SARDs/IMR — Awareness Central

During our previous post, regarding “Elevations in Sex Hormones in Dogs with SARDs”, we had briefly mentioned that Oscar was exhibiting issues with his blood-pressure and kidney functions.

During Oscar’s August examination, these were his critical statistics:

• Blood Pressure — 227/13x
• Urine Protein    –  37.0 mg/dL
• Urine Creatinine —   39.9 mg/dL
• Ratio            –  0.9
• Microalbuminuria —    20.0 mg/dL
• Triglyceride     —  2180.0 mg/dL

Because the high blood-pressure was taxing Oscar’s adrenal system, our local veterinarian, Dr. Matsuura, having consulted Dr. Grozdanic, immediately placed Oscar on a prescription of enalapril to reduce high blood-pressure.  Additionally, Oscar was prohibited from exercising on his new treadmill because the exercise would induce an even higher blood-pressure.

Because the high blood-pressure was an immediate threat to Oscar’s health, his prednisone therapy, which was prescribed to reduce a general auto-immune response, was immediately halted.

We realized that Oscar’s excessive weight, caused by SARDs, was contributing to the high blood-pressure as well.  However, because we now had no way to exercise Oscar to good health, as he was prohibited from exercising on the treatmill, we needed to find an alternate method of treating him.

With physical exercise not being a suitable option, and a medical prescription already in place, our last option was to change Oscar’s diet.

Dr. Grozdanic suggested that we contact U.C. Davis Veterinary Nutrition Services to seek their guidance on the course of treatment for Oscar addressing a specific renal diet.

Following his advice, we contacted U.C. Davis and went through the necessary steps to acquire a customized diet for Oscar.  The information for this process can be found at this link:  Working with U.C. Davis Nutrition Support Services.

However, here is a brief summary of the necessary steps:

1. We completed a medical and diet history for Oscar and forwarded it to our vet, Dr. Matsuura.
2. Dr. Matsuura had to complete a separate medical history form.
3. Dr. Matsuura had to include Oscar’s latest lab work: blood tests, urinalysis, and blood-pressure.
4. Dr. Matsuura submitted all of the paperwork to U.C. Davis.

U.C. Davis will not work directly with any patient-clients, unless you have previously visited a veterinarian at U.C. Davis.   Because we had no established patient-client relationship with U.C. Davis, we had to go through our veterinarian as the intermediary.

Although the steps seem complicated, it is, in fact, quite easy.  After the necessary forms were submitted, U.C. Davis responded within three (3) weeks and formulated a custom diet for Oscar based on his past and existing medical condition.

Because the diet is specific to Oscar’s condition, we will not be posting the custom recipe.  Similar to prescription drugs for humans, a very specific diet to manage health issues should not be administered to other dogs.  We do not wish to empower and encourage irresponsible behavior by other pet owners who may attempt to address their pet’s issues with what may be an inappropriate diet for their dog’s particular condition.

However, with Oscar’s specific sections appropriately removed, we have posted U.C. Davis’ recommendations, which can be downloaded vis this link:  U.C. Davis Recommendation.

Over the past four (4) weeks, Oscar has lost the expected .25 lbs/week, and has dropped from 25 lbs down to 24 lbs.  Additionally, his most recent tests show a significant improvement in all of the areas previously listed:

• Blood Pressure — 183/110
• Urine Protein    –  not tested, as it was not necessary
• Urine Creatinine —  not tested, as it was not necessary
• Ratio            –  n/a
• Microalbuminuria —    5.5 mg/dL (down from 20.0 mg/dL)
• Triglyceride     —  201.0 mg/dL (down from 2180.0 mg/dL)

For those of you who are technically inclined, you can download a side-by-side comparison of his previous and current test results: Test Comparison.

If you wish to obtain support from U.C. Davis, you can engage the process by completing the forms at this site:  U.C. Davis Nutrition Support Services — Fact Sheets / Brochures / Newsletters.

