This is our 5 year old German Shepherd, Leia. Poor Leia has had a rough go of it lately. In early May, she went blind after a very brief issue with her eyes. The vet thought she had SARDS–Sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome, a condition that causes rapid and irreversible blindness from changes in the retina. So, we took her to a canine eye specialist.
The eye specialist found that it was not SARDS but in fact, optic neuritis. Optic neuritis is often caused from the immune system attacking central nervous system (CNS) and most commonly affects small to mid-sized dogs. The eye specialist suggested the urgent need for further evaluation by a canine neurologist. So she sent us to the pet Emergency Veterinarian because besides the blindness, she had also stopped eating and had bloody diarrhea.
After a very lengthy examination, the neurologist believed she has some sort of infection. So we were sent home with a bunch of (8) meds and steroids.
Nothing seemed to be helping. After a few days we went to see our regular veterinarian and she suggested a second opinion from a different neurologist.
We made an appointment and saw the new neurologist at a reputable animal hospital in the area. The new veterinarian noticed that besides the blindness, Leia also had a head tilt and was off balance in her hind legs.
The new neurologist put her on a higher dose of prednisone for a month to see if it’s autoimmune related.
She needs to have an MRI but it’s $6k and we can’t afford it. Please pray, send good vibes, or juju that her health problems will improve soon.
