Yesterday our Mistress attempted to undertake some eye testing with Alfie, so she could understand best what he can and cannot see and so what he can cope with. The first part was an obstacle course through the kitchen, to make sure he could still see relatively large objects. As you can see from the photograph, dining chairs, a stool, a box of bits for recycling and his water bowl serviced as fairly good objects. The good news is that he did not walk into any of them and can see large stationary objects.
Then she wanted to test his peripheral and nearer vision. Firstly she stood in front of him with her arms outstretched and dropped a sheet of paper on his left side and one on his right side to see if he turned his head when they were dropped. When she dropped the sheet on the left he did turn and follow it. When she dropped the one on his right he didn’t move his head. She repeated it with the same results. She has concluded that his range of vision in his left eye is better than that in his right. She then tried to test his very close vision with biscuits and he really can’t focus when anything is too near to him. His catching skills have gone to pot completely, which is good news for me, but not so good for him. It probably won’t be that good for me in all honesty, as our Mistress is trying to adapt everything she does to suite Alfie. It’s little things like telling him what she’s doing in a reassuring voice as she puts his bowl down in front of him or leans down to stroke him or brush his coat. She also tries to stay on his left side so he can see what she is doing more easily, particularly if they are going up and down stairs. I guess it’s just all part of learning what he needs. For my part, I’ve got to be more understanding that he doesn’t want me in the same room, but that means I miss out on some things I used to enjoy. Our Master and Mistress are making it up to me in other ways and I’m getting lots of special time to myself, so I don’t really mind. I also know they’ll do the same for me whenever I need more support.
Have a great weekend
Aristotle
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