Fletch has a squint.
The more fancy name for it, though, is a micropalpebral fissure; basically he's got a small set of eyelids on his right eye.
It's so uncommon that even Google keeps asking me "Did you mean macropalpebral fissure" and not only baffled his breeder but friends of hers who are sheltie breeders (some for forty plus years); her vet; my vet. My vet got onto an eye specialist and that's the only reason we have the diagnosis. Even the specialist has only seen three cases of it. It's never cropped up in the line Fletcher's from before- and they're all really top quality shelties, too.
So Fletcher's a very special little boy. With a squint.
The eye itself appears healthy and normal, and he's CEA tested and cleared as well as from cleared parents, so apart from having the vision slightly limited just due to the fact that the eye is more "closed" than the other, he should be absolutely fine. He may require surgery later on down the tract, either to assist with that vision- if I find it's hampering him for agility or obedience or daily life or whatever- or if the eyelid rolls inwards or outwards and causes irritation and a lovely pile of problems. I'm so used to it now I don't even notice it, and he may even end up growing it out a bit, so all I can do for the time being is keep my fingers crossed and hope for the best.
His breeder feels awful about it, and I feel awful that she feels awful because it's a complete anomaly. There's nothing to suggest that micropalpebral fissures are genetic, it's not common, there wasn't anything else she could have done to prevent it from cropping up- and she gave me exactly what I wanted: a peppy, vibrant pup that I can trial with.
He's also got an unusually outgoing personality for a sheltie- at least at home, anyway, though I have a feeling he's going to be a handful everywhere else, too, when he matures a bit more- and is so much fun I couldn't even consider giving him back.
Though in a couple more weeks, given how much of a menace he is, I may be liable to change my mind about that... :P
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