Gizmo's Eye - I am so scared, worried and sad

[Elizabeth Ann]

He was a monster before (just a cute fluffy one) and he will be a monster afterwords (just a cute and fluffy one).

I broke down at the vets and started blaming myself and was a complete wreck. She (the vet) was very good at letting me know that no matter if I had gotten him to the clinic right away the outcome would have been the same. I still can't help thinking that I totally failed him.


We also had a chance to talk to her about Eddie and she agreed with my BF, it's her time. So if we work up the nerve tomorrow we are taking them both to the vets tomorrow, but only one will be coming home.

It's going to be a tough day tomorrow. I have called all my friends and family that have gotten close to Eddie over the years and told them as to what will be happening. I have asked them not to ask either one of us how we are doing. I usually can hold onto my composure until I hear the "How are you doing", that's normally when I break down.

Eddie is blind (like I have mentioned) but also def now. She is getting lost in her own home and will scream until we find her and tough her (normally I rub her ears because she likes it so much). Her back legs are giving out on here and she has lost alot of weight. It's about the quality of life (as the vet said) which she really doesn't have anymore. It's a very hard dicsion to have to make but the vet was very good at listening to us and she gave us some very good advice.


It's going to be a really hard day tomorrow. I would ask everyone to please pray for us... and help us get threw this.


I have asked the vet when they call me tomorrow to tell me how Gizzie's surgery did not to tell me about Eddie. It's just to hard but we know it's something that needs to be done. We are just holding on to her for ourselves now and that isn't fair to her.

[14+kitties]

What a tough day you are facing. I feel for you.

[Elizabeth Ann]

My poor little baby girl.

[angeldogs]

I'm so sorry that Gizmo is going to lose his eye.poor thing.
Sorry to hear about Eddie too.

You will all be in my Prayers

[Shaykeija]

Your little one will be fine. My thoughts will be with you and Eddie tomorrow. :sad:

[growler~GateKeeper]

for Gizmo

for Eddie

[rainbow]

I'm so sorry to hear the news.

[ancientgirl]

I'm sorry about the diagnosis. But at least as you said, no infection was spread. He can still live a great quality of life with only one eye.

I'm also very sorry about Eddie. My prayers are with you all.

[Elizabeth Ann]

Thanks everyone... I really need it today.

We dropped our babbies off this morning and Gizmo's tail was going (he really like's the nurses and firlts with them).

Poor little Eddie just laid on the floor and didn't more. I almost think she might now.


As I said, it's going to be a bad day today.

[Jim Hall]

You have been given the magnificent gift of caring for many other soul's time with us Be happy though, it's hard to do right now, that you are one of the special few that know what it is to have this Mitzva. You give eddie and gizmo wonderfull lifes i am sure, and I am certain that youu will be with Eddie sometime.

DOes Gizmo get to wear a pirate patch now?

[Elizabeth Ann]

I have been a very special part of Eddie's life. When I first met her she was an apparentment Dog, litter box trained and all. In the time that I have known her she got to go on many outtings and she even started camping.

I introduced her to raw food which she loved since she was on Kibble and Bits when we first met. She went from an older dog to almost a puppy again. We also moved from the apartment to a house with lots of room for her to play. I almost even got her into a pink collar once but the BF drew the line.


I have been looking on the internet for small dog eye patches but haven’t found any. My friends friend who works at an animal hospital said that she has already taken a few from work for Gizmo and they are very cute. We will see if he likes them or not.

[lotus]

That is so sad my prayers are with you.

[Elizabeth Ann]

Apparently the surgery went VERY WELL and he has just started waking up.

I asked if he has started wagging his tail yet and the girl said he was still a little out of it.

The Vet will be calling me back later on this afternoon to let me know if I can take him home (but I think I might insist).

(It's pretty sad that it's now final - he has one eye. At least this morning in my head there was still a chance of him being able to keep the eye.)

[lotus]

Hug for Gizmo hope he recovers quickly.

[ancientgirl]

I hope you can get him home today. I'm sure he'll be back to his old self very soon.

