Category Archives: Pets

Bonnie’s Vision Update

I’m taking a bunch of pictures of Bonnie with her eyes in the condition that they are in. She does appear to have zero vision, but with the current intense regimen of pills and drops, she is not squinting, so she is hopefully not in any pain. Tomorrow I find out if the surgery to remove the eyes is imminent. I gave her an intense bath and a little trim before the appointment and a trip to Guerneville with Shea and Snoopy.

Bonnie’s Eyes

Today I received daunting news from a veterinarian ophthalmologist on the condition of my beloved Bonnie’s eyes (she’s in the foreground in the picture below taken earlier this month). She may have already lost her vision completely, so enucleation (removal of the eyes) may be imminent and the most humane thing to do to keep her out of pain given the futility of the eyes remaining. The procedure would mean she wouldn’t have to endure the 22 drops a day I currently put in her eyes plus an oral medication. Moreover, she’d be completely pain-free after the procedure because the eye pressure from the glaucoma is what causes the pain. She also came to me with the other permanent vision loss condition of dislocated lenses. Over the last week or so I noticed her irritation with one and then both of her eyes. At her eye doctor appointment about a month ago, I had been warned that removal of the eyes was projected for the future, but that she was stable. I therefore hoped that anything of this nature wouldn’t manifest until she was much older, since she is only seven. I am broken-hearted that it might be only weeks away if the regimen doesn’t work well. It might just be inevitable, but I still intend to give her the highest quality of life possible and I’ll still look for the silver lining in this, as my whole mission since the tragedy of the fire in January has been about finding silver linings in life.

She’s very sleepy in these pictures, but you can sort of see some clear liquid wetting under her eyes and some redness where it should be the whites of her eyes.

Grooming Former Fosters

These father and son dogs (who I named Peanut and Zorro) are with my friend Jeannette. They are technically survivors of the fire as well since they were fosters that she took in just days before the fire, and they were the ones I was helping her with when I was out of the house that morning.

Castro Valley Pride 2024

My daughter’s high school (she graduated years ago) hosts an annual Castro Valley Pride yearly. This year did not disappoint with great drag shows, part of the original AIDS quilt, and many vendors. We tried out this dog cart for the first time. At this event years ago, I first saw a dog cart of this nature, which inspired my purchase of the first one.

Belated Birthdays Brunch

Noel and Mark were kind enough to throw us a belated brunch for our birthdays, so we enjoyed ourselves in their amazing backyard.

Mark made a quiche and pastries and we had coffee and yellow beet with feta. We brought some bubbly and a fruit salad with granola and yogurt.

Shea does the “Bonnie Wash”!