I thought I’d give you all an update on Benny boy, our elder farm guardian. I shared somewhere recently (and now I can’t remember if it was here on Facebook or where) that our big Ben had something going on with his eye.

I took him in to our regular doctor a couple weeks ago to have her check it. She said it looked like some kind of tumor inside his eyeball and referred us to a specialist. So between my schedule the the eye clinic, I just took him in this past Tuesday.

He got a thorough eye exam and it definitely is some type of tumor. There’s no way of knowing what type of tumor it is without removing it. Removing the tumor from the eye is not an option as the tumor is too big already (it did grow from when my vet saw it until a few days later when he was started on steroid eye drops).

So our two options at this stage are having the eye removed in case it is a tumor that will metastasize or waiting, watching and monitoring it. Since the eye pressure is normal and it doesn’t seem to bother him, and the vet doesn’t think it’s painful, I’m opting for watching it and rechecking in a couple months.

Unfortunately, the car ride and just the whole experience was very stressful for him, so I’m not looking forward to doing it again. I feel bad making him go through that again.

For some reason he as extremely anxious in the truck (which I don’t remember him being in past trips). But that could be his age. He ended up getting carsick and lost his breakfast. Then the clinic floor was slick as glass so he could walk on it. They had to half carry half drag him into the exam room. But I have a plan for next time! I have several big bath mats that I’m going to throw down on their floor. I’ll just make a path connecting their big entrance door mat (the only rug in the place) to the exam room so he doesn’t have to walk on their slippery floor!

And I might take Cajsa with me too since they usually go to regular vet appointments together and she’s his best buddy. Maybe a friend along will help with his anxiety. And if need be we’ll get a sedative from my vet for the two plus hour trip to Spokane.

💙