Cone off

Donna helped me take the cone off Daisy's head this afternoon.  The cone had been on tight as Daisy wasn't able to remove it, but the removal was easier that I thought it would be.  Daisy cooperated.

Before the removal:

After the removal:

This evening Daisy spent some time grooming now that she could lick more than just the end of her legs and tail without the cone around her head.  And she can lay curled up again without the cone.

Daisy's vet visit for checkup

I took Daisy in to the vet this morning.  He was pleased with Daisy's eye recovery and progress.  The eye is cloudy but blood vessels are forming.  The pupil is dilating much more than last time.  I'm trying to remember exactly what he said; I believe it was that her pupil tends to go up and not straight out due to the injury and recovery.  The vet put some green liquid in her eye so he could check if her eye developed an ulcer, and it did not.

No more follow-ups unless her eye takes a turn for the worse.  I am leaving the cone on her head for another 5 to 7 days to be on the safe side in case she tries to scratch around the eye because it is itching due to the continued healing.  Daisy does a bit of scratching against the cone but I think it is because of her neck and chin are itching due to the cone.  Daisy's outside activity is only during the day and when I can be with her.  It is not as long as she would like as I hear lots of grumbling when I pick her up and take her back in the house.

On the roof, and Daisy's eye

Daisy is feeling better.  So much that most evenings after dark she wants to go outside.  I don't let her as she is still recovering.  So for an hour or two she complains to me and asks me to let her outside.  However during the day I am letting her outside when I can accompany her.  In the beginning we sat somewhere for twenty minutes or so as Daisy sniffed, listened and tried to look around, then went back into the house.  The past few days she is walking around the house a little. Today we went outside in the morning and again just before sundown.  Before sundown she then wanted to explore the yard and a few times I had to pick her up to stop her from going into the stack of boards or when she tried to leave the yard to go into the NE pasture.  She is now grumbling to complain when I pick her up when she wants to go somewhere.

This morning Daisy decided she wanted to climb the shrub /tree by the house.  In the past she figured out how to climb this shrub/tree to get up on the house roof.  Today with her cone on her head I didn't think she would get far.  She still figured out how to get around some branches with her cone and get up on the house roof, which still has lots of snow on it.

Daisy on the top of the house roof

She spent a little time looking out at the world.  After it began to rain lightly she wanted down.  Getting down is now harder than climbing up.  Before she had no problem in getting down off the house roof.  With the cone it might have been too hard.  After getting into the shrub/tree as seen below, she couldn't turn and get further down. She went back on the house roof.  I got a ladder and carried her down even though she doesn't like to be carried.

After we came back into the house I took photos of how her eye looks currently.

Cut eye

Last night Daisy got into a fight with the neighbor's cat.  Most likely over who gets to be in Daisy shed of hay bales.  He came back in the house after dark so I didn't notice his injury.  This morning he didn't want to go outside at his usual time between 4 am to 7 am.  I checked on him after I got up and saw his eye was swollen shut and liquid was running down his face. I made an appointment at my vet clinic and after feeding the cows hay I took Daisy to the vet clinic mid morning.   They learned Daisy's eye cornea was cut.  After the first look at the open injured eye I couldn't look anymore as Daisy's eye condition horrified me.

The vet doctor said he could perform eye surgery and stitch the cornea back together.  A 50/50 chance of saving Daisy's eye. A $425 vet bill but Daisy is worth it.  I wasn't able to speak to the doctor after the surgery when I came to pick up Daisy in the afternoon as the clinic overrun with people and their pets.  A nurse said the doctor said the eye surgery came out better than he was initially concerned with.  Daisy's eye hadn't collapsed so the surgery went better.  So we'll now wait to see if this saves his eye.

I have a follow-up appointment in ten days to remove the eye stitch.  Daisy also has to wear a "buster" collar until then to protect the eye from itch scratching.  Daisy is not happy about the collar.  Earlier I could hear Daisy walk around the house as the collar would scratch against the wall as he walked.  He also had trouble going around corners as the collar would catch on the wall.  And sleeping is different as he can't lay the way he normally does.  Eventually he came and laid next to me for a little while like normal when I started the fire in the wood stove and laid on the floor in front of it.

Daisy's injury is heartbreaking.