Oscar Mayer, DUS
Oscar, on Father's Day, June 21, 2009
It’s difficult to gauge objectively if your dog still has any remnants of vision after the affliction of SARDs/IMR.
For Oscar, there are days when we believe Oscar has no vision at all. However, sometimes our emotional subjectivity clouds that judgement. So, the best thing to do is to take some videos and review them later, when our emotions have subsided.
Please have a look at the videos below, and let us know know your thoughts by leaving comments.
This page is open for comments.
Oscar receives his bi-weekly dosage of prednisone on Sunday and Wednesday evenings. The first video below was recorded on Monday, approximately 24 hours after his Sunday evening prednisone was taken.
Oscar, 24h after prednisone.
Oscar, 24h after prednisone.
If you’ve read Dr. Grozdanic’s presentation file, Sudden Acquired Retinal Degeneration Syndrome (SARDs) and Immune Mediated Retinitis (IMR) — approach to diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, available on our Documentation page, you’ll recall that one of his subjects loses vision when seasonal skin allergies flare up.
In the next video, you can see clearly that Oscar’s allergies bothering him. We suspect it may have an affect on his vision. Take a look for yourself.
Oscar, 48h after prednisone.
The next video was taken before his Wednesday evening prednisone dosage. I did not speak a word nor make a sound when I stood in the grass, waiting for Oscar to approach me.
We believe that sometimes Oscar’s behavior is indicative of his ability to see. When he’s unsure, his nose is down to the ground, using his sense of smell to nagivate. What do you think about his behavior in the following two videos?
Oscar, 72h after prednosone.
The follow video has an accurate title image, stating a date of 2009.05.20. The correct date is 2009.05.21, Thursday.
Oscar, 24h after prednisone.
The videos were so interesting to me. Clearly he did better outside in the bright light which is the same for Cookie. I just want to pick him up and hug and kiss him!
You all have done a fantastic job with this website. I’m so impressed!! I sure wish it would have been around last November when I needed it.
I looked at the last two videos and it did seem like he could see better. He was less hesitant and seemed more sure of himself.
Our dog was just diagnosed with SARDS but the opt said we could try prednisone to see if any sight developed.
We are hoping that it might be pituitary based and the pred might help Bonnie see. He did not give us much hope however.
Was oscar diagnosed with SARDS or IMR ?
It’s great that he seems to be able to see. Craig
Hi Craig,
Oscar was diagnosed with SARDs.
We haven’t taken any recent videos, so we need to do that sometime soon.
It’s hard to say whether he can actually see or not without the videos. He has his good and bad days, and sometimes his behavior confuses us as to his ability to see.
My Papillon lost her sight suddenly last month. My vet had no idea why she could not see.I reserched the symptoms and determined that Ariel’s symptoms were similar to SARDS. This was done before I went to the opthamologist. The opthamologist said that I was “most likely correct in my diagnosis.” The other condition he suggested was a tumor either in the brain or pituritary (sp) gland.
He told me there was no cure and no treatment. I have been contacting various Colleges of Veternary Medicine and found that very litte is known about this horrible disease. My dog has the same gait as your little Oscar, big tummy, frequent urination, increased appetite, and confusion.
I get the fact that it is incurable and untreatable…that is all I am told by the Vets I contact. Isn’t there anything out there that can make them more comfortable, will this SARDS lead to her death? I am naturally devastated but I do want to make her more comfortable if that is possible.
Did the prednisone seem to make Oscar more comfortable? Should I ask my vet about prednisone treatment?
Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated. No one seems to know anything about this in my area (Charlotte, NC).
Thank you!
Linda