The Journal of American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) recently published an article titled “Elevations in Sex Hormones in Dogs with Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDS)“, authored by the following doctors:

• Renee T. Carder, DVM, Diplomate ACVO
• Jack W. Oliver, DVM, PhD
• Rebecca L. Stepien, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVIM (Cardiology)
• Ellison Bently, DVM, Diplomate ACVO

The abstract of the article is below:

Dogs diagnosed with sudden acquired retinal degeneration syndrome (SARDS) commonly are presented with concurrent clinical, physical, and historical findings consistent with hyperadrenocorticism (HAC) at the time of vision loss. Thirteen dogs diagnosed with SARDS on the basis of complete ophthalmic examination and extinguished bright-flash electroretinogram were evaluated for steroid hormonal abnormalities. Signalment, case history, physical examination, and clinicopathological findings were recorded. Serum cortisol and sex-hormone concentrations were measured before and after adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) stimulation. Clinical signs of HAC, systemic hypertension, and proteinuria were commonly found in dogs with SARDS.  Elevations in one or more sex hormones were found in 11 (85%) of 13 dogs (95% confidence interval [CI] 65% to 100%); cortisol was elevated in nine (69%) of 13 dogs (95% CI 44% to 94%). A minority of dogs (three [23%] of 13; 95% CI 0.2% to 46%) exhibited only an increase in adrenal sex hormones. Only one dog had completely normal ACTH stimulation test results.  Symptoms of HAC were associated with abnormal ACTH stimulation results.  Routine ACTH stimulation testing to evaluate cortisol and sex hormones, blood pressure screening, and urinalysis are recommended in these animals. J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 2009;45:207-214.

The article describes a series of research tests performed on thirteen (13) dogs:

• Spayed Females (9)
• Neutered Males (2)
• Males (2)

The age range of dogs was 6 years to 11.5 years, with a median age of 9 years at the time of diagnosis.

The breeds were as follows:

• Brittany Spaniels (2)
• Cairn Terrier (1)
• Chow Chow (1)
• Dachshund (1)
• German Shepherd (1)
• Lhasa Apso (1)
• Miniature Schnauzer (2)
• Mixed Breed Dog (1)
• Pomeranian (1)
• Welsh Springer Spaniel (1)
• West Highland White Terrier (1)

We found the following excerpt to be quite interesting, particularly based on the surveys that we take online here at SARDSAwareness.org:

Any breed may be affected; however, a breed predilection for dachshunds, miniature schnauzers, and Brittany spaniels has been previously reported.

We have found that nearly 40 percent of the surveys included dachshunds.  We’ll revisit our surveys and come up with a better breakdown for our next posting.

Based on our recent experience with Oscar, we also found the following to be of interest:

• Urinalysis information was available for 10 of 13 dogs. Of these 10, seven had proteinuria.
• Blood pressure evaluations were available for 10 of 13 dogs. Four of 10 dogs were considered to be hypertensive based on average systolic values ranging from 185 to 250 mm Hg.

Oscar’s recent urinalysis has shown excessive protein in the urine (proteinuria) and elevated proteim:creatinine ratio.  As a result, he is currently on a prescription of enalapril and we are seeking a specialized renal diet from the UC Davis Veterinary School of Medicine — Nutrition Services Department.

For an informative read on proteinuria, and the effect of blood pressure on kidney (renal) function, visit the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NKUDIC) page on “The Kidneys and How They Work.”

The above are all interesting, but I don’t want to digress too much from the intent of the paper, which can be summarized by this excerpt:

The majority (11 of 13) of SARDS cases were found to have elevations in one or more sex hormones. Of these elevations, the most common were in 17-OH progesterone and progesterone. Additionally, cortisol was elevated in nine of 13 dogs. All of the dogs with increased cortisol had increased poststimulation values. Importantly, stimulated values (basal versus feedback) give the most information in regard to adrenal activity.23 The majority (nine of 11) of dogs demonstrated an increase in both cortisol and sex hormones. A minority (three of 13) of dogs exhibited only an increase in adrenal sex hormones, and these dogs would not be identified on routine HAC screening. Clinical signs of HAC were associated with abnormal stimulation values in 92% of cases. Only one dog was found to have clinical signs of HAC with normal ACTH stimulation results.

If you’re interested in this paper, and would like to have a further read, please visit the link at the beginning of this posting.  The article is available as a download for $5.00 USD.

You may want to share the information with your own veterinarian.

At our request, Sebastian Suba, President of BioMed Vision Technologies, manufacturer of the Melan-100 Light Source, has graciously provided us a list of veterinary clinics that have the Melan-100 units.

Additionally, Sebastian had a fantastic idea of including a small notice about SARDSAwareness.org into each unit of the Melan-100 unit that they ship out.  

This notice would advise the purchasing clinic about SARDSAwareness.org so that they could add their clinic on our site. This way we can include them on our new map for our readers.  This is a great way to provide a better list of clinics that can effectively diagnose SARDs/IMR.   Thanks for the suggestion Sebastian!  :-)

The clinics on the map are better equipped to diagnose SARDs/IMR than clinics without the Melan-100 unit.

