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Marty Klinkenberg

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Derrick Sleep sits in his living room, tiny dog cradled in his arms. An eight-year-old Peekapoo, Podgersmall grunts and makes snoring noises when tucked between his shoulder and chin.

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Marty Klinkenberg/Telegraph-Journal

Derrick Sleep of St. Martins with his eight-year-old Peekapoo Podgersmall, which developed cataracts and is now blind after using Timolol prescription eyedrops. The drops have since been recalled by Health Canada, but Sleep says the manufacturer, Sandoz, refuses to pay for an operation that would restore his four-pound pet's vision.

"She is the size of a genetically engineered lap dog,'' Sleep says as he gently strokes his four-pound teacup's hair. "She is like a tall guinea pig with a tail."

So small that she can't even squeeze a ping pong ball into her trifle of a mouth, Podgersmall is as fluffy as a cotton ball and as blind as a bat.

"I still play ball with her, but I have to roll it so it touches her feet, otherwise she can't find it,'' Sleep says as Podgersmall searches in vain for a teeny cat toy, her tail awhirl. "She used to chase it the length of the room.

"Now she can only chase it the length of her body, which isn't long."

Purchased from a breeder as a pup, Podgersmall lost her vision last year, shortly after being treated with eye drops from a batch that was later recalled.

Her condition is reversible, but the manufacturer of the drug has refused to pay for the surgery, which costs between $3,000 and $4,000.

"I can't say for certain it was the drug that caused it, but it is worth looking into," says Cathy Adams, a veterinarian at the practice in Saint John where Podgersmall has been treated for several years. "It could be a red herring, but who knows.

"It's noteworthy, that's for sure. In about two months' time, the dog went from not having a cataract to having a huge one."

Commonly prescribed to relieve intraocular pressure in patients with glaucoma, Sandoz Timolol Opthalmic Solution was recalled on July 17, 2008.

A day later, Health Canada issued an urgent bulletin, warning consumers that certain batches of drops contained more of the active ingredient than intended, exposing patients to increased risk of pink eye, eye irritation, inflammation of the eyelids and corneas, double vision, dizziness, headache, low blood pressure and cardiac failure.

The bottle with which Podgersmall was treated came from a recalled batch, so Adams contacted Sandoz Canada on Sleep's behalf. The manufacturer, which has since been purchased by the multinational health care giant Novartis, told her Timolol had been approved for human use but not for dogs, even though it was commonly prescribed by veterinarians.

Sleep has since contacted a lawyer, who suggested that he seek an opinion from a veterinary ophthalmologist, but there is none in New Brunswick, only occasionally visits by a specialist from Quebec, and at a teaching hospital in Prince Edward Island.

A spokeswoman for Novartis said last week that she was unaware of Sleep's complaint. The firm has received no other complaints involving dogs and Timolol, she said.

Sleep, meanwhile, is doing what he can to make his little blind dog comfortable, including applying special scented grease to the legs of furniture and doorways to help her get around in his heritage sea-captain's home in St. Martins.

"You have to retrain a little bit,'' Sleep says.

An art teacher at Simonds High School in Saint John, Sleep also shares his 1844 house with an eight-year-old Chihuahua that he rescued, two cockatiels and a lovebird.

Podgersmall spends much of her time in her bed, rear feet inside the basket, front paws on the floor, as if she is trying to re-assure herself.

Blind or not, Podgersmall is still the soft-spoken Sleep's best friend.

"She always dances when I get home,'' he says. "She runs over to feel where my leg is, and then starts asking to be picked up."

Sleep's face then clouded over as he sat on the couch, his little dog clutched in his arms, and stared out the window at the cold, pounding rain.

"She was always rubbing her face," he says. "That is why I had her checked."

And then, "You can shine a bright light in her eyes and her pupils still contract. Her eyes still work, it is the cataracts that are keeping her from seeing.

"When my friends come for a visit and see her, they burst into tears."

Marty Klinkenberg is contributing editor of the Telegraph-Journal. He can be reached at martyklinkenberg@hotmail.com