From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-06-09 22:04:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Bruisers facial nerve damage
Tara wrote:
Second request....Please help us.Bruiser recently had a
walnut sizes tumor
removed fromhis cheek/head (cyro) As we were aware,nerve
damage has
occured.
Well, I would expect that recovery from neurological damage in
them is to some extent like in people. Also, though I have to
admit that we have seen marvelous recovery from damage caused
by thrown clots even in older ages in ferrets, I don't know
about surgically caused damage. In humans it depends a lot on
age of the individual, degree of damage, type of damage, where
the damage is, separation of tissue, time elapse, and
individual variation for a few things. As an adult in my
early 30s I had extensive upper body sensory nerve repair
longer after some nasty damage induced by a tropical illness
than was thought to likely, which is really neat. I didn't do
anything special; it was just in my genetics to be able to
repair nerves for a long time.
I expect that the problems you are likely to see with an eye
that won't close properly (Does it tear at all now?) MIGHT be
ones associated with low levels of lubrication such as
infection, scratching, etc., esp. during sleep when eyes go
drier. THAT we have encountered. We had one many years ago,
Haleakala, who was diagnosed by a veterinary opthalmologist
who had first been a human opthalmologist as having Sjogrens
Syndrome or else something that mimiced it pretty well
perfectly (which eventually killed her at an advanced age due
to mucus membrane damage of the intestines). Hale was a
retired breeder (our only very late neuter, and she also had
an eye that had been bitten through by the canine of a male
during mounting. IF memory serves he described the retina of
the eye as resembling layers of an onion from the wound, but
she could see light and shadow and loved her eye exams. Hale
needed to have artificial tears OFTEN and if the ointments
that are available today such as Refresh PM had been around
then I expect that they or something similar might also have
been used.
If we are discussing a situation like Haleakala's in which
there is not enough tearing I'd really avoid anything that
might dry to leave sediment, and that is a concern I'd have
with colloidal silver. If you took a dry eye and then had a
mineral sediment rubbing against it I'd imagine that painful
irritation and possibly an infection could be possibilities,
and if that occurred under the lid, esp. way back it would be
hard to deal with.
If we were in your shoes we'd go with what the treating vets
thought and ask them if a consultation with a veterinary
opthalmologist might be useful.