As you can see, the majority of the clinics are in the United States, but there are some in Europe, and in Australia.

If your dog requires a SARDs/IMR diagnosis, please visit one of the listed clinics on this map.  Hopefully you are within driving distance to one.

You can zoom in and out using the map controls on the left side of the map.

View Clinics with Melan-100 for PLR in a larger map

We’ve done some housekeeping over the past week and would like to direct your attention to the following changes:

SARDs / IMR Map:

We had not updated the SARDs/IMR map for some time and finally took the time to update it tonight.

The SARDs/IMR patients reported to our site has since grown from 18 dogs to 40 dogs. You can see the updated map via this link: SARDs/IMR map.

You may have noticed that from patients #0018 and onwards, we did not provide the detail about the diagnosis on the map.  This is for a very good reason, which we do not want to disclose yet for another week or two.

The map has been zoomed out to show the international reports as well, as there are currently four (4) from outside the United States.

SARDs Treatment Costs

We’ve moved the SARDs Treatment Costs page, formerly under the SARDs / IMR Patients grouping, to be grouped under the SARDs / IMR Primer grouping.

This was to make additional screen real-estate so that we could accommodate a new option we plan to add in the next few weeks.

Oscar Mayer @ TBLR page was added.

For those of you interested in the progress Oscar is making with his weight-loss goals using his new treadmill, we have created a new page to share the results.  It’s appropriately titled Oscar Mayer at The Biggest Loser Ranch and can be found by this link:  Oscar Mayer @ TBLR.

To close this posting, we thought we’d post some amusing photos of Oscar wearing a set of Doggles that he received from his friend Diane.  Diane thought that the Doggles would help Oscar fend off the bright Californian sun in the afternoons, and might possibly help him to see better.

Oscar’s not saying how much it’s helping with his sight, but he keeps asking us if he looks cool and asks if he looks anything like Bono from U2.

Several of our readers have expressed heartbreak over the unfortunate diagnosis of SARDs/IMR for their pets.  So, we wanted to write a posting about this topic, partially as therapy for ourselves, but also with hopes that it will help those of you who are having a more difficult time coping with SARDs/IMR than others.

This particular posting was quite difficult to compose because even within our own relationship we have different ways of coping with Oscar’s SARDs condition, and we both want to express different emotions, sentiments, and thoughts on how we are affected, and how we should deal with Oscar’s condition.

First and foremost, we want to recognize that for those pet owners who view their pets as if they were like their own human children, that the diagnosis of SARDs/IMR for their dogs is emotionally traumatizing, heart-breaking, and mind-numbingly depressing.

For those of you who are kind and sensitive enough to feel this way, you may feel hopelessly saddened to the point that you feel you have no way to help your dog in any way whatsoever.

However, we are here to remind you, that while your feelings are quite legitimately affecting you in manners described above, there are considerations that you must make for the sake of your dog if you desire your dog’s behavior to return to any semblance of normalcy prior to the diagnosis of SARDs/IMR.

You must realize that your dog is completely dependant on you for existance and for its quality of existence.

By existence, we mean the basic necessities of life, such as:

• Clean Shelter
• Healthful Food
• Maintenance of Good Health

By quality of existence, we mean the aspects of life that go beyond the necessities, such as:

• Participating in activities :
  • Playing.
  • Exercising for Health.
  • Exercising for Recreation, such as walking in the park, or taking a stroll.
• Enjoying snacks and toys.
• Enjoying fulfilling and emotionally bonding relationships.

We are going to assume that any pet owner diligent enough to seek out SARDs/IMR information on the Internet, and that has found our site, will be adept at providing for the basic necessities of life.

However, we realize, through our own experiences, no less, that despite our ability to provide for the basic necessities of life, sometimes it is difficult to provide for the other aspects of life that improve the quality of life for our dogs.

Our dogs are absolutely completely dependant on us — our behavior, our mood, our emotional and mental states of mind, to live a happy and fulfilling life.

If we get stuck in a state of depression and stagnate in the quagmire of feeling sorry for our dogs with SARDs/IMR, we are doing absolutely nothing for them to improve their quality of life.

We are both fans of Cesar Milan’s show, The Dog Whisperer, and we both feel that there’s considerable amount of truth and wisdom to his advice — that humans need to let go of our own sadness if we want our dogs to be rehabilitated.

