Rolling Dog Farm Blog

Widget’s new prosthetic eye (see original post here) started looking bad yesterday, and by today it was red and inflamed.  This morning Alayne and I took some digital photos of her eye and e-mailed them to Widget’s vet, Dr. Brenda Culver, in Helena for some ‘telemedicine’ consulting.  Based on the images (like this one), Brenda suspected a corneal ulcer and said we should bring her in.  So Alayne bundled Widget into the truck and headed down the road 70 miles east to Helena (and into a whiteout at the top of MacDonald Pass).

Brenda was right:  On exam she discovered that Widget did indeed have a superficial corneal ulcer.  Even though there is a prosthetic INSIDE the globe (or sclera) of the eye, the cornea is still there … it helps hold the prosthetic in place. 

Fortunately it was not serious and we caught it early.  The prosthetic continues to look good and there’s no sign yet that Widget’s body is preparing to reject it.  Brenda provided Alayne with new medications and a treatment plan.  Thus equipped, Alayne and Widget reversed course and headed west back to Ovando.  (We could really use an all-weather helicopter on days like this.)

(Click on photo for larger image.)