Poor Libby

Our poor little Libby has gone completely blind (remember, this is our dog, but she may as well be our child). She was born mostly blind. We knew she could partially see because she'd react to some movement. We didn't realize how much that little bit of sight helped her to function. On Thursday she started acting strange. She looked scared, and I couldn't figure out why. This would often happen if we moved furniture around because she'd get all disoriented. I had a laundry rack in the hall with a bunch of laundry drying on it. I thought that was what was bothering her. I moved it out of her path, but she still looked scared and wouldn't move. I finally noticed her eyes were shut tightly and she wouldn't open them.

Matt made an appointment on Saturday to see what the deal was. What we discovered is that her cataracts are so bad they've completely covered her retina. She's 100% blind. We're going to do some additional test to see if cataract surgery would restore partial vision. It’s doubtful though. She also has arthritis & hip displaysia. I guess one common thread to hip displaysia is retina displaysia, which causes retina detachment. Anyway, our cute little Libby is quite a sad dog. She is only 3, and used to have so much energy. She loves it when I wake up for the day. She jumps up and wants me to pet her and she wags her tail so hard because she knows it’s time to eat. When Matt gets home she freaks out and gets so hyper and jumps up on him and barks and does circles around him. She loves to be wherever we are, so she’ll follow us around the house all day. Well, since Thursday she has practically stayed put…either on her pillow on in the kitchen next to her doggie door. She doesn’t get hyper, she doesn’t jump, she doesn’t do anything. She won’t even go to her dog dish for breakfast/dinner because she’s too scared and can’t find it. She goes outside and gets lost and doesn’t know how to find her way back in. She hovers really low, crouching along hoping not to fall in a hole or crash in to something. She has totally lost her spirit. It is so sad. It’s amazing how fast it all happened. She is our sweet little love, and I’m so sad for her. Both Matt and I would do anything for her; she really is like a child to us.





Stacie, do you remember this weekend? This was Moab 2006.