As difficult as it may feel to you, we urge you to behave confidently and in a happy manner with your dog, and to continue to look for ways to stimulate your dog in ways that rely upon his senses other than sight, such as tactile, taste, smell, and hearing, so that he can enjoy engaging in life.

We all love dogs for one critical thing that they provide to us — unconditional love.  And for that gift, we owe them nothing less than our own very best in behavior, and mood, and state of mind.

As we end this posting, we would like to bring your attention to a new SARDs/IMR Patient page for Charlie.

Please have a read of Charlie’s story on his page, and see how he is coping with his SARDs condition.

Click here to view Charlie’s page.

Before Oscar was afflicted with SARDs, we were able to keep his weight at around 18 pounds.  Considering that he is a bit on the larger side of a ‘Tweenie, that weight was acceptable to us, as well as Oscar’s veterinarians.

However, since the onset of SARDs, Oscar has gained a significant amount of weight, and currently weighs in at a portly 22 pounds.  While this is only 4 pounds, the percentage in weight gain is quite significant.

While the blindness caused by SARDs it not life threatening, the signifcant weight gain is a very real threat to Oscar’s health.  The additional weight gain can lead to other diseases that we humans are very well aware of, such as diabetes and heart disease.

With Oscar’s health in mind, we purchased a product that we never thought we would ever purchase — a doggie treadmill.

While we could go into a consumerist mode and discuss why we chose a particular brand and model over another, we decided to make that kind of posting at a later date.  For this particular posting, we’d like to show you how Oscar adapted to the treadmill as a supplemental method of exercise.

But, before we show you Oscar’s adaptation to the treadmill, we want to let you know that Oscar does go out at least twice a day for outside walks.  When Oscar was able to see, those two walks were sufficient to maintain his weight.  However, after losing his sight to SARDs, his confidence diminished, and the environmental audible noise was too much for him, and he was unable to focus on brisk walks necessary to provide him sufficient exercise  As a result, even the normal amount of walking that Oscar had done in the past was insufficient to bring down his current excess weight.

Anyway, that’s enough of an introduction.  Many of you have been waiting for this post so let’s get down to it.

In the video below, you see Suzie introducing Oscar to the treadmill by trying to coax him onto it using one of his favorite treats.  Before this exercise we left the treadmill around for Oscar to smell so that he could get used to its presence through his olfactory senses.  We then used food to lure him onto the treadmill.  Have a look at the video to see how it went.

Coaxing Oscar onto the treadmill....

After his relatively good experience on the treadmill (associating his favorite treat with being on the treadmill), we introduced him to his first walk at the lowest speed setting of 0.3 mph.

Oscar's first walk on the treadmill.

The smile you see above is after the conclusion of his first walk.  We think he really enjoyed it.

Now, the next video is quite long.  It is approximately 19 minutes long and is over 150 MB.  Those of you with dial-up connections will have a very difficult time viewing the video.  Perhaps you can view it at work with a faster connection?

During the first few seconds of the video, you’ll notice Oscar’s wagging tail as he anticipates his moderately strenuous work-out.  There’s no need to see the entire video, as it shows Oscar walking at various speeds (from 0.8 mph to 1.4 mph), unless you want to see the exact timing sequences/duration of his walks at particular speeds.

In general, we think you’ll see that Oscar is having some pretty positive experiences with the treadmill, and that he is really looking forward to the good exercise that he gets on the machine.

Oscar's treadmill workout.

We’re only into week three of Oscar’s workout with the treadmill.  Starting tomorrow, we will weigh and measure him, and start to collect empirical data about his weight, so that we can see objectively if the exercise on the treadmill is actually having any positive change to his weight and overall health.

We’ll publish his workout schedule and frequency, and will share with you his progress as the weeks and months go by.

Meanwhile, if you have any questions, please email us.

p.s.

We’d like to thank Bonnie for her advice with changes to Oscar’s diet.  Bonnie, maybe you’d like to have a “Nutrition Column” on the site?  (hint hint)  :-)

Also, we’d like to thank Link for always reading our site and providing positive comments.  While his dog has not been afflicted with SARDs/IMR, he’s always thoroughly reading the site and spreading the word with others.

The familiar stressors of life cause the familiar delays with blog updates.  However, what matters is that we’re back now and have made some updates to the site.

We’ve updated Cookie’s static page with videos that Bonnie provided.  You can see Cookie’s exceptional navigational skills by watching her videos on this page:  Click here to see Cookie’s page.

