Now Buck is 10 1/2 and in his first 10 years the only trips to the vet except for his usualy shots, wellness checks, etc was when the rattleanke hit him in the face 6 years ago come Nov. and then 6 months later he had a bad reaction to a ground wasp sting. But since turning 10 six montns ago--well, thyroid has been diagnosed, he had a melanoma removed from lip and a benign tumor removed from his gum, and then the bout with the hot spots.

Now it's his eyes. For a couple of months we have suspected that he was not seeing very well in the dark. He does not want to go into a dark room, or go outside after dark. Well, Tuesday morning when he came out of his room I thought he looked wet around his left eye, but later on it seemed fine. However, Tuesday morning it was wet and he kept rubbing it on furniture and pawing at it. I looked and saw his eyeball was very red. Called and set up appointment for that afternoon.

When I got there they put some deadning drops in his eye and then some stain to check for ulcers on eyeball. His eyeball is healthy, but is clouding over--old age, not cataracts. But my vet said it isn't as bad as expected for a large dog his age.

He did find a very very small tumor under the eyelid of the left eye. he doesn't know if the tumor started the irritation or if maybe something was actually in Buck's eye. I am to keep Buck on eye drops for a week and then take him and have the tumor removed. Rickey thinks he can do it with just sedating Buck rather than putting him under.

By Wednesday his eye was much better, after just two treatments with the antibiotic drops. I am thinking maybe something was in his eye and all the drops they put in his eye at the vets, and all the eyelid moving, etc they did made the object come out. He has not rubbed or pawed at it since.

But it is sad to see that big powerful dog (he was 99 pounds, all muscle, but we got him down to 89 because he has arthritis in his back legs, tho not bad) who has never been scared of anything be afraid of the dark. He will stand at the door, slunk down, tail between his legs, until I turn on the light. We think he sees things, but just not sure what it is. I have taken to turning on patio light and going outsdie with him at night and opening the curtains on the side window so our neighbor's bright porch light shines into his room at night.

oh wow that is sad. it is hard to see your best friend getting old. I hope he takes a turn for the better soon.