Off to the Veterinary Ophthalmologist!$$$ Doggles for Colby, really???

Over the weekend I noticed Colby's pupils were oddly dilated. Her right eye was more dilated than the left. That is cause for worry, since it can be a symptom of neurological issues or brain tumor or eye tumor. She wasn't acting bad, but it needed to be checked out. Yesterday we saw our regular vet who tentatively diagnosed "Iris Atrophy" and has referred us to an ophthalmologist in MA. We have an appointment Monday afternoon. The Merck Manual describes Iris Atrophy this way -

"Atrophy of the iris is common in older dogs and may involve the pupillary margin or the stroma. Atrophy of the pupillary margin creates a scalloped border and a weakening of the sphincter muscle, which is manifest as a dilated pupil(s) or by sluggish pupillary light reflexes. Stromal atrophy results in dramatic holes in the iris, and often, displacement of the pupil. Neither form of atrophy appears to affect vision. Animals lacking a functional iridal sphincter may show increased sensitivity to bright light."

She has always been one to squint more than the others. Our photographer friend, Helen Peppe, is always complaining about that. This photo was take at the beach in the spring of 08. I don't know if you can click on it and get it to enlarge, but if you can you can see that even THEN her right pupil is slightly more open than the left. I obviously didn't notice it back then, but I can see it now in this photo when I look REALLY closely at the full resolution image. It would be nice if this were something we could treat or do something to slow down, but I am afraid it isn't. Can you imagine her wearing goggles? They suggest that, and I searched for other options and found a mesh cover that she *might* tolerate. The concern is the increased amount of UV light allowed into her lens. Hmmmm, something tells me my little Princess Pin Head won't be too thrilled about wearing anything on her head. It seems you can't click and enlarge the photos here, so I cropped it so you could maybe see. The eye on the left, her right eye, has a larger pupil than the one on the right, her left.

Doggles?