We’ve also created a static page about the Curious Case of Zippy.  Please have a look by visiting his page: Click here to see Zippy’s page.

A while ago we mentioned that we ordered a treadmill for Oscar.  He’s been using it regularly for two weeks now and he seems to be really enjoying it.

We’ll be making a posting about the treadmill with a video tomorrow night.

Denotatively, to attenuate means to to weaken or reduce in force, intensity, effect, quantity; to make thin; to make slender or fine.

When your ophthalmologist examines your dog’s eye and you hear the term “arterial attenuation”, your ophthalmologist is referring to the weakening or lessening of the blood vessel infrastructure in the eye.

In SARDs/IMR dogs, in addition to the auto-antibodies that destroy retinal cells, the dog’s immune system mistakes the retinal cells as cancer and “attacks” the cancer in another way — by cutting off the blood supply to the retina.

Because living cells in the body require blood supply, reducing the blood flow, by decreasing the blood vessel infrastructure to the retina, is the body’s way to fight the retinal cells that the body mistakes as cancer.

What we really wanted to write about tonight, however, was our new doggy treadmill that arrived today.  However, after putting it together and turning it on, we received an error message on the console, and started to smell an electrical burn.

We occasionally search for other sites that contain information about SARDs/IMR.  We do this to reach out to other website administrators to let them know that SARDSAwareness.org now exists and that they may want to consider linking to the site.

Most of the information out there is a few years old, and usually there’s a brief explanation of SARDs/IMR and some links to press releases regarding the break-throughs at ISU.

However, one of the sponsored Google ads that we saw pointed us to a website called JustAnswer.com.

At JustAnswer.com, you can ask any veterinary question you want, and a qualified veterinarian will attempt to answer your question.

If you make a $13 deposit into an account, JustAnswer.com will allow you to read the responses from the veterinarian before you decide to “Accept” their answer.  ”Accept”ing the answer forwards your $13 answer deposit to the expert who answers your question.

We decided to give this service a try.  Our intent was to determine what level of awareness this particular service had regarding SARDs/IMR.  After all, it is plausible that many of you may have seen the sponsored ads and have pondered utilizing their services.

Anyway, we thought we’d take the plunge and share our findings with you.

My conversation with Dr. Dave, the expert on staff at the time, was in the form of an email utilizing the JustAnswer.com website interface.  Our conversation started with this one question and what you see here is unedited:

Jay:   What are the treatment options for SARDS/IMR?

There is some new research into using Intravenous immunoglobulin (IV-Ig) to try and treat SARD in dogs.

The benefit is theoretical (a proposed common mechanism with Immune Mediated Retinopathy in people), and IV Ig is dangerous in dogs (high rate of anaphylactic reactions).

As far as I know no benefit to the treatment has been shown. Have you consulted a veterinary ophthalmologist? They are up on this stuff.

Realistically, there are no treatment options. I am so sorry.

Jay:  Can you please provide more information about IV-Ig treatment?  And what is the percentage of anaphylactic reactions?  If there is such a percentage, I’m assuming there is treatment that has been performed?  Can you point me in this direction please?  Does SARDS cause any other issues for dogs other than blindness?

Here is a link to an info page on the treatment out of Iowa State University. I think the first case reports were back in 2007. http://www.techtransfer.iastate.edu/documents/7e3741203712316812.pdf

I don’t know the rate of anaphylactic reactions to IVIg, but it doesn’t preclude its use. We use it in treating life-threatening blood diseases. There is a correlation between SARDS and hyperadrenocorticism or “Cushing’s disease.” Cushing’s disease is relatively easily diagnosed or ruled out by your veterinarian.

Here is a link to an info page on the treatment out of Iowa State University. I think the first case reports were back in 2007. http://www.techtransfer.iastate.edu/documents/7e3741203712316812.pdf

There is a correlation between SARDS and hyperadrenocorticism or “Cushing’s disease.” Cushing’s disease is relatively easily diagnosed or ruled out by your veterinarian.

I don’t know the rate of anaphylactic reactions to IVIg, but it doesn’t preclude its use. We use it in treating life-threatening blood diseases.

Jay:  Thank you for the reply and additional information about Cushing’s disease.   In your original email you specifically mention “high rate of anaphylactic reactions” yet your last reply states that you “don’t know the rate of anaphylactic reactions to IVIg”.   I’m a bit puzzled.  If I wish to seek this treatment, which information should I consider regarding its risk for anaphylactic reaction? Is it in your own personal use of IVIg treatment for blood diseases where you have seen a high rate of anaphylactic reaction?