[aslan]

aaaw good to here gizmo came through allright, you'll be surprised after a little time of adjustment he will be just fine. from my fuzzbutts to you and yours.

[14+kitties]

That is great to hear! for a quick recovery!!

[angeldogs]

That is great that the surgery went well.wishing him a speedy recover and he ajust well and quickly too one eye.

[dogmelissa]

I just found your thread and I'm very sorry you've had such a difficult week.

But I want to tell you a quick story... (well, ok, it's not super-quick)

Laying beneath the desk I am working from is a small, white, fluffy dog named Cube. He has one and only one eye.

His history is much more brutal than Gizmo's... he had a bad start in life, and didn't get his injury as a result of playing with/picking on another dog. He was born into a back-yard breeders, shipped off to Petland before he was 6 weeks old and purchased on a whim. He lived the next 10 months pretty much exclusively in a vari-kennel, getting very little attention or care. When he broke out of the kennel, spilled the garbage all over the kitchen floor and pooped on his owner's bed, he was punished by being kicked in the head. At the time, he weighed just over 6 lbs.
He did not get taken to the vet until the following day because the woman who owned him did not have a driver's license, and the man who kicked him refused to take him to the vet. I took him the next day.
Fast forward a month - after eye drops, oral antibiotics, moving into my house, and having his whole world torn upside down, the eye was shrinking in it's socket. At first, there was hope that it would survive, though the chances of there being vision in it was a slim hope.
Days after his first birthday, he went back to the vet again, and came home with one eye, no testicles and a microchip under his skin.

(Sorry this is so bad, I only had a webcam at the time)

Fast Forward again... about 3.5 years from the day that he lost his eye (to today).
Cube is now just over 11 lbs (he had undiagnosed food allergies as well), has no health problems whatsoever. He loves to play in the snow, bark at anything that comes past "his" house or yard, gets super-excited about trips to the off-leash park, has friends in a Malamute, a German Short-Hair Pointer, 3 large mutts, and in many many people. He is a star in agility (he's slow but doesn't mess up!), and has recently completed a Level 3 Intermediate course in it. He's a character... he loves to camp & hike in the mountains, and though he doesn't like to get wet (and can't swim), he enjoys trips to lakes or floating down rivers.
I am a volunteer with the city in the parks, and we are called Park Rangers - Cube is officially the "Littlest Ranger", and proudly wears his bandana proclaiming he is a Ranger, too.



If I could go back 4 years, he never would have had to suffer. If I could put his eye back in, though, would I? I'm not sure. To look at him, many people feel sorry for him - and I do definetly feel bad for the suffering he had to go through before he came to me. But now? He's one of the happiest dogs I've ever seen. He doesn't have any problems without one eye during the day, and the only thing that suffers is his depth perception isn't as good in the dark (try covering your eye sometime when it's dark - it's tough!).

Though he is my only dog, he doesn't get any special treatment because of his "disability". I expect him to behave as I would expect any other dog to behave. In training, I make sure to pay attention to what side of him I'm on for obstacles in agility, but otherwise, I make no special considerations for him. Why would I? He doesn't need it.

Cube is a Maltese-X, so his hair grows all the time. When he first came home it looked hideous, and he was in quite a bit of pain, but once he healed, he was fine. I tried to dress him up as a pirate for Hallowe'en one year, and he would have none of that. I do my own grooming and I just make sure that it's a little longer over his "blind" side. Many people don't even notice that he's missing an eye.

Gizmo will also recover. He is strong physically and his emotional scars will heal. Do your best to take care of him during his recovery and make whatever adjustments you need to make while he learns to adapt (it took Cube several months before he seemed to be back to "normal" - though I didn't have anything to compare to). But in time, unless you look at him, you won't be able to tell that Gizmo is any different.

If you want to talk further, don't hesitate to PM me.

Best of luck with Gizmo's recovery and your emotional healing with the events of the past week.

*hugs* to both of you, from both of us,
Melissa

[ancientgirl]

Melissa, bless you for saving Cube. He looks like quite the little character. I think he's a testament to what a great life Gizmo can still continue to have.

[Elizabeth Ann]

Thank you very much Dogmelissa for you very touching story.

