Lion the samoyed cloud’s medical bills

Over the course of a week, Lion, our sweet, healthy Samoyed puppy went from squinting in both eyes, to being diagnosed with primary glaucoma. He is two years old.

The opthalmologist has told us that it's very likely he will lose his vision. Today, he spent 6 hours at the ER and he is on 6 different types of medicine to hopefully control his eye pressure. 

He is currently unable to see from his right eye, and they've left us know that if it doesn't come back in a week, he'll probably never recover his vision. 

We're devastasted, and all we can do is hope that he'll improve with the treatment, provide him extra cuddles and comfort, and take care of him to the best of our abilities. 

With 4 visits to the vet for examinations, tests, a bunch of treatments and a huge question mark of what's to come, the medical bills are piling up.

If you know Lion and follow him @lionthecloud, you know that he has big, beautiful, round eyes that are completely black and very bright. We love so many things about him, but especially his expressive eyes. Let's get him feeling better so that he can continue sharing his stories.

Thanks for reading Lion's story, and for paying us company during this tough time.

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What happened
Exactly one week ago, Lion began squinting. The vet attributed the eye irritation to pollutants, and said that it was probably due to the heavy smoke from the California wildfires. He had a cornea test done to see if there were any scratches causing the discomfort (there were none). Lion was prescribed antibiotic eye ointment for 7 days. 

Throughout the week, our otherwise energetic boy kept his eyes mostly closed and slept a lot. He only ate and drank when hand fed. We called the vet to update them on his behaviour, and they advised us to continue using the ointment and to come in for another check up at the next available appointment on Saturday (3 days away).

Yesterday, we noticed that his black eyes were suddenly cloudy and blue-grey coloured. We asked the vet if we could come in that day as an emergency, but they were booked up. Due to COVID, a lot of places are over capacity and doctors are working extra hard with even more shifts than usual. After calling around and some back and forth pleading, an empathetic vet sympathised and agreed to look at him between her surgery shifts. 

She called us two hours later and said that it did not look good and that she was seriously concerned. She referred us to an animal opthalmologist and advised us to see them the same day or the next. By then, it was 3:30pm and nearly the end of day. We frantically called all 5 of opthalmologists within a 60 mile radius from our home. All 5 said that they were booked for at least a week out. 

With the help of the vet to make a direct phone call to Dr. Burling at the Animal Eye Specialists in Campbell, she so kindly fitted him even after the office formally closed at 6pm. After examinations and tests, Dr. Burling diagnosed him with active primary and sub-acute glaucoma. The pressure in his eyes was 71 and 59, with 40 being the normal range. They sent him home with an hourly schedule of eye drops to manage the pressure, steroids, and oral medicine. She wanted to see him the next morning at 9am. 

This morning, the vet and nurses continued to treat Lion every 30 minutes and and monitored him from 9am-3pm. Thankfully, Lion is reacting well to treatment and his eyes are back in the normal range. However, his right eye is not currently responsive. There are no visible damages to the optic nerve, so we're still holding onto hope that he'll recover. The opthalmologist has said that if he doesn't regain his vision within a week, it's likely that he'll remain blind. 

What's next
There is a lot of uncertainty to come, but we're trying our best to stay positive and take it one step at a time. 

Our next appointment is Monday morning, and over the course of this weekend, Lion will be on 3 types of medicinal eye drops and 5 oral tablets. 

Pred. Sodium Phosphate 1% Oph Sol (steroid): 1 drop in both eyes 4 times a day
Latanoprost (0.0005%) generic Xalatan: 1 drop in right eye 2 times a day
Dorzolamide/Timolo generic Cosopt 10ml Oph Soln: 1 drop in both eyes 3 times a day
Methazolamide 60 mg tablets: 1 tablet orally 3 times a day
Prednisone 10mg tablets: 1 tablet orally 2 times a day
Amlodipine (Norvasc) 2.5mg tablets: 2 tablets orally 
Omiprazole 20mg: 1 tablet orally once a day
Tramadol 50mg tablets: 1 tablet orally 2 times a day, as needed for pain

It's been a whirlwind of emotions, but we're just happy that Lion seems less uncomfortable than before. He's still sleeping a lot, but we've at least seen his eyes a little more open now, and witnessed his tail wag a couple of times today :)

We'll be keeping this page updated as we learn more. Thanks for sharing your time and good thoughts with our little boy. We really appreciate it.