Blinded by a rabbit

[scotsgent]

We are in the North of Spain on holiday. This is our fourth year since retirement we have got away in the caravan for a few months, we have always taken our cocker Ginny. Spain has plenty of wild places and is in general a good spot for dogs.

We did have some bad luck! Our lovely wee dog, 5 years old, has been blinded in one eye through a freak accident (no ones fault). She nearly died from the subsequent infection, but a magnificent vet here pulled her through. We are now recuperating her for at least another week before we move on. I think it will mean that we will take things easy and so may reduce our planned route. Luckily, we are insured for the £1000 bill (operation and re-building the eye in an attempt to repair the damage (sadly not possible).

The lucky break was that by accident and much help from the wonderful campsite owners we found one of the best vets practices (which specialised in ophthalmic injuries) in Spain was only 1 hour away in San Sebastian.

We were very, very down for a few days, the thought of our beautiful, best pal being blinded was very cruel. We are feeling much better now and have come to terms with things - she is a dog (with great character, too!), so she will adapt and probably not be too much affected. Her gundog days are over though.

Just to give an idea of the highest standards of this vet practice in just one respect is the fact that they are preparing all their medical and operation notes and also the high resolution images of the operation and producing a CD that we will take with us when we leave the area. In the event of a future problem any vet will then be able to have All the information to take the correct action. NO cost for this!

They also have contacts with the two other principal ophthalmic veterinarians in Spain in Valencia and Seville and will email the info' to them before we depart in case we have to seek assistance. I have to say, we have been very, very touched with the fantastic help we have received here! The vet insists that we visit the surgery daily until next Wednesday so that he can clean the eye, monitor her condition and ensure the infection is completely cleared before we move on, again for no payment.

Please don't feel too sorry for us! We are quite 'up' now! Ginny is alive and getting better and we have come to terms with things.

How did it happen! - well, she chased a rabbit in Devon, near my son's place whilst I gave her a run prior to boarding the ferry at Plymouth. I think the rabbit kicked her! It must have perforated the cornea and then overnight, on the boat (Ginny was kennelled, not in our cabin), it must have become infected. In the morning I noticed a tear stain (nothing more), from the eye, (and thought nothing of it), but by that night it had swelled and was discharging. By the next morning it was clearly badly affected and I then searched for and found the vet, (who by complete coincidence, specialises in ophthalmic injuries to dogs!). He explained that the white blood cells flood the eye to combat an infection, but a side effect is that it kind of dissolves the interior of the eye, it swells even more and basically, the contents are pushed through the now grossly enlarged hole in the cornea more or less destroying it. He thought that a further 12 hours would have seen the infection spreading into her body and it would then have been fatal. They have attempted to patch the cornea with collagen (synthetic pigs membrane), and amniotic skin (the stuff the foetal sac is made from!) but they think that realistically all sight will be lost in that eye.

I had always heard that it was possible for a rabbit to injure a Spaniel through kicking it, but I never thought it could really be dangerous, nor would it would happen to me. I never insisted on complete steadiness from her - she is fine on pheasants and partridges, but sometimes a bolting rabbit is too much temptation. If there is a next dog, I will do much better!

I wonder, how she will cope - I mean, I can't see her hunting with less vigour, I am now very concerned that her only remaining eye is now of course, at much greater risk.

Does anyone have any experience of this?

Cheers, Terry

[Judy]

Ouch! Sorry to hear that Terry, couldn't have happened at a worse time really with her being kennelled away from you that night. Could she have run onto a blackthorn or similar? Guess we will never know but I would have thought a rabbit would have caused a lot of bruising around the eye socket too.

I do know a one eyed Lab which is a good picking up dog, she manages just fine, dogs seem to adapt well. In her case she had her cornea cut by a reed when picking a duck, owing to poor advice / management she lost her eye but, as I said, she doesn't seem to miss it.

Good luck and try to enjoy the rest of your holiday.

[Naj]

I think it more likely to have been gorse or some such than a kick from a rabbit, but pretty academic now. Can't see any reason why she shouldn't continue as a shooting dog. Dogs are very adaptable & the chances of her damaging the other eye pretty remote - it's still a highly unusual occurrence.

