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  • And The Answer Is…

    Darla ERG

    After a full battery of eye tests last week, we learned that we will be able to restore blind Darla's vision! Yes, her retinas are working just fine behind her mature cataracts. In the photo above, vet tech Rachel is holding Darla during the all-important electroretinogram (ERG) test, which determines how well the retinas are functioning. 

    Our regular ophthalmologist, Dr. Sarah Hoy, is on maternity leave for the summer, so a relief ophthalmologist, Dr. Vivian Jamieson, is filling in during her absence. Here's Dr. Jamieson examining Darla's eyes with the slit-lamp (an ophthalmic microscope):

    Darla with Dr Jamieson

    With each successive step in the exam process, the news was good, but in the end it all came down to the ERG results. This is a screenshot showing one of the wave patterns generated during her test — and it's that initial dip, followed by an immediate peak, on the far left we're looking for:

    Darla ERG screen

    It can take a while for the wave pattern to assume it's final and definitive shape, which seems like an excruciatingly long wait even though it isn't. Because we're testing rods and cones in each eye, there are four of these individual tests to do. But finally, all were done and it was clear Darla would be a candidate for cataract surgery!

    Dr. Jamieson will be doing the surgery in mid-July, so we have a few weeks to go before this girl will be able to see again — but see she will!

    After her ophthalmology appointment, I took Darla over to our internal medicine specialist in Burlington, Dr. Tanya Donovan, for an ultrasound and geriatric screening:

    Darla ultrasound

    That's Tanya with the probe while vet tech Michelle is holding Darla on the table.

    Here again, the news overall was good — all of her organs looked fine. Her bloodwork came back with some elevated liver values, so Tanya will be starting Darla on liver support medications in the meantime and we will recheck in a few weeks.

    After a full day in veterinary clinics, Darla was one happy girl to get back to the farm!

  • What’s A Boy To Do?

    Aaron with kong 1

    So what's a big 115 lb livestock guardian dog supposed to do on a rainy "indoor" day?  Why, chew on a huge kong, of course! It was pouring rain this morning, which meant leaving the goats and their "bodyguards" in their pens. (Did you know goats hate getting wet?) Aaron is now one year old but in the world of giant breeds, still considered something of a puppy. He has tons of that youthful energy that is always looking for an outlet. He wouldn't mind going out in the worst of weather, goats or no goats, but his senior companion, Gina, would much rather stay in on a miserable day like today … and stay in they do. (You may be able to see Gina way in the back of their den behind Aaron.)

    To keep the big lug occupied, I gave him a new kong this morning. He loves chewing on things, including Gina's collars — we are now on collar No. 4. Better a kong than a collar, eh? He recently demolished the last giant kong, so today was a good day to start on a fresh one. Although looking at the photo, the kong sure doesn't look very big in his paws!

    Now, back to work:

    Aaron with kong 2

  • Breaking The Rules

    Darla in chair

    The only two completely dog-free zones in the house are our bedroom and my chair in the corner of the living room. That's the same chair that has moved with us from Seattle to Montana and on to New Hampshire. It's the same chair that survived Priscilla the blind Poodle shredding the seat cushion a few years ago — which is why the recliner is always covered in a sheet or blanket. The rule always was, no dog in that chair!

    And then blind Darla arrived and promptly claimed it as her own. She didn't know she was violating a long-standing "order of the court." I was taken aback when I walked in one day recently and found her happily asleep in the chair.

    I haven't had the heart to tell her "no" and shoo her off. I don't know why. Seems like someone has developed a real soft spot for this old girl. Maybe someone had better go buy himself another chair … or learn to share this one.

  • Where Is She Going?

    Scamp Bentley and Zach at gate

    Our wonderful groomer, Lori Fillion from Littleton, was here most of yesterday grooming several of her usual clients, as well as new arrival blind Zach. Alayne got this shot of three of them seeing her off as she left in late afternoon. That's Scamp on the left, Bentley in the middle, and Zach. Scamp and Bentley can now see after their successful eye surgeries so "seeing her off" is actually correct, while Zach doesn't really need to see to know she went through the gate and got in the car. But all three obviously wanted to say goodbye.

    Here's a photo of blind Fuzzy looking irresistibly cute with Lori:

    Fuzzy with Lori in June

    And here's funny man Zach:

    Zach with Lori

    This guy is a hoot — just an all-around, lovable character. He is scheduled to see the ophthalmologist next week so we'll know then what caused his blindness, and whether there's anything we can do at this point. (Blind Darla is also scheduled for the same appointment.)

  • Food Happens

    Darla in crate

    Our new arrival, blind Darla, is one food-motivated older lady. Because we feed the dogs dinner in their crates, she now associates the crates with food. So even before I arrive to start serving up dinner, Miss Darla heads to the dog room and finds an open crate to sit in. She's convinced that this is when "food happens." In this case, she picked blind Sophie's crate to see if she could generate the spontaneous arrival of food. (No such luck.)

    Then, when she hears me over at the table setting out the food bowls, she races out of the crate and heads over to stand behind me, wanting to make sure she gets her food first. Often we also have Aurora standing behind me, too, except Aurora is barking to get me to dish it out faster. The kinder-and-gentler Darla is convinced her wiggling body and wagging tail will be enough to speed me up and guarantee she's at the front of the line:

    Darla with food bowls

    She's right — it is. I can't resist. I fill her bowl first and she leads me over to a crate … her own.

