Several folks were looking forward to seeing our Gabe at nationals last week and have asked why we werent there. The short answer is that Gabe had to have an emergency corneal graft on Sept. 25. Here are the details for those who are interested. About 1 ½ years ago, Gabe was stung in that eye by a wasp. We put him in a cone to keep him from scratching it, treated it with drops, and it healed in about 3 weeks. But prompted by allergies, the eye would occasionally get “weepy”, so we would repeat the cone/drops treatment. This year when it started, we did the same thing but he had already scratched it and created a small tear, or ulcer, in the cornea. On Sept. 20, we took him to a specialist, who tacked the eye to allow it to heal and to prevent it from going entropic. We assumed it would heal within a couple weeks and he’d be fine for nationals. However, 5 days later the ulcer ruptured and Gabe woke up, literally screaming in pain, so we rushed him back to the eye specialist. The ulcer had grown from a small tear to about 75% of the cornea and the only thing that would save at least part of his vision was a corneal graft. When the specialist did the surgery, he discovered a hole in the cornea….possibly from the original sting…..and believes there also had been a fungus invasion (common in horses, rare in dogs) that had caused the spread and rupture. He’s doing ok now, and will have the last stitches taken out next Wednesday. We don’t yet now how bad the eye will look or how much vision will be lost, that will be determined over the next 3-6 months. The most important thing is our boy is out of pain and will have some of his vision, however unless we get an unusual healing, the eye will always be cloudy to some extent, which will end his show career. Missing nationals and the Top 25 last week was very hard for us. It has been heartbreaking to think Gabe will likely never show again. He is a beautiful square boy with a stunning headpiece, excellent pigment, tons of bone and substance, clean mover coming & going….exactly what we’ve been working 25 years to get in a dog. But while the injury likely ends his show career, it doesn’t prevent us from using him in our breeding program and having Gabe puppies somewhere down the line. For that we’re thankful.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 12:21:47 +0000
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