The Trials and Tribulations of Chukar (a Brittany)

[10Key]

Chukars B-day was 10/18/2009 and we got him from Cascade View Brittanies in Darrington. Post some pics up of your pup!

[bracer40]

Gotta get some that are better than the camera on the cell phone 1st.

[10Key]

October 18, 2013:

Happy birthday buddy! It has been a great ride so far, we look forward to many more days in the field and cuddles at home

[10Key]

October 18, 2014:

Happy fifth little buddy!

We celebrated #5 with a trip to an area we have never been, south of Wenatchee. We were hoping to run into a quail or two...it was slow as heck and we nearly left early Then finally chukar ended up tracking down a covey of huns that we chased up an down the steep hills for a couple of hours. I was happy that he was able to fill his nasal passages with some scent...I didn't even shoulder my gun, birds were a bit spooky it seemed, typical for huns in my experience We still had a blast getting out and stretching out legs. Here are a couple of shots near the top of the hill:

[10Key]

April 16, 2015:

Been quite a ride the last couple of months. Chukar had an issue with his right eye, turned out he lost site in it. They are thinking it was some sort of trama, causing a detached retina. Ok, fine, eye was stable and he didn't seem to care. We had a regimen of eye drops to keep.pressure from building and causing problems. Well, that didn't work. Today we had his eye removed. I am sitting here with him as he moans in pain, hate seeing him like this. We are having the eye sent out to see if a they can determine the cause. In the meantime, 2 weeks with the cone of shame and limited activity.

[wildweeds]

What is "Teams"?

[10Key]

sorry, was on my phone.

teams = trama

[jetjockey]

Man, I'm really sorry to hear about that.  Luckily these guys are tougher than we give them credit for.

[NW-GSP]

I hope chukar is feeling better.

[Bwana Bob]

Sorry to hear about your dog. 

[10Key]

Thanks for all the thoughts, it was a rough couple of weeks.

To update, Chukar woke up the next following surgery and looked like he was in a 12-round title fight...and lost! The swelling was incredible. Fast forward to today and if he didn't have the cone of shame on, you really wouldn't know he doesn't have his right eye. The swelling on  he bottom half of the eye is virtually non-existent and the upper portion is almost completely gone. His attitude is back to normal and doesn't seem to care one iota that he only has one eye. The cone and stitches come off next week, so far, so good.

One thing I will add is that when people ask me how he's doing, they invariably assume his hunting days are over...as far as I am concerned it will business as usual, although I will be a bit more hesitant sending him into thick cover. Of course, we will see how he is doing once fully healed in a couple months and go from there. But maybe, just maybe, he will become even more dependent upon his nose when hunting...always a silver lining, right?

[AspenBud]

Thanks for all the thoughts, it was a rough couple of weeks.

To update, Chukar woke up the next following surgery and looked like he was in a 12-round title fight...and lost! The swelling was incredible. Fast forward to today and if he didn't have the cone of shame on, you really wouldn't know he doesn't have his right eye. The swelling on  he bottom half of the eye is virtually non-existent and the upper portion is almost completely gone. His attitude is back to normal and doesn't seem to care one iota that he only has one eye. The cone and stitches come off next week, so far, so good.

One thing I will add is that when people ask me how he's doing, they invariably assume his hunting days are over...as far as I am concerned it will business as usual, although I will be a bit more hesitant sending him into thick cover. Of course, we will see how he is doing once fully healed in a couple months and go from there. But maybe, just maybe, he will become even more dependent upon his nose when hunting...always a silver lining, right?

If the other eye starts to go bad I know a good optho vet down in Oregon.

[bracer40]

Really sorry to hear about this. Hopefully he'll bounce back and you'll both have many good hunts together.

[10Key]

Chukar's eye was sent to the University of Wisconsin for a full pathology report; we received the results back this morning. It turns out he had a tumor that originated in the color pigment of his eye. It was growing and causing bleeding and pressure increases in the eye. These tumors are supposedly very rare and the likely-hood of the same type of tumor occurring in his remaining eye is exceedingly rare as there isn't a known predisposition for these tumors to occur.

He had his stitches and cone of shame removed yesterday and is doing very well. But for the trimmed hair around his eye, one would assume he is winking all the time with his right eye.

[10Key]

For those interested, I thought the report from UW-Madison was interesting:


Pathology Report .
Leandro Teixeira DVM MS, Dipl. ACVP
Dept. of Pathobiological Science, School of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Wisconsin 2015 Linden Dr. Madison, WI 53706
Phone (608) 263-4958 FAX (866) 441-2154
Lab email: coplowfellow@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Leandro B. C. Teixeira DVM, MS, DACVP Richard R Dubielzig DVM, DACVP, DACVO (Hon)
Assistant Prof., COPLOW Director Emeritus Prof., COPLOW Founding Director
Email: lteixeira@wisc.edu Email: dubielzr@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Gillian C. Shaw, DVM, MS, PhD Kate Lieber
COPLOW Ocular Pathology Fellow Lab Manager Email: lieberk@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Research No.: 15RD1219 Date of Typed Report: April 29, 2015
Referring Veterinarian: Dr. Zirofsky
Owner: Meyer Animal: Chukar
The sample submitted consists of the formalin-fixed right globe from a 5.5-year-old
neutered male Brittany spaniel dog. Grossly, there is a large pigmented tumor within the
vitreous and the lens is luxated anteriorly. Histologically, an unencapsulated, poorly
demarcated and darkly pigmented neoplasm expands and infiltrates the posterior choroid
and extends as a mass into the vitreous and through the sclera multifocally. The mass is
made up of large numbers of heavily pigmented round cells and fewer more lightly
pigmented spindle-shaped cells arranged in interlaced solid sheets. The nuclei of the
heavily pigmented round cells are obscured. The lightly pigmented population of cells
has a moderate amount of cytoplasm and elongated to oval nuclei with finely stippled
chromatin and prominent eosinophilic nucleoli. There is moderate anisocytosis and
anisokaryosis. Mitotic figures are not observed. Approximately 85% of the mass is
necrotic. There are numerous macrophages containing dusty brown pigment scattered
throughout the episcleral connective tissue and dissecting between bundles of the
extraocular muscles. The axial corneal endothelium is attenuated. One iris leaflet is bent
backwards, indicating lens luxation. A pigmented fibrovascular membrane lines the
anterior iris. The posterior chamber and vitreous contain abundant hemorrhage admixed
with numerous individual pigmented cells. The retina is detached and diffusely atrophied.
The optic nerve head is not sampled histologically.
Diagnosis:
1. Choroidal melanocytoma, dirty scleral margins.
2. Lens luxation.
3. Pigmented preiridal fibrovascular membrane.
4. Intraocular hemorrhage.
5. Retinal detachment and atrophy.
6. Glaucoma as per history.
Comments: The dark muscles noted at surgery were likely due to the numerous pigmentladen
macrophages, which likely phagocytosed melanin pigment exfoliated from the
tumor where it extended through the sclera. Melanocytomas, even those incompletely
excised like this one, do not tend to metastasize. Local recurrence is possible. Please let
us know if there are any further developments in this case.