A bit more about Badger

I’d never had a dog of my own before Badger. We’d had a couple of dogs, family dogs, when I was growing up, but since I was a kid they weren’t really my responsibility as such. Not to say that I didn’t love them – I loved them  to bits! But having my own dog is very different to having a family dog as a kid… a lot more responsibility, a lot more stress, a lot more work… and a lot more rewarding.

Badger is the puppy that my fiance Emmanuel and I adopted together. Together we’re a little family 🙂

Badger at 8 weeks old, the day we brought him home from the breeder

When Badger was 10 weeks old, he suddenly developed Cherry Eye in his right eye, a condition where a gland that usually sits inside the eye socket prolapses and bulges out from the eye. It looks horrific, even though it actually doesn’t cause the dog any pain, and usually happens completely out of the blue, with no warning. We took him straight to the vet who said that it would require (very expensive) surgery to fix. He was booked in for surgery with an animal eye specialist a week later. At his first appointment with the eye specialist, he was also diagnosed with distichiasis, which are eyelashes growing on the inner rims of his eyelids. These eyelashes rub against the surface of his eyes and can potentially lead to corneal ulcers. Oh, the fun just never stops.

At this point, a lot of people we know were suggesting that we return him to the breeder that we got him from, as we’d only had him for two weeks and we were already looking at vet bills of well over a thousand dollars for the cherry eye surgery alone. The breeder herself offered to take him back when I told her about his eye problems. But we were already in love with him, and we’re not the type to abandon our pets when they need us most.

While we waited for the day of his operation, complications arose as he managed to scratch the gland and it got infected. I hadn’t been so upset and worried for a long time. But with a double course of antibiotics he recovered from the infection, had the surgery, and has recovered really well. Definitely the most stressful week I’ve had in a long time, but he’s fine now, and that’s what matters.

On that note, if you live on the Sunshine Coast and your pet ever needs an eye specialist, Dr Guy Clare at North Coast Veterinary Specialists is fantastic. Yes, taking your pet to a specialist costs a lot of money. But we felt more confident taking him there than to a regular vet, as Dr Clare has  over a 97% success rate with these particular operations, while regular vets have about 50% success rate.

Badger, one week after surgery

So he’s all recovered from his surgery now, and last week got the all-clear from Dr Clare. Such a huge relief! We’re managing Badger’s distichiasis with ViscoTears eyedrops 3 times a day as recommended by Dr Clare, and that’s working perfectly to stop them from becoming a problem.

Aside from these eye issues, he’s the healthiest dog you could hope for. Also the cutest 🙂 He’s growing at an incredible rate. Gaining about a kilo each week. Some mornings I wake up and look at him, and I swear he’s got visibly bigger overnight. There are times that he frustrates me, like when I try to take him for a walk and he just lies down on the footpath and refuses to move, and times that he annoys me, like when he chews my hair while I’m sleeping. But he’s a puppy. They’re always a little bit naughty.

We love our little dog, and can’t wait to travel around Australia with him.

This photo makes me laugh every time I look at it 🙂 The expression on his face! Classic. He was running around, going mental and ripping up a piece of paper when I took this.