to the eye doctor. She ran another set of blood tests which showed that his kidney levels are normal (and it was only dehydration). However, she discovered that his left retina has completely detached and his right has mostly detached. No idea what has caused it. Usually it's some kind of trauma, (big trauma like being hit by a car), but in Stan's case, nothing like that has happened.
Our next step is chest X-rays on Saturday and if they don't show cancer or any underlying problems, then we have to go in for more tests at the opthamologist (looking for infectious diseases). I pray it's nothing like that. We can figure out how to help him and have ordered a book on blind dogs, but I can't handle losing him.
It was all so random and sudden. Brian has really taken to Stanley and helps him out. Its heartbreaking to watch him trying to adapt though. He used to be so hyper and playful and now he's easily scared and timid. He still plays with the other dogs, but gets startled easily and runs into things. I want to cry when I think about him not being able to chase tennis balls (his favorite thing), or not being able to take him to the water or to the dog park, etc. Bless his heart. I love that boy.
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