Update On Our Riddick’s Eyes…

We had an appointment at the Joburg Animal Eye Hospital this morning, incredibly generously paid for by someone who heard about our precious boy and wanted to help!

~~Our little droopy-eyed Riddick the day we fetched him from GDA’s Puppy Block~~

As is typical of our Riddick, he’s noisy and fidgety in a place he doesn’t know – but he’s FIFTY times better than he was as a young pup, no longer causing everyone to come running thinking there’s a dog in pain.

~~Our little droopy-eyed Riddick on his first day at home, already filling a Riddick-shaped hole in my heart I didn’t know I had~~

Turns out he does indeed have cataracts, but there is no sign of inflammation or detachment, thank goodness.
There is absolutely no response from Riddick’s retinas to the red or blue light spectrum, which is no change from when he was born, and is the reason his pupils don’t work.
They think he may have been born with a form of Progressive Retinal Atrophy, and because his retinas don’t respond to the red or blue light spectrum his pupils don’t work and his eyes will continue to deteriorate – as we expected them to – and the specialist says a cataract surgery would be an extremely short term solution and he would rather not subject Riddick to the stress.

~~Riddick with his new grown-up Doggles~~

We do now have to keep an eye on him for any sign of cataract detachment which will cause inflammation and irritation, and should it happen he will treat it with Cortisone eye drops. He does say though that very few dogs experience the cataract detachment so I am praying for that.
He also said he was impressed with how comfortable Riddick was in a strange situation, even though he was nervous and noisy, and determined to show me where the door was, he wasn’t cowering and was eager to greet the doctor and sniff and explore the exam room.
He was a little nervous on the doctor’s exam table and I used his roadie and his leash to hold him while he was examined, and my teaching him to hold still by saying “let me look” when I hold his face helped a lot when the doc had to shine the various lights into his eyes.

~~The rapid progression of the cataracts in Riddick’s eyes~~

So as it stands, there will be no surgery or additional treatment for the cataracts unless they cause irritation, and our boy’s vision will continue to worsen. We knew when we adopted our tiny little pickle that he would eventually go blind, I was just hoping it would be a slower process.

~~Riddick is happiest and quietest in the front seat of the car, so I put his Roadie on and buckle him in~~