Farley's Latest Eye Visit

Since April 2009, Farley has been in to see the eye doctor several times. We took him in on September 2, and again today on September 30th. On the 2nd, we lowered his blood pressure medication slightly, but since then, it seemed like the gains he'd made in his vision may have been lost. Today, his blood pressure was back up higher than we wanted: 165/130. It had been holding around 120/80, so this wasn't too good.

The vet also said there was more reflectivity in his retina, which I presume means what it sounds like--or the light is bouncing off his retinas rather than being processed correctly. There also seems to be more edema (swelling) in his eyes, so that could cause some problems too. Finally, he said there seems to be scarring around the optic nerve in his left eye. That basically means that the information may be hitting his eye well enough, but it's getting lost in transmission to his optic nerve. Bummer.

So, we are bumping his blood pressure medication back up and we are increasing his dosage of Lasix (Furosemide) to every 3 days instead of just once a week. Hopefully that will fix the blood pressure spike and clear out some of the swelling in his eyes. With a little luck, he might be able to see a tiny bit better again, but it doesn't sound like he is going to recover much vision anymore.

It makes me sad to watch this video, but I'm happy I recorded it. This was just 3-4 months before he stopped seeing. Y_Y

Jezebel Went to the Vet Today Too

Jezebel just got home from the vet, and they said her glucose levels were perfect. We are supposed to keep giving her 2.5 units of insulin, twice daily.

Farley Went to the Vet Today

Farley went back to the vet today after his visit 10 days ago on 9/20/2008.

Farley weighs 5 pounds, 10 ounces today. This is up 2.5 ounces.

His BUN levels were down to 45 from 60. (good)

His Creatinine was up to 2.6 from 2.3. (not good)

The vet said we can start giving him his potassium supplements every other day instead of daily.

Otherwise, most of his levels from the bloodwork appear to be in the normal range. The biggest problem is that he refuses to eat. He hates KD in a can. He seems to mostly not want dry KD, but he will eat it from time to time. We've tried a small amount of dry NF, and he seemed to be curious about it. We haven't tried canned NF, but it is next on the list.

This morning, before going to the vet, Farley ate a tiny amount of Nutro Weight Management food from a pouch. He seemed really interested in it, but what he needs to do is gain some weight.