Sometime around the 25th or 26th of January, we noticed a white spot on Oskar’s left eye.

The spot itself was about 3mm in diameter and there was a slight elliptical halo around it. It appeared overnight. It wasn’t there the night before going to bed but we noticed it in the morning. Oskar spends most evenings staring lovingly into my husband’s eyes so if it had been there in the evening, we would have noticed it. Practically everyone that knows Oskar commented on the spot after it appeared. There was no missing it.

He didn’t seem fussed by it at all and he already had an slot to see the vet on the 4th of February. We decided to bring it up during our appointment, if it was still there. Oskar has a group of friends he plays with most evenings and we thought maybe something had happened then. Random injuries due to exuberant play is something we have gotten use to in our household.

First vet visit

Oskar developed a skin allergy condition in the past year which we are managing with routine bathing and monthly injections of Cytopoint. Thankfully he LOVES all the cuddles and fuss he gets at the vet’s office so a monthly injection is his idea of a great night out.

Ben, the vet that saw us, looked at the eye and said he hadn’t seen anything like it before. We agreed to have him take some pictures to send to the specialist to see what our next step should be. To try to capture the halo effect from the best angle, he took several profile photos of his eye. This would turn out to be a problem later but at the time, none of us knew any better.

A few days later, Ben called with a reply from the specialist. The specialist asked if there were any signs of discomfort, discharge, redness, swelling, etc. The answer to everything was no. The only symptom we could see was the spot itself. Oskar is very quick to let us know if he is in pain or discomfort. He once refused to put weight on his paw for a week because he bruised one of his pads by chewing his foot. Whilst he has so many typical Golden Retrieve traits, stoicism in the face of pain is not one of them.

Given that there were no other symptoms, it was agreed between “The Team” to monitor the eye each month when he gets his injection to see if it gets any better or worse. His team at this point is Ben, the rather young vet, that Oskar loves to get a sneaky face lick in any time he gets in reach. Ida, the Head of Ophthalmology and consultant on Oskar’s case. And finally, my husband Gevert and myself.

Wait and see…..

At first, it did seem like the eye was getting better. The halo around the white spot disappeared entirely after a couple weeks. And then the white spot itself seemed to be getting smaller. I took some pictures about two weeks after the first appt so we can try to mark progress. I kept taking pictures from the same angle, again, not knowing any better. The first week of March Oskar goes in for his injection and we all agree that it seems like whatever was wrong is healing on its own. Let’s go another month and see where we are.

March goes by and whilst the white spot doesn’t get any smaller and there are no new symptoms, it doesn’t seem to be getting any better either. We’ve hit a plateau.

During his April injection visit I ask if it might be wise to see the specialist in person for a consult. I’m sure it’s probably nothing to be worried about but let’s have her check him out just to make sure. If it were still getting better, I probably would have agreed to wait another month, but the plateauing made me think it’s time we make sure we know what it is we are dealing with. The eye specialist has a circuit of vet’s office she visits and her next trip to our vet was going to be on the 29th of April. We are booked in as her first appointment for the day and I feel a bit better that we are going to sort this out once and for all.