Naj

[Megsdad]

Sorry to read this.
A drama you could all have done without.
Wish you all the best! T

[Sgurr]

First, Terry, let me say how sorry I am to hear this.
I've had a similar experience of blindness with Glen but it had a happy ending. He had a trauma injury to the eye and the retina detached - he was seen by the BVA Eye Panellist at Inverness (Tony Wall, great guy and I suggest that you contact him on your return - I can pm you his number if you wish). I was told that the eye was now blind and no intervention possible -but we were to keep regular eye checks in case of infection. So 3 months down the line, Glen has adapted very well and you would hardly notice there was a problem other than he now looks one sided at moving objects. Eye check then done by Sheila Crispin (then Chair of the BVA Eye Panel) and she took a pic with a fundus camera - total slump of the retina but no sign of infection - don't worry there is no pain. Next eye check back with Tony so it's six months after the original diagnosis - why have you brought this dog? Detached retina. No it's not......What had happened was that the retina had re-attached naturally - a total fluke. But the point for you is that Glen's adaptation to seeing with only one eye was brilliant, so good in fact that it was only after the six month check that we realised for a couple of weeks before he had become more head balanced when looking at moving things. So I very much hope your cocker will make a very good adaptation too. In strange situations, keep her with her good eye on the outside and her bad eye on the same side as you as that gives the dog a great deal of reassurance. I'm sure you will be amazed at how well she copes.

[Rascal]

Could have happened anytime Terry not just because she was after a rabbit...Agree with the others more likely a thorn or branch than a kick from a rabbit...

We've got a one eyed spaniel on one of the shoots I pick up on and it's made no difference to the dogs capability as a working dog at all..As others have said they do very quickly adapt so I wouldn't stop working her it would be a shame for her....Accidents happen and they seem invincible so it does make you think but they love it soooo much it would be unfair to stop it...

Pleased you received really excellent treatment, take care and enjoy the rest of your holiday and wee Ginny...

Rascal

[crofty]

There is well known trialling cocker who has only one eye now, watched him in a trial last year, you would never have known watching him, and in the awards as well.
Glad she's on the mend

[scotsgent]

Thanks so much folks for all your positive and optimistic replies - it has cheered us up no end!

Today we went along a section of the Basque region coastal path and then along a very stoney, complicated beach. It seemed us that the only one of us three (me, the wife and the dog) who didn't know that she had lost an eye, was the dog!

Fantastic to hear that there is a dog with one eye which trials!!

What absolutely great wee animals our spaniels are!!

Regards, Terry

SGURR - Yes, I would be very grateful for the email address of the contact in Inverness - I will definitely get in contact on our return. Thanks!

[scotsgent]

Just to finish my story!

We had a couple of further medical procedures in Spain which allowed us to remain there with the dog. But eventually the eye had absolutely no sight and worse still, the eyeball was so swelled that the eyelid could no longer be closed, this meant that she had to be constantly on a lead in order to stop her damaging the exposed eyeball. We also had to lubricate the eyeball with drops every 4 hours, day and night for several weeks.

Before leaving Spain, I got an appointment with the vets schools teaching university in Glasgow and en-route for home called in. The vet' there immediately recommended that an eye removal was the best course and so this was done. A simple 'enucleation' (where the eye is removed and the lids sewn together) was performed and a couple of weeks later, all was healed and she was allowed off lead.

Here's the absolutely amazing thing!: there appears to be absolutely NO difference in her performance or ability from when she had two eyes!

She can hunt, jump fences, run at full pelt through woodland, mark a dummy, etc. etc. Most folks just don't notice the lack of an eye against her chocolate coat and are astonished when I tell them. If you look carefully one can see her articulating her head and neck much more as she attempts to keep objects within her sight range and now and again a dog might 'creep' up on her on her blind side and give her a fright, but in general there seems to be absolutely no difference. I am sooo glad to have my wee dog back!

You would think that her depth perception of objects would be affected and perhaps it is, but in truth I have seen absolutely no practical example of this.

I am quite sure that she has quite forgotten that she once had two eyes - she now has one and just gets on with it!

Actually her ability to cope with this disability has completely humbled me really - there is no way I could have coped half so well, dogs are just wonderful, aren't they!

Cheers, Terry

[jas_williams]

Great to hear, enjoy working with your dog..