    Food does happen. But only in the right crate.

  • Almost There!

    Wilbur at gate 2

    Speaking of barbarians at the gate, we've had Wilbur on a diet for the last few months because … well, because he was getting a bit chunky. He protested the new diet, of course, but recently discovered one unintended (and potentially exciting) benefit — his new, slimmer body now can almost fit through the bars of the gate protecting the kitchen and our dining table from the hordes. But as you can see, he's not there yet. Nevertheless, talk about motivation for staying on a diet, eh?

  • I’ll Show You How It’s Done

    Sophie and friends at gate

    Blind Sophie thought it might be a good idea to show the new kids on the block the best way to get handouts from the humans at the table on the other side of the gate. Sitting and staring, as blind Darla is doing, or standing and staring, as Bentley is doing, is rather ineffective as far as Sophie is concerned. She told them, "You have to do something really adorable, and make them think you're working really hard at it (wobble a bit, act like you might topple over at any moment), stare at them the entire time you're doing it, and you'd be amazed what treats come your way."

  • And Now … Here’s Zach!

    Zach in dog room

    This rather rotund fellow is blind Zach, who came from the same shelter as Darla. After we had agreed to take Darla and just before our transport arrived, the shelter director emailed me to say:

    So the luck of this is like getting hit by lightning – we just had another dog that is blind surrendered to us. The dog is approximately 10 years old and has lived with an older woman that passed away this last week and her family surrendered the dog to us…. Let me know please. I will understand if the answer is no, but I had to try.

    [People: If you think your family is going to take care of your beloved pets if something should happen to you, think again. We see this all too often. Please don't make any assumptions.]

    Here's what he looked like when he was turned over to the shelter:

    Zach before photo

    The shelter took him to a groomer right away, and after getting him bathed and clipped up, they could see he had a very large growth between his eyes.

    So last week I took Zach along to Burlington to get that growth checked out, as well as a general geriatric screening so we'd know what kinds of medical issues he might have. 

    Here's our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Tanya Donovan, holding him for the blood draw:

    Zach with Tanya

    In this shot Tanya is doing a fine needle aspirate of the growth to pull cells out:

    Zach with needle aspirate

    The good news is that the pathologist found the cells were mostly inflammatory, not cancerous, so we don't have to worry about a tumor at this stage. But it still needs to come out to make sure it doesn't become something lethal later. He'll be having that surgery in a few weeks.

    On ultrasound all of his organs looked good, too:

    Zach ultrasound

    His blood work was all normal as well, so other than being blind, Zach's in great shape. We have him scheduled to see the ophthalmologist in a few weeks as well. At this point I can't tell what he's blind from. I tested his eyes with the Tono-Pen and his eye pressures were on the border between the high end of normal and just above, so he may be developing glaucoma … though there seems more going on.

    Now, enough about Zach's medical status — let's talk about his personality.  As in, there's a lot of it!  He is a bundle of love and affection, and is so very sweet. He actually likes to roughhouse with us, pawing and twirling and trying to get us to play with him. It's just endearing. When I was taking photos of him in the dog room this morning for this post, he could tell I was sometimes down on my knees for various shots, and he thought I was inviting him to roughhouse. He's wonderful with all the other dogs, too.

    He seems to really like Darla, too, as if he knows he has her to thank for coming here!

  • Blossoms

    Apple blossoms 1

    Washington, D.C. may have its cherry blossoms, but we've got our apple blossoms … and everywhere we look right now, it's stunning. Apple trees are blossoming across the farm. I took the photo above on Saturday evening; you can see that different trees are in different stages of blossoming. I took this next shot this morning from the front porch:

    Apple blossoms 2

    Like the trees in the first photo, these are old orchard trees, but in the background, you can see a wild apple tree blossoming at the edge of the woods. (Click on photos for larger images.)

    Like any fruit tree, apple trees need tending to remain healthy and productive. No one has pruned the apple trees here at the farm in at least 30 years, perhaps longer, and they definitely needed help. We were fortunate to find a lady from nearby Vermont, Nancy Murray, who runs a business called Northern Spy Apple Tree Pruning.(Northern Spy is the name of an old-time New England heirloom apple.) She makes her living tending apple trees in Vermont and New Hampshire for people who want to preserve and improve their orchards. Nancy made her first visits in April and worked on the trees in the photo above, which she called "godmother trees" because of their age.

    Here's a close-up of that tree by the porch:

    Apple blossoms 3

    Last year we had few blossoms — and thus little fruit — because of the weird weather, so we're delighted to see the trees all in bloom this year!

  • My Spleen Is A Beautiful Thing

    Widget spleen ultrasound

    Well, after an anxious month waiting to find out, we had some great news yesterday from Widget's follow-up ultrasound. Our internal medicine specialist, Dr. Tanya Donovan, found that the two suspicious growths in Widget's spleen had not changed at all during the time, so there was nothing we needed to worry about at this point. Tanya said, "She's good to go!" That was an incredible relief. I placed a very happy phone call to Alayne a few minutes later. Neither of us had quite realized just how tense we had been for the past month, worrying about this. Suddenly, it was over and we could relax.

    As for Widget, all she had to say was "Spleen, schleen. Where's lunch?"