My dog has a cloudy eye...

jