Hello and Welcome to Our New Website!

NATIONAL SERVICE DOG EYE EXAM MONTH

The Animal Eye Clinic of Wilton is proud to be supporting the National Service Dog Eye Exam Month! This special month, established by the American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists in conjunction with Merial Pharmaceuticals, has been created to allow dogs in all forms of service to be awarded a free eye exam from a board certified ophthalmologist. So if your friend is a drug sniffer or seeing eye and anything in between, they may be eligible for this service. Go to www.ACVOeyeexam.org to see if your dog qualifies for this valued service! I have posted 2 videos on our helpful resources page as well, one from the ACVO and the other from Good Morning America, that may be helpful if you think your dog could benefit from an eye exam. Call us at 203-762-9399 if you have any questions about this service of any other information that we can provide. Dogs eligible for this exam will be seen on Thursday afternoons throughout the month of May.

OUR NEW ADDITION!

Lots of new things happening here at the AEC! If you haven’t had the need to come visit us, that is probably a good thing! But if you have come by or will be coming, I think our new facilities will impress. The initial reaction from new and returning clients have been all good. The improved parking, larger and more comfortable waiting room and exam rooms decorated with warm, calming colors have all got excellent reviews. My wonderful staff remains intact even after the rigors of the move and continue to serve you as before. As always, we try to combine good service, clinical expertise and sound advice with a dose of common sense to help you make educated decisions for your pet’s eye problems.

Speaking of new pets, my family has a new addition, too! Tess is a 9 week old Australian Shepherd that has found her way into hearts and home as of March 21st. A few years ago we went from 3 geriatric cats and a dog (average age of 16!) to none about the time my two beautiful boys were getting in an out of diapers. So the family with 2 vets and no pets has finally reloaded with 2 fish and a new puppy! Tess has been a wonderful addition and has reminded my wife and I of all the joys and challenges of raising a puppy. Fortunately, she is quite smart and well behaved, so our experience has been a positive one for both parents and kids.

This prompts a note about ocular disease in puppies. Eye disease is certainly not limited to adults as congenital malformations, surface inflammation or infection, trauma and even cataracts can be noted in young dogs. If you are a breeder, hopefully you are having your puppies (and their parents) screened for genetic-related problems. A CERF exam, for the Canine Eye Registration Foundation, is a dilated exam of pups and adults. These exams are for healthy pets with no apparent ocular problems that we evaluate closely for any evidence of genetic-based disease. Small changes, such as cataracts and retinal folds, will be marked as present and the form sent to CERF to determine breeding is a good idea in the future. Call to schedule this type of exam if you want to assess your breeding recommendation or even if you are just concerned about your puppy and want to insure normal ocular health at that time. Genetic disease is not the same as congenital disease which means you may be normal as a puppy but can still develop changes as an adult that have a genetic basis. Thus, CERF exams are recommended on an annual basis and then once at the end of the dog’s career to assess for any late onset problems.

See you soon, and say hello to Tess if she is visiting while you are!

Hope to see you soon,

Chuck Stuhr, DVM, DACVO