Muffin has been with us for 3 years already. Since she came into our family, she was in & out of Vet’s office with so many concerns. She was spayed. Then she had bouts of fleas. She had several chronic infections of ears, eyes and intestinal problems. She had to take antibiotics several times one after another. Last October of this year 2009, she had surgery to remove her mammary gland tumor and a big Staphylococcus cyst on her back. She was a constant guest in the Vets office that qualifies for a "Frequent Flier" according to her other Vet.

It was Dec. 16, 2009 when she fell out of bed. She was screaming of pain so we rushed her to her new Vet at 3mile road. She’s lucky she did not break a leg. The new Vet did a thorough Senior Physical Examination. She had series of lab tests to check her health. The Vet suggested that Muffin see an Ophthalmologist after she looked at her eyes and let her walk in the examination room.

The next day, I took her to the Animal Ophthalmologist for some series of eye examinations. She was diagnosed of Retinal Degenerative Disease. The Vet said that the degeneration of her retina started when she was born, and now that she is 11 years old, she is almost completely blind. The truth hurts because we were on denial observing her signs & symptoms of blindness. It’s a matter of a month that her retinal degeneration was so fast as she was refusing to walk at night. Well at least it’s comforting to hear what the Vet said that dogs don’t get depressed when they get blind unlike human beings. They compensate with their sense of smell & hearing. Muffin needs a lot of possitive reinforcement to walk so she won’t just lie all day in bed.

The more she needs to walk as her lab results show that her trigliceride was slightly elevated. Muffin walked a lot today, the day after Christmas of 2009 when we went to Lake Michigan at Grand Haven. She is still a very happy dog.