I am starting to feel better about things as the day goes on and as I am getting closer to bring him home (if I get to bring him home tonight).

I know he will be fine and I know he will not be any different (although it would be nice if he learnt his lesson, but as I was saying to my BF after we dropped Gizmo and Poor Little Eddie off that I am sure he hasn't). I am really happy that we did take him to the vet when we did because the eye could have gotten infected and spread to his brain. So on the bright side things could have been worse.

Your story was very touching and made me cry alittle. I am still sad but I know there is a light at the end of the tonel.


My BF was thinking that we should start putting protective goggles on Gizmo to make sure nothing else happens to his other eye. I think that might be going a little to far, but it's nice that he seems to care as much as I do (Gizmo is his step-fur-son, and Eddie my step-fur-daughter).

Thanks to ever one for thier , and , and many , it really does mean alot to me.

[Elizabeth Ann]

The vet just called and apparently he is (their words) "Perkier then we would have thought a dog would be after this sort of surgery".

I said it's because he is in an office full "of the ladies" and he loves his ladies... She giggled a little and said that since he fully woke up he has been watching everyone and his tail has been waging.

HOW CUTE!!

Sounds like he is on the road to recovery already - or it might be the pain killers... either way I get to bring my baby boy home tonight... CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIS NEW LOOK

[angeldogs]

That is good that he was in good spirits atthe vets office after he woke up.

How are things with him at home?.hope he is still happy and adjust well.

[joeysmama]

Oh what a week you've had ! :sad:

I'm so sorry about Eddie and about Gizmo's eye. But at least you did what was best for Eddie and didn't allow her to suffer. It takes courage to let go.

And Gizmo sounds like a real trouper---and a little flirt. I bet he's going to be fine. He'll just have a "permanent wink" for the ladies.

[Elizabeth Ann]

I have started calling Gizmo "Winkie". It just started when I picked him up from the vets.

When we picked him up the vet couldn't stop saying what a happy dog he is and that she is so surprised that he was doing as well as he was. It was almost like the vet and her staff didn't want to let him go because they would miss him.

(I really love my vet - Dr. Honda in Burlington. She is there for the animals and nothing else. She is so soft spoken and you can tell she totally loves all of God's creatures. It's nice that we have such a great vet).

He did alright last night at home. He pretty much just slept from the second we got home until this morning. He has all his energy back. Which since I have him in the office with me isn't a great thing, but a good sign.

He seems to be feeling no pain today. I haven't given him his pain meds yet this morning. He is just sitting in the middle of the floor of my office smiling like nothing is new.

When I took him out side for a pee yesterday he was walking around like a drunken solider. It was a little funny.

All in All he is doing really well. His eye (or where is eye was) looks alright, but I haven't really be able to get myself to look at it closely.


Again - I would like to thank everyone for their kind works and the support. It has meant A LOT to me.



P.S. I am still not really able to talk about Eddie yet... instead of having her ashes returned to us we are having her paw cast in plaster. Because of the long weekend coming up we most likely will not get it for two weeks. I think that's a great time frame since that (hopefully) wont be too soon.

[Love4himies]

I am sorry to hear about Eddie

Sounds like Gizmo is doing great!, Winkie, hehe, cute nickname.

[lotus]

I am so happy all went well. Hugs for Gizmo
Your story and Dogmelissa's story all make me feel a little better. Currently we are fighting to save Sugars eye ,Sugar was a mill rescue dog and her eye was injured long before the HS rescued her. So far it looks like a 50/50 chance. I thank you for posting your stories as it gives me hope in knowing either way Sugar will be just fine.

[ancientgirl]

I'm so glad Gizmo is none the worse for wear. It looks like he's really doing so much better.

Again, I'm so sorry about Eddie. I think having her paw cast is a wonderful idea and something you can look at every day and remember her.

[Jim Hall]

all right gizmo !!!!

[deb12]

I am so sorry for Gizmo, but they tend to do well, he will bump into things for a while, but with you there he will be fine!

You and Gizmo are in our thoughts and !

Good Luck!

Deb