He's not at the ranch yet, but he will be our first new arrival in New Hampshire! A longtime supporter of the sanctuary, Barb W. from Pennsylvania, contacted us a week ago about a blind and deaf Cocker Spaniel who was in a local shelter near her. He had been found as a stray, wandering in the woods. The shelter's director had told Barb no one had even looked at the dog in the two months he'd been there, and they would be thrilled if he could come to the sanctuary. Barb knew we were in the middle of the move and had our hands full, so she offered to foster the dog — named Gabe, like our other blind and deaf boy — until we could make it to New Hampshire and get settled. We agreed to take him, and Barb immediately went to the shelter and picked him up.
Not only that, Barb has already taken him to her vet to get an initial work-up and this past Friday, she took him to a veterinary ophthalmologist for an eye exam. I was in the tractor in the hay barn Friday afternoon, moving hay to the horses, when the phone rang. It was Barb, calling from the ophthalmologist's office so he could give me a run-down on his findings. Essentially, Gabe's right eye is non-functional and shrunken — the technical term is phthisical — from undetermined prior disease.
His left eye is also non-functional but mildly enlarged, or buphthalmic. (What's up with all the "phth" business in this field of medicine?) I had noticed this in the photo the shelter had taken of Gabe, which is why I had asked Barb if she could find an ophthalmologist to do an exam. I was worried about glaucoma, and if that was the case, I didn't want him going untreated until he got to New Hampshire. It turns out his eye pressure in that eye was very low, despite the appearance. But there is quite a bit of blood inside the eye, which could be causing the enlargement of the globe. He also has an old corneal lesion, or wound, as well. The ophthalmologist told me that there are five different possible scenarios to explain what happened to that eye: 1) primary glaucoma with secondary retinal detachment (causing the bleeding); 2) uveitis which then caused glaucoma and thus the retinal detachment; 3) a bleeding disorder of some sort; 4) a tumor in the eye, which will require follow-up ultrasound to determine (there was too much blood in the eye for him to see all the way through); and 5) trauma of some sort.
Amazingly, the ophthalmologist said that both of Gabe's eyes currently appear comfortable, though he did need some antibiotics for the corneal lesion.
Barb is having additional tests done, including for heartworms, which will determine how much more we can do in the meantime. If he's heartworm positive, we'll have to hold off on any surgery until we can get him treated for that.
For now, though, Gabe is safe and sound with Barb and her husband Jerry.
Barb reports that "Gabe is 'mapping' the house and cuddling at night with us. He loves to find you on the floor and curl right up to you."
Thank you, Barb and Jerry!
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Some folks have asked us how the move is going. We are, in a word, swamped. We've been shipping trailer-loads of equipment and supplies for the past month — every week another shipment leaves for New Hampshire. We have two different couples hauling for us … one couple is from New York State and they have a pick-up and flatbed trailer, and the other is from Avon, Montana, and they have a semi and flatbed. The tricky thing was that we needed people who would be able and willing to unload for us at the other end, since we aren't there. That meant being able to use one of our tractors, which we shipped in an early load, for that purpose. Fortunately, both couples who are doing the hauling are farm and ranch types who are comfortable operating tractors. Most truck drivers and people who haul for a living won't touch the cargo — it's your responsibility to unload it. So this was a key requirement for us.
An enclosed cargo van arrives at the end of this week, for the stuff that can't be shipped on flatbeds. The freight company will leave it here for several days so we can load it, then they'll hold it in storage for us in Helena until we are in New Hampshire and ready to receive it.
We've also been working with our small and large animal vets on all the paperwork required to transport the animals, so everything's ready in time.
I am leaving for New Hampshire on May 17th and taking about six of the dogs with me. I need to be there and make sure we're up and running before the rest of the animals arrive. Most of the dogs and cats are being picked up on May 24th by the professional pet transportation company. The first trailer load of blind horses will leave that week as well, and the rest will go in additional loads the following week. Alayne will have her hands full! She will stay behind here for a couple of weeks to finish up, ship out the rest of whatever we have left, and then drive out with a few of the remaining dogs (Goldie, Widget, etc.).
Rolling Dog Farm Blog 
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