Sorry I wasn’t more clear. I don’t know the exact rate of anaphylactic reactions to IVIG. I suspect nobody does because it would be a hard study to perform.

For other treatments, we sometimes have published exact complication rates, listed as percentages. I don’t know of any published complication rates for IVIG. That’s what I thought you were asking for.

Our Critical Care Service uses IVIG occasionally (it is rather expensive) for immune mediated hemolytic anemia, and we have not had any anaphylactic reactions that I know of.

This may be because the patients we use it on are very sick and may die before their second dose (theoretically, anaphylaxis happens after a second dose).

I estimate we have used it twice in 3 years in our hospital.  I say the rate is high, but I mean relative to the severity of the disease, because anaphylaxis is life threatening, whereas SARDS is not.

While there are no hard-set rules in veterinary medicine, many people would not attempt a potentially life threatening treatment to cure a non-life-threatening disease.   Then again, I don’t really know the details of the IVIG treatment for SARDS.   For all I know, they may have a very low indicidence of complications from the IVIG treatment.

You should get that info from the people who do the treatment.

I must say, I was quite impressed with Dr. Dave’s attentiveness and his quickness to respond.  At the very least, Dr. Dave was able to provide us with two (2) alternate locations local to us that could provide IVIg treatment.

We have put in queries to those clicnics to ask if they would be willing to treat SARDs/IMR with IVIg and are awaiting their response.  Pending their positive response, we will be updating our SARDs/IMR treatment provider map.

If these clinics are willing to provide treatment adhering to ISU’s protocol, and assuming that your dog is a candidate for IVIg, and does not need intra-ocular IVIg, then local residents of Southern California have local options for treatment.

I believe $13 dollars would have been well spent if the above became true.

For those of you in other states, perhaps JustAnswer.com could be a resource for you to find local treatment providers.

On a separate note, Dr. Dave provides some other topics to consider:

While there are no hard-set rules in veterinary medicine, many people would not attempt a potentially life threatening treatment to cure a non-life-threatening disease.

Dr. Dave also points out:

Our Critical Care Service uses IVIG occasionally (it is rather expensive) for immune mediated hemolytic anemia, and we have not had any anaphylactic reactions that I know of.

This may be because the patients we use it on are very sick and may die before their second dose (theoretically, anaphylaxis happens after a second dose).

On the ISU website for SARDs, it states that a secondary treatment for SARDs is not possible due to the risk of anaphylactic shock.  However, because anaphylactic shock is now mitigated by dexamesathone and diphendydramine, ISU has been able to provide multiple IVIg treatments to dogs.  This has been confirmed with Dr. Grozdanic.

It is true that SARDs is not an immediately life-threatening condition.  However, we should not rule out that other complications may arise causing SARDs/IMR to be life-threatening later.

In recent days, we have had some conversations with others regarding ISU’s IVIg treatment.  As we have stated in our conversations, we are personally biased toward the treatment, only because of the perceived benefit that we believe that we have gained.  There are some other non-tangible reasons as well, but they are rather personal and cannot be quantified in any meaningful way to others.

It is not necessary to chase the latest and greatest experimental treatment.  But it is up to you, the individual, to become educated, and to make reasonably intelligent decisions that benefit your dog, your financial state, and your peace of mind.

We hope the site assists you with that endeavor.

One of our readers, who reacted quickly to their dog Tia’s SARDs diagnosis, took the trip to see Dr. Grozdanic at ISU with hopes of receiving IVIg treatment.

After their initial consultation with Dr. Grozdanic, they quickly learned that Tia’s condition was IMR, not SARDs.

While Tia’s retinas were still in good condition, and she was an excellent candidate for treatment to restore vision, due to a previous condition with tumors, Tia was unable to receive neither the IVIg nor intra-ocular IVIg treatment, as the treatment would have done more physical harm.

While Tia’s owners were dismayed at their findings, they were relieved to get an accurate diagnosis so that they could get the proper treatment for Tia.

This is an example of how an accurate diagnosis would have saved time and money for Tia’s and her owners.

Which all leads back to our efforts to help educate our regular veterinarians that they need to be more educated on how to accurately diagnose the difference between these two conditions.

If you haven’t done so already, please print the documents available from our site, and just share them with your veterinarian the next time your dog goes in for a check-up.