I had some information, at that time, that I wasn't going to share until I knew what I was talking about.
Late on the night of the 23rd of November, I noticed "eye crud" in the corner of Echo's left eye.
Echo doesn't get "eye crud".
That set off the first alarm bell in my head.
So, I opened up her left eye, and examined the whites of her left eye. They were red. There was, also, a milky white discharge from her eye, in the channel from her eyelid.
(Echo is used to me "poking and prodding" her. I have made it a habit to check her mouth, feel between her toes, examine her tail, feel between her paw pads, etc. on a regular basis.)
It was dark in the room, and I didn't want to be the "paranoid Dad" or "helicopter parent". So, I asked Amy to check it out the next morning. Amy confirmed what I found.
This was late Saturday. Echo was showing no signs of any discomfort. So, Amy called our vet, and set up an appointment with Doc Jo for Monday.
I emailed Jean. She talked with Echo's breeder about Collie eye issues, and Jean forwarded the pertinent information about Collies.
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On Monday, I took Echo to see Doc Jo.
(At this point, Echo is STILL not showing any discomfort from her eye condition.)
Doc Jo IMMEDIATELY diagnoses the problem as "Pink Eye" or conjunctivitis.
I relate everything the breeder has said, and Doc Jo tells me that she knows that. And, basically, given the state of the white area of Echo's left eye, it has to be conjunctivitis.
This floors me.
None of us: Gimli, Amy, Jesus, or I are showing any signs of conjunctivitis. Echo has not been exposed to anything that, at least, one of the rest of us has been exposed to!
I know what this ailment feels like. I had it, as a kid. I was miserable.
At it's worse, Echo has shown NO sign of any discomfort. In fact, she acted somewhat offended when I cleaned the "eye crud" from her face. (She was in the middle of playing when I noticed the "eye crud".)
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Anyway, Doc Jo gave her antibiotic eye drops to clear things up.
I am happy to say two things:
- The only discomfort she has expressed from this experience are the eye drops, sometimes.
- While it did start to spread to her right eye, both eyes are almost completely clear. ... Just the outer fringes of the "whites" of her eyes are a bit more pink than normal. Which is much better than the whites of her left eye being RED.
To sum up:
The "Pink Eye" is rapidly going away. She did not share it with anyone else, and she displayed little discomfort from the ailment.
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I have to add, however, that she did REALLY well with me putting the drops in her eyes. ... Most of the time, she was being fed "treats" while I was medicating her.
To give her the full course of medication, we have about a week to go. However, she should not be contagious anymore.
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THEN we have tonight's breakthrough.
Since Echo came back from Ursula's. there has been something of a "dominance" game between Echo and Gimli.
There are alot of details to that, but one of the most prominent is that Echo has picked up, consistently, an old "rope toy" of Tas and Radar's, and tried to get Gimli to "play" with the toy with her.
For over a week, Echo's efforts have been a failure.
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Tonight was awesome.
For almost 2 hours, they played with that rope toy together.
Sometimes, they laid down, together, and chewed on it.
Sometimes they played "tug" against each other.
But, they "played".
Up until tonight, Gimli has, really, treated her as an intruder in his family/space.
Tonight, they "played" together, and both of them seemed to enjoy it!
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