I know this photo will probably make you cringe — sorry — but Alayne brought blind Turtle home this afternoon from the vet clinic after her eye surgery. Turtle was blind from uveitis … something we’re more likely to see in our blind horses than in our blind dogs and cats … and her eyes had remained comfortable until last week, when we noticed some irritation and changes occurring.
Our vet in Helena, Dr. Brenda Culver, did an exam and found that the lenses in both of Turtle’s eyes had detached and fallen against the cornea. That’s what was causing the irritation and, as it turned out, pain. The eye is such a complex structure and changes in any one part can cause a cascade of other things to happen. That is especially true of an eye disease like uveitis, which triggers inflammation. It’s like a house of cards collapsing.
Brenda concluded that the only thing we could do for Turtle to give her relief was remove her eyes, a procedure called enucleation. Brenda did the surgery yesterday. This is always so hard, seeing them come home without eyes. As often as we have had to do it … in dogs, cats and horses … it is always a bit startling to see an animal you’ve known with eyes to suddenly have no eyes. But ultimately we know that they are pain-free, and since they were blind to begin with, that’s all they know too … that the pain is gone.
(Click on photo for larger image.)
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