An update on our ol' boy

The cone makes his ear stand up weird like that

We've been keeping our family updated on this ongoing saga, but for those of you who don't know, Tanner was diagnosed with diabetes just before Christmas. I'm sure I mentioned it in one (or a few) of the posts around that time, most likely because I was severely disturbed by the amount of weight he lost while we were in the US (yes, there is guilt here) and he was at the kennel. Anywho, all that said, the Tan Man has carried on, recovered from the drastic weight loss and carried on with life. Sort of.

For such a small and active dog, I'm not sure how he can have such high sugar. It usually takes about a month to regulate the sugar and get it to where you (the vet) wants it to be. Not for us though...in April we were still struggling with why Tanner's sugar was so high. His fructose readings were completely normal, which baffled the vet, because his glucose was so high. To give you an idea, 4 to 8 is a normal reading, and Tanner's was 33.

So we did lots of trying things out, changing things around, and consulting with other professionals, until the vet was finally satisfied that his sugar was stable. The only problem is that his sugar is not as low as normal, but they've now decided that the low for him is "his normal" and will do.

In the meantime, while all of this testing and what not was going on, Tanner went blind. I say in the meantime, but in reality, he went blind within a couple of weeks of being diagnosed with diabetes. It is a really sad thing to see, as he was bumping into, falling off of, and heading straight for anything he didn't realize was in his way. His eyes are completely cloudy and you know he literally can't see anything. If you call his name, he looks up and in your general direction, but he definitely isn't making eye contact with you. He will totally run right into your leg if you're walking past him- something I was not used to.

So, we decided we could fix at least one of these problems and decided it was worth it for Tanner to have cataract surgery. We're about three weeks out now, and we're not quite sure what the result is.

As per most things, they do things a bit differently here than in the US. In Switzerland, if a dog has cataract surgery it means the doctor will go in and clean out the cataract in one eye (which eye depends on how the vet is feeling that day- for Tanner it's his right) and the lens in the eye is not replaced. He will still be able to see, just not perfectly. His sweet spot now is probably 10 to 12 feet away. He can "see" other stuff, just not clearly.

In the US, on the other hand, they would have removed both cataracts and replaced his lenses with new ones. He would have been able to see perfectly (by dog standards) almost instantly. The thing with the surgery is that it's not a life-saving surgery. It's a quality of life surgery. In Switzerland, they go with the most practical and least complicated operation. Whereas, in the US, it seems that they go with the most expensive? Maybe I've been over here longer than I realize and am starting to buy into the thinking...

Big cone; little body

So what is Tan up to these days, you might wonder? Pretty much the same thing as before, which is a bit infuriating. When we brought him home from the operation, we quickly realized we now just had a blind dog with a cone around his head, as it takes 10 to 12 days for their sight to come back. This was hard to watch as he stumbled around the place he had finally learned, now that he had "la protection" around his head.

10 days later we were able to take the cone off and still aren't sure of the results. He definitely does not run straight into things like he used to. He does, however, almost run into stuff, then take a last minute turn to veer away from whatever the obstacle is. Progress, considering I could not take him on a walk before surgery, as he would run right into a light pole with no second thought about where he was going.

How he spends most days, now without a cone

So that pretty much brings us to now. Tan is still recovering and (hopefully) getting better each day. BK and I have to remind ourselves to be patient with him, as he is relearning lots of things in his environment. The thing that is killing me is the lack of sleep at night. This is not a blind thing, but goes back to the diabetes. Something has gotten off, and now he is back to waking numerous times per night. The locals here always comment, "Like the baby." Um, no, Baby K has been sleeping through the night since she was three months old. I can't handle the dog not sleeping.

Wish us luck. Hopefully we make more progress in the coming weeks and Tan becomes more agile and healthy. We've changed his diet a bit to see if that may help the sugar issue as well. We'll see; here's to hoping for more better days in his old age!