The ripped cornea, found due to chocolate and raisins in Episode 11 (Summer, 2013)
While we had been at the vet with Alvin for the consequences of his chocolate feast and the idea of his raisin indulgence as well, the vet did a full exam of him and by examining his eyes determined he had a very deep cut in his cornea. It only would have ever been seen with the proper light and a special dye to illuminate the deep gash... but the fact the lower layer of his eye muscle was stretched up to cover part of his eyeball indicated a form of infection and irritation. With red droopy eyes all the time we had never suspected a thing.
We assumed that he must have gotten the gash in the yard which is full of tree saplings and vines and thorns that he probably walked into obliviously while he was on a mission to kill something or go after the neighbor's dog through the fence. He never indicated any pain or discomfort, but the vet said that a gash so deep was most definitely something that would cause a lot of pain. Looking further into his eyes, she was able to determine that he is almost completely blind in the damaged eye (probably why he walked into something that damaged it in the first place!), and partially blind in the other. Great! Now we have another handicap to add to the list of Alvin's redeeming qualities. How exciting.
After follow-up visits and a series of special eye drops which put only a small dent in my wallet, it sure is great to have such a problem animal with so many issues. For this at least, I did feel bad for Alvin because I didn't want him to suffer. Not only deaf, but now blind, Alvin doesn't seem to allow his handicaps from stopping him to getting into trouble as the mischief has continued every since.
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