Samba's Eyes

Samba spent last Friday with Dr B. The facial paralysis has affected her vision a little and we wanted to know how much of a problem it is and if there has been any permanent damage. We dropped her off early in the morning to spend the day at the clinic.


As you can see from the recent pictures of her, my little girl who used to love the camera, no longer wants to look directly at it. Her eyes look quite strange. They are wide open and she has lost her blink reflex.


The left eye seems to be improving and her blink is starting to come back on that side, but the right eye is getting worse. It's open very wide, giving her a surprised look most of the time. I think she's embarrassed about it. OK, I know some of you will say dogs don't feel embarrassment, but I've known and lived with enough dogs to know that they can feel and display embarrassment. Try telling someone about their bad behavior in front of them and watch them either try to hide or to get your attention and change the subject.


First Samba had a blood test to check her thyroid level. We recently adjusted it and want to make sure it's where it should be. Then Dr B dilated her eyes and checked for any retinal damage. When we picked her up in the afternoon, we had a little meeting and learned that there doesn't appear to be any permanent damage to the retinas and with good care and some luck, Samba's paralysis may reverse itself in the coming months. The statistics are with us. About 60% of these cases do get better. The problem is that most of them don't also have MMM to deal with.

We're going to choose to be optimistic and look for signs of improvement. She and I will celebrate our better vision together. I'm convinced of it.