ThisiswhatI’velearnedfromhavingaPBGVdiagnosed
withPOAG.POAGisusuallydiagnosedbyhavingthe
pressurecheckedinthedog’seyes.Whenthisdisease
iscaughtearly,thedogstillhasitssightasthisisaslow
progressivedisease.Thisdiseaseisdifferentthanclosed
angleglaucoma,whichcomesonquicklywithblindness
happeningrapidly.WithPOAG,glaucomaintheeyecauses
thepressuretogoup.Duetothispressure,damageisdone
totheeyewhichleads,overtime,toblindness.

Whencaughtinitsearlystages,eyedropsadministered

canhelpcontroltheeyepressuresandslowdownorhelp
controltheamountofdamagethattheglaucomacreates,
allowingthedogtoseelonger—sometimesyearslonger
thanwhenleftuntreatedand/ornotdiagnoseduntilitslate
stages.Thestagesofthiskindofglaucomaareconsidered
mild,mildtomoderate,moderate,moderatetosevereand
severe.Thediseasemayappearinoneeyefirstandthenthe
other.Thediseaseoftenshowsupinoneeyefirst,thensix
monthstotwoyearslateritwillappearintheothereye.

IhadheardthatthesireofmygirlhadproducedPOAG,

soItookhertoanophthalmologisttohavehertested.She
was4-

1

/

2

yearsold.Ididnotcatchthediseaseinoneeye

untiltheeyewasinitsmoderate-to-severestage.Theother
eyewasinitsmildstage.Thedropshelpedherseeoutofthe
moderate-to-severeeyeforabout15to16months.Nowthe
dropsaresimplybeingusedtohelpcontrolthepain.I’m

goingtohavethateyeremovedtoendthediscomfortshe
nowfeels.Thedropsarenolongerworking,andsheisnow
blindinthateye.However,shewillturn7thisAprilandcan
stillseeoutofhereyethatwasdiagnosedinitsearlystage
ofmildbecauseIcontrolledthediseasewithdailyeye
drops.Thateyeisnowdiagnosedasmild-to-moderatein
itsdevelopment.Aslongastheglaucomainthiseyestays
controlled,myspecialistthinksshemightbeableto
continuetoseefortwotothreemoreyears.Howwella
dogrespondstotreatmentdependsonthedogandthe
ownerbeingconsistentinadministeringmedications.

Everyownerneedstohavetheirdogsvisitaspecialist

forproperdiagnosisandtreatment.Havingtheright
instrumentsthatshowcorrectpressurereadingsmatterwith
thisdisease.Somevetsmaynothavecorrectinstruments
neededtocheckeyepressuresoncePOAGasbeen
diagnosed.Also,differentdogsrespondtovarious
medicationtreatmentsdifferentlythanotherdogs.A
specialisthastheknowledgerequired.IknowofaPBGV
owneroverseaswhohaslittermatesthathavePOAG,and
thediseasewascaughtinitsearlierstages.Bothwereput
ondrops.OneofthePBswentblindinbotheyesintwo
tothreeyearswhiletheotherisdoingsowell;hisvisionis
stillgoodalmostfouryearslater.

Ihopethisinformationhelpsothersunderstandthe

differentsituationsthatmayexistregardingPOAG.

I

IPBGVHealthForum

byRebeccaBelflowerrsbelflower@sbcglobal.net

DealingwithPOAG:

AFirst-HandAccount

66

PhotobyJaneSwanson