If you haven’t read the first episode, you may want to read that first. Here – https://mymisaboutique.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/my-puppies-from-the-mill
I love my dog, ZhuZhu aka Juice, and especially her bitchy attitude. She is so proud and confident but there’s always a downside to being too proud because she never backs down in a fight.
I have had to break-up some pretty bad arguments between her and her brother, FeiFei aka Buddy.
In April of 2006, a turn of events changed a dominant and proud dog into a scared and insecure pup. It all began when she refuses to go up and downstairs and then walking into things. I knew something definitely was wrong and took her to see a vet. They did a series of tests and found nothing wrong physically so the doctor said something is wrong with her eyes. Since the changes began, it only took a short three weeks for her world to be in entire darkness. Thinking back, I really didn’t know what to do or how to take care of a blind dog. All I know is that I wanted to find out what was wrong and fix it.
Initially, the doctors said it was Distichiasis and it’s causing irritation therefore causing her vision to blur. A surgeon specializing in dog’s lids told me that both of my pugs needed to have their eyelashes removed. I decided to not have it done since a relative’s Chow Chow Had it done and is disfigured forever. After seeing our normal vet and the Dr. Scarface, we went for a second opinion at a different vet and they said it seemed like something else but they were unsure so they referred us to an eye specialist. There, the specialist did some light shining and looking in her eyes and gave us the bad news with a hefty invoice. I started to feel the pain, you’ll know this if you’re a pet owner. I love my dog but I didn’t want to end up broke. After some tears and sadness, she started to adjust immediately but slowly.
My dog has what is called Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA). It’s a retinal disease that causes blindness. This is a slow progressing disease and is not painful so your dog will not blink or squint or have reddened eyes. Some may notice a shine from your pet’s eyes caused by dilated pupils not responding to light as quickly as the unaffected dogs. Other signs of PRA is loss of night vision. I noticed these symptoms in Juice. Something that was really comforting was that I didn’t do anything to cause her blindness because it is an inherited condition.
For a few days she would huddle in the corner of the room and whimper and shiver. The thought of it still breaks my heart. Eventually, she started to memorize the map of the house, though she still would not go up or down the stairs.
The doctors took so long to come up with a diagnosis. After paying three thousand dollars to finally find out what is wrong with my dog, there was nothing that could be done.
Today, she has adapted to her surroundings well, but occasionally still walks into walls and chairs. Otherwise, I’ve trained her to step on and off curbs by giving her a command. She has also learnt to breathe extra hard when walking because she can tell if there are things in front of her. Even with her eye handicapped, she is still very protective of her pack. She tends to growl at dogs that pass by when she’s on a walk.
One thing that I’ve noticed about Juice is how much she sleeps and what she does when she is sleeping. I started noticing after about a year that she loved to sleep. Any chance she gets, she wants to close her eyes and sleep. Do you know why? It’s because she can see in her dreams. Her dreams are always so intense and her body and facial expressions are so exaggerated. Sometimes, I’ll wake her up because it seems like she’s scared but most of the time she’s just running around playing or bossing some other dog around in her dream.
Sometimes, when she’s sleeping I would stare at her and try to determine what she’s dreaming about. Her tongue is so distracting when it’s flailing around when she’s dreaming. How cute!
Because I love my dogs so much, I will never give up and I encourage all pet owners out there to be committed to their pets even if the pet’s health may not be ideal. Give your pets the love they deserve. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the doctors that I visited.
Watch her falling asleep here~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxuA4YBjNY8
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