Holly was born on 24 October 2020. She was the only yellow Labrador in her litter and was the last to be born. She weighed significantly less than her littermates, at just 1kg. A few weeks after birth, her breeder noticed that she wasn’t developing like her littermates. At one month, she could not stand or walk and would fall mainly on her left side. She managed to correct her position and wag her tail. Abnormalities in her vision were also detected especially in her left eye. At this stage her prognosis was undetermined and she was monitored to see how well she would continue to develop.
Holly’s life would have been as a working dog, but due to her difficulties, her breeders knew that life wasn’t for her so they sought assistance from the Labrador UK Action Group (LUKAG), to see whether the charity would be able to find Holly a home. It was agreed that LUKAG would take Holly into their care to assess her.
At eight weeks old Holly was assessed by a vet, where it was confirmed that Holly was blind in her left eye and that the vet was quite sure that Holly had a neurological condition called Cerebellar Hypoplasia that affected her ability to coordinate, walk and balance.
On 28 December 2020, we adopted Holly and brought her home. You can learn more about her everyday life by visiting her Facebook Page.
Auntie Jo has worked with dogs with Cerebellar Hypoplasia before and is an expert in working with dogs with various disabilities and additional needs, and you could see that from the moment we arrived. Jo was very good at reassuring Holly and after a little shower to...
Fortunately, Holly came down the way she went up, she didn’t go off balance otherwise she’d have landed in her feeding station or against the radiator. If she did she could have had a serious injury. I never imagined that Holly could ever be that off balance to land...
Holly absolutely loves dog shows and this year we have attended quite a few. Holly is such a friendly dog she has equal affection for both dogs and hoomans. She loves her cuddles and fuss from hoomans and is more likely to want to get close and lick a doggie than...
Apologies for not writing a blog post for some time.. I didn’t realise how long it had been. So, what can I say about Holly, to sum up, the last few months……. well, she is a complete joy to have around! She is nearly 9 months old now, with the teenage mayhem to go...
In February 2022, Holly was seen by the Ophthalmologist again for a checkup. There was no change in the left eye, although we discussed that Holly’s retina could be partially or fully detached. However, Holly’s right eye had now developed a Cataract. It was small and...
Holly was seven and a half months old when she had her first season in June 2021. She was ok with it but was more sleepy than usual. She then had her second season only four months later on 19th October 2021, 5 days before her first birthday. We contacted our vets at...