Life is not perfect or even close most of the time but there is always so much to be thankful for. Our baby girl Emma a 7 month golden doddle (our covid puppy) has had a tough time of it over the last few weeks. The people here are family to me so I kind of felt it appropriate to tell you Emma’s story. And the lesson she can teach all of us.

Emma’s story:

So Emma did well in her recovery from being spayed however last Saturday she would not get out of bed and we had to take her to emerg Saturday night.

She had blood work done and an ultrasound. Her white blood cell count was elevated and she had a fever. Her kidneys and liver were fine and we took her home. They gave her an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant and she bounced back very nicely on Sunday. No sign of issues from the surgery she had.

Monday morning she did not want to get out of bed again so we took her to our vet.  They did an x-ray to see if there was a blockage…with all the lazing around and lack of appetite she was not pooping normal  and we  still have no idea what the source of the  infection was.

They put her on IV to give her fluids and antibiotics and they also gave her a pain killer that she overreacted to.  So she was really out of it and bumping into things along with eyes very dilated (an expected side effect). They capped the IV so we could have her at home overnight and we brought her back the next morning.

Turns out she was bumping into things because she had suddenly lost her sight. At the time they thought it was something called Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS).  Complete loss of sight over a two day period with no cure or treatment. Very rare and does not normally occur in young dogs.

Our vet consulted with his group and came up with another cause that fit.

Optic neuritis. It can be brought on due to infections.

Optic neuritis occurs when swelling (inflammation) damages the optic nerve — a bundle of nerve fibers that transmits visual information from your eye to your brain.

So she is now on steroids which may allow a full recover or she may not recovery any sight. We likely won’t know for several days.

In the meantime Emma is very happy to be home and wants to play catch. It is amazing how well she is managing and can even catch the ball if it is bounced close to her in the living room. You would not know she has lost her sight when you see her move around the house and she is such a happy dog. I started to play ball with her in the yard which she knows very well and is having great time. I have to limit the amount of play time for now to help her recover.

The lesson:

So this puppy was amazing at catching a Frisbee or a ball and she wanted to play all the time. Not kidding she was a super star.  None of my other dogs had an interest like she does. Let her  out of the house and  down  to the  bottom of the yard she would go and sit with her ball in her mouth waiting for me to come  down an  throw her the  ball. After throwing pop ups and grounders for an hour we would go for our hike or down stairs where we would continue playing ball. Bouncing the ball off the wall she could catch a fast ball off the wall in a way that in my mind defied physics.

So today she still wants to play ball all the time. And she still catches it occasionally with no vision (she finds it). She catches one out of ten if the ball is bounced close to her.

 The point  is  she could snap  a ball out of the air  with  lightning  speed  and now the  ball needs to  be  bounced to her with a 10% catch success rate.  Still remarkable. She shows absolutely no sign of being sorry for herself or being frustrated that she has lost her sight.  For me it speaks volumes. We could all learn a lesson from Emma. My baby girl who we all love as she loves everyone she meets. She is so happy regardless of her complete losss of vision. 

If you are so inclined please say a prayer for Emma. PS no need  to PM me please. I try not  to give it too much thought and we are really, really  happy that she is with us.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Hugs and kisses all around please.