Kaia’s Glaucoma Surgery
Donation protected
Hi everyone,
This is Kaia. She is our snuggly, sassy, princess. This girl has been a real
tough cookie these last few months. Kaia has been battling acute onset primary glaucoma & is now completely blind. This is her story.
Back in a August we picked her up from getting routine vaccines and noticed that her pupil was abnormally large and her eye was a bit cloudy. We immediately tried to see if this could be some kind of reaction to a vaccine and went back to the vet. The vet could not find anything in particular that had caused it, nor was it a common vaccine reaction. Kaia was going under anesthesia the next day for a dental cleaning so the vet was going to double check her eye at that time. They still could not find anything and sent us home with some inflammatory ointment.
We were supposed to call back in a few days, or if she got worse. Over the next couple days her eye got worse, she was squinty and could not sit still for more than 30 seconds. She was clearly uncomfortable and in a lot of pain. The very next day we ended up at an ophthalmologist & Kaia was diagnosed with glaucoma.
Turns out, Huskies as a breed are known to be high risk for glaucoma. Their genetics often carry a mutation that does not allow the eye to reabsorb fluids properly which causes the eye pressure to rise. To give you some perspective, a normal eye pressure is between 10-20 mm Hg. Glaucoma in a human is around 20-28 mm Hg. At one point, Kaia's eye pressure was between 42-51 mm Hg in both of her eyes.
We have been treating her with multiple medications to try and control/maintain her pressures at a comfortable level. This regiment has worked for the last few months but has begun to fail and Kaia's eye pressure is spiking again.
Kaia is now blind in both eyes only four short months after her inital diagnosis. We have made the decision to go ahead with her surgery on Monday (1/15) to remove both eyes. This has been difficult for us but we know she will be a much happier pup once she is all healed. We are so fortunate to have amazing family members that are coming down to help care for her after surgery.
We are willing to do whatever it takes to get her back to her playful self again, however surgery is expensive. Trying to adapt our lifestyle to accomodate for Kaia's blindness has been a challenge but we are taking it day by day. Kaia is only three, turns four next month, and we just want her to be able to live the best life she can. If you feel like donating to help with her surgery costs, anything helps! Kaia is our furchild and she has been the rock in our relationship for many years.
We love Kaia more than we can express in words! Thank you all for taking the time to read her story.
This is Kaia. She is our snuggly, sassy, princess. This girl has been a real
tough cookie these last few months. Kaia has been battling acute onset primary glaucoma & is now completely blind. This is her story.
Back in a August we picked her up from getting routine vaccines and noticed that her pupil was abnormally large and her eye was a bit cloudy. We immediately tried to see if this could be some kind of reaction to a vaccine and went back to the vet. The vet could not find anything in particular that had caused it, nor was it a common vaccine reaction. Kaia was going under anesthesia the next day for a dental cleaning so the vet was going to double check her eye at that time. They still could not find anything and sent us home with some inflammatory ointment.
We were supposed to call back in a few days, or if she got worse. Over the next couple days her eye got worse, she was squinty and could not sit still for more than 30 seconds. She was clearly uncomfortable and in a lot of pain. The very next day we ended up at an ophthalmologist & Kaia was diagnosed with glaucoma.
Turns out, Huskies as a breed are known to be high risk for glaucoma. Their genetics often carry a mutation that does not allow the eye to reabsorb fluids properly which causes the eye pressure to rise. To give you some perspective, a normal eye pressure is between 10-20 mm Hg. Glaucoma in a human is around 20-28 mm Hg. At one point, Kaia's eye pressure was between 42-51 mm Hg in both of her eyes.
We have been treating her with multiple medications to try and control/maintain her pressures at a comfortable level. This regiment has worked for the last few months but has begun to fail and Kaia's eye pressure is spiking again.
Kaia is now blind in both eyes only four short months after her inital diagnosis. We have made the decision to go ahead with her surgery on Monday (1/15) to remove both eyes. This has been difficult for us but we know she will be a much happier pup once she is all healed. We are so fortunate to have amazing family members that are coming down to help care for her after surgery.
We are willing to do whatever it takes to get her back to her playful self again, however surgery is expensive. Trying to adapt our lifestyle to accomodate for Kaia's blindness has been a challenge but we are taking it day by day. Kaia is only three, turns four next month, and we just want her to be able to live the best life she can. If you feel like donating to help with her surgery costs, anything helps! Kaia is our furchild and she has been the rock in our relationship for many years.
We love Kaia more than we can express in words! Thank you all for taking the time to read her story.
Organizer
Dana Martinez
Organizer
North Plains, OR
