Keep your paws crossed for us, if you can...

[Tommysmom]

We're off to the vet today. Tommy's been a bit odd the last few days, culminating in a very worrisome weekend. He's acting disoriented, walking into things, seemingly unable to find where the door is or the couch or things like that. He looks at us from the corner of his eye, looks like he can't see properly. He's scared to jump up and down from the couch or footstool like he normally does. This morning he went to take his morning cookie up to bed like he normally does and couldn't figure out how to get up there - it's like he can't see of has forgotten the ramp that we built for him almost 2 years ago. He starts pacing frantically in circles every night and we have to distract him to make it stop.

We had an appointment on Wednesday for his parvo vac, but I called this morning to get him in today instead. Needless to say he won't be getting his shot until we figure out what's wrong.

My poor little guy... he's been through so much already, I hope it turns out to be an inner ear infection or something that is easily and quickly treated. I'm preggo with his sister, but I still consider him my first baby:sad:.

[chico2]

Tommys mom,lots of from me,little Tommy certainly has been through it all,as have you.
Tommy is a tough little guy,a JRT after all,too stubborn to let disease get him down,hopefully this is not anything serious

[badger]

I'm preggo with his sister, but I still consider him my first baby

OMG I had to read this a few times before I got it...

Good luck to Tommy, does sound like inner ear, here's hoping.

[JanM]

Bobby, Amber, Shadow and I all have our paws, toes and fingers crossed for you! Bobby has been like that a couple of times and it has passed - so I do know how scary it can be!

In love and light,

[rainbow]

OH NO I hope it is something easily treatable.....sending lots of good luck for you and Tommy.

[14+kitties]

Lots of for your Tommy. I hope it is something easily treatable.

[Tommysmom]

Thanks for the good thoughts, everybody.

Unfortunately it appears as though this one won't be so simple. They believe Tommy is almost totally blind right now. They think it's something called SARD, where it can happen almost immediately. There is no treatment or cure for that.

We have an appointment with a doggy opthamologist on Wednesday to find out for sure.

My poor little booger. My heart is just breaking for him. I know, you're all thinking that blind doggies do just fine - and if that's what it is, I know he'll end up ok. But it's the in-between, seeing him so scared and unable to function right, that's going to tear me apart. Poor, poor little boo... I hope knows how much his mommy and daddy love him, and at least gets some consolation from that.

[chico2]

Oh no,poor little Tommy
I know he will be fine eventually,but it must be heartbreaking for you,he is such a little sweetheart,it's just not fair:sad:
Please keep us posted,hoping for a miracle that the vet is wrong

[Tommysmom]

Originally Posted by chico2

Oh no,poor little Tommy
I know he will be fine eventually,but it must be heartbreaking for you,he is such a little sweetheart,it's just not fair:sad:
Please keep us posted,hoping for a miracle that the vet is wrong

I know, it's really NOT fair:sad:. He's been through so much already, it's a miracle he's even still here, and now this. I'm hoping they're wrong, but to be honest... it sort of fits, explains a lot. Poor little guy.

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, poor little guy! And poor Mom and Dad worrying about their little guy! If it's not one thing, it's another, eh? :sad:

that it's either treatable or something that he can adapt quickly to!

And you have all the luck and that two pairs of and 32 crossed s can generate, winging your way...

[ancientgirl]

I just read through this. I'm so sorry. Poor little guy. I know he'll get through this though, and you need to be strong for him.

If he is going blind, I've seen videos of blind dogs that you would never know are blind.

Please keep us updated. We've got all fingers and paws crossed for Tommy over here.

[clm]

OMG, I can't believe it.
I bet it's hard watching him going through the transition. I'm sure he'll adjust quickly though, I'm sure it's the suddeness of it all that's got him so scared and confused, and who wouldn't be. :sad: He's a tough little guy though, you gotta give him that. I hope they can do something for him.

Cindy

[14+kitties]

Sending out lots of ers and s for Tommy and you. He has been through a lot and came through with flying colours. I am sure he will do the same with this hurdle.

[JanM]

I am so sorry about little Tommy's sight - my very best wishes are for both of you!

[luckypenny]

I think the adjustment may be rougher on you than on Tommy . something may be done for it.

[rainbow]

Poor Tommy :sad: ....he's been through so much.

Hoping for an optimistic report on Wednesday .....good luck.

[chico2]

Tommysmom,he has one really good thing going for him,one that would make his transition to blindness easier,a wonderful,caring,loving mom and dad
Also,I forgot to mention,the little sister on the way,congrats
You had me a little confused there for a while,thinking a puppy was coming
for sweet little Tommy..

[Love4himies]

Sending some and for Tommy. And some for you. I hope it ends up being treatable.

[Tommysmom]

Thank you, all of you, for your kind words. I've been so upset it's hard to stop crying, looking at my poor little boy, but it's so wonderful to have the support of so many here.

We're doing everything we can to be proactive here, I've learned so much from what we went through with his other issues! We have our holistic vet coming over tomorrow morning so I can be sure we're looking at all of his symptoms and not perhaps overlooking different causes, and then my husband will be taking him to his specialist appointment tomorrow afternoon (I can't get out of a work meeting, unfortunately). Hopefully tomorrow night we should have a better idea of what's going on - if it is SARDS, they should be able to tell from a certain test they do, and then we'll deal with it. If it's not, then they should be able to rule out some other things and hopefully our holistic vet can help with the symptoms.

We're not giving up... if necessary, I'll start my maternity leave a bit earlier than normal so that I can learn how to help a blind dog adjust... whatever we have to do, we'll do. Hubby's already planning on taking the bed frame apart so that our bed will possibly be low enough for Tommy to jump on/off without using the ramp, since we're worried about him falling. He's our first baby, and we're going to give him the best life we can regardless.

[ancientgirl]

Tommysmom, you and your husband are angels. It's so wonderful to hear you are doing so much for him. Even going as far as lowering your bed for his comfort and you starting maternity leave sooner.

He's not human, and you didn't give birth to him, but as you said, he is your first baby, and you aren't going to love him any less.

Good luck to the little guy.

[jessi76]

oh the poor lil guy... and poor you! you're both in our thoughts. keep us posted when you can.

[chico2]

Tommysmom,in all the bad luck Tommy has had,he was one lucky little pup when he became your baby,many people would have given up on him.
I'll be thinking of you,your hubby and Tommy and hope for some encouraging news

[Sylvie]

My prayers are with you. to you and Tommy.

[Anon1023]

Just wanted to send some positive vibes your way. We are going through our own trials now so we understand that support and positive thinking is very important! Our hearts are with you and Tommy

[angeldogs]

Poor pups,he is lucky to have a mom and dad that won't give up on him.Sending positive thoughts and vibes your way.

[Lukka'sma]

This is just so unfair. Poor Tommy has not had an easy life by the longest stretch of the imagination. I wish he didn't have to go through this.:sad: I will be thinking of little Tommy and wishing with all I have that something can be done for him, he has touched my heart from the first day I read about him.

[chico2]

Lukkasmom,you are so right,that little guy from day one never left my thoughts either and I was elated when he was doing well,now this.
for Tommy and a simple cure!!!

[Love4himies]

Good luck today, Tommy

[rainbow]

Tommysmom, sending lots of good wishes for you, your hubby and little Tommy today.

[Tommysmom]

Thank you all so much for the thoughts and wishes, I can't tell you how much all of the support means to me... to all of you.

The ophthalmologist visit was not much help. After a grueling drive through horrible weather we spent $600 to find out that he really does not think it's Tommy's eyes. It's obvious he can't see, but he thinks it is neurological. So, good news is it is not SARDS... bad news is that it could be inflamation or infection in the brain, or possibly tumour.

Our holistic vet was unable to make it today due to the weather, so she's coming on Friday. Our neurological consult is supposed to be Monday, but depending on what the holistic vet says I really don't think we'll go to the consult. All I keep thinking is that we've been down this road before - specialists, thousands and thousands of dollars, and every test showed that we had the healthiest dog ever to almost die. To this day, none of them could find a diagnosis - only traditional chinese medicine explained it. We saw an immediate difference from our first appointment with the holistic vet, and since then Tommy has had about a year of actual good health.

I'm not convinced that these issues are unrelated to his prior issues. We made a list of all symptoms we have noticed, but nobody seems to look at all of them. I'm somewhat thinking that perhaps Tommy was just born with something, some kind of weakened immune type of situation, that leads him to be more susceptible to things... and our holistic vet seems to be the only one who looks at the big picture (although I do love our regular vets, I'm certainly not trying to put them down at all - just that maybe western medicine isn't able to deal with our dog's particular issues).

I doubted a lot of my instincts when we went through all the stuff before and I'm determined not to do that this time... I'm just not convinced that the specialists are the way to go, unless our holistic vet feels otherwise. Maybe I'm hoping too much, but we'll see what she says on Friday.

I've written an entire book here, LOL - but I can only tell you guys, everybody else thinks we're nuts for having done everything we've done since we got Tommy! Thanks for listening though.

Oh... and just in case any newbies are ever reading this someday, I hope they read our entire ongoing saga of Tommy the Troubled Terrier - cuz this is what you could be facing next time you decide to support a BYB. Just had to work that in.