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You are here: Home / Dogs / Esther Gets Checked Out

Esther Gets Checked Out

June 16, 2014

Esther with Dani

I took our new arrival, deaf Esther, to Peak Veterinary Referral Center in Burlington on Thursday to get the complete medical work-up. Her first stop was with?our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Dani Rondeau, who you see in the photo above. Then came the cardiologist, ophthalmologist, radiologist and surgeon.

During his initial exam, our cardiologist, Dr. Don Brown, listened to Esther’s heart with his stethoscope for what seemed like an eternity. He put the stethoscope in several locations, on each side of her chest and along?her side, listening intently. Finally, he sat up, turned to me with a serious look on his face and said, “Well, that’s something I don’t hear very often.”?I asked, suddenly very worried, “Oh no … what?”?

“A normal heart,” he said, suddenly grinning. I was so relieved and just had to laugh. Her heart sounded so normal, in fact, that Don found no need even to do an echocardiogram. And that’s pretty much how it went for Miss Esther on Thursday — she turned out to be in much better shape than we thought she would be.

After doing aspirates, Dani found that all of Esther’s?lumps and bumps turned out to be lipomas or other benign growths (and she had a lot of them). Esther’s blood work was also unremarkable, and so was her urinalysis. The radiologist, Dr. Lynn Walker, told me that?just based on how all Esther’s?organs looked on ultrasound she would have thought she was looking at a dog who was only 5 or 6 years old.

I’told?Dani we noticed Esther’seemed to have’some weakness in her rear legs. Sure enough, during her neurological exam Dani?confirmed?Esther?had some neuro deficits in her hindquarters, particularly in her left rear leg. Dani asked the surgeon at Peak, Dr. Kurt Schulz, to examine Esther and see if he thought we needed to do further diagnostic imaging of her lower spine (either a CT scan or MRI). After his evaluation, Kurt told me that Esther definitely had some spine-related deficits in her rear legs, but she was not in any pain, it was not causing her any difficulty in walking and it wasn’t?otherwise compromising her quality of life. Without knowing her history, Kurt said we should just wait and see if this progressed at all. If it did, then further diagnostics would be in order.

Our ophthalmologist, Dr. Sarah Hoy, confirmed what the shelter vet had diagnosed Esther with: KCS or dry eye. Her right eye is blind — though the retina is working fine, her cornea is covered with the black film caused by KCS. Her left eye is still visual, fortunately. Here’s Sarah doing part of her exam while her vet tech Christine holds Esther:

Esther with Sarah

We’ll keep Esther on her current regime (cyclosporine and artificial tears) for the next 6 weeks, and if we don’t see any improvement in the inflammation in her right eye (the sclera is bright red), we’ll switch her to a different medication. If that doesn’t work, we may have to remove the eye at some point. Her left eye is comfortable and so far we seem to be keeping the KCS at bay.

All in all, a pretty good report card on this girl!

—

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Comments

  1. Leila - Allyn, WA says

    June 16, 2014 at 12:06 pm

    Yay Esther!! She’s such a cutie and I’m so glad to hear the good news (as I know you guys are also!) Praying her eye problem gets fixed one way or the other.

  2. Barb Ribinski says

    June 16, 2014 at 12:13 pm

    You can’t help but notice what a pretty dog Esther is. Her face (not to mention her hair) is just beautiful. I’m so glad she did so well with her checkup and her report card was good! We were worried about those lumps and bumps. Glad we don’t have to worry any longer. Good job, Esther!

  3. KarenTX says

    June 16, 2014 at 12:46 pm

    My Lovey, 10.5 YO French Bulldog, just got diagnosed with cataracts. In her previous life as a breeder, she had ulcers but they healed and she still had great vision. I’ve noticed that she’s very spooky now, any sudden movement makes her startle and she takes off like a rocket. I’m trying to be slower in my movements, hate to see her scared. My vet says as long as she can see, we’ll watch and see how she does. Any advice for a novice?

    • Steve Smith says

      June 16, 2014 at 1:17 pm

      Karen, sorry to hear about Lovey’s cataracts. Surgery may be an option, and you’ll need to consult a veterinary ophthalmologist to learn what’s possible and what the cost would be. There is a great resource available on Amazon, called Living with Blind Dogs … see:

      http://www.amazon.com/Living-Blind-Dogs-Resource-Low-Vision/dp/0967225345/

      Hope that helps!

  4. Shirley M and dachshunds Dieter and Phoebe Ann says

    June 16, 2014 at 2:45 pm

    Am so relieved that beautiful Esther is in such good shape! Her face reflects her wonderfulness. Hope the eye condition improves! Sending love and hugs to all!

  5. Tonya Allen says

    June 16, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    It’s nice to get some good news! Glad to hear she’s in good shape except for that eye. She looks like a sweet dog.

  6. Shirley and James says

    June 16, 2014 at 11:41 pm

    What a darling!!!!

  7. Ann says

    June 16, 2014 at 11:57 pm

    Glad to hear the good news with Esther’s checkups. She looks so sweet and calm. Hoping that her eye problems work out for the best 🙂

  8. Carla Polastro-Nigro says

    June 17, 2014 at 3:53 am

    Great news all around! Three cheers for Esther!

  9. Nancy Yarmac says

    June 18, 2014 at 6:58 am

    This dog has the sweetest face. I have gone back numerous times to see it. It is really wonderful that she passed her exams with flying colors. I hope to see her cute face in more blog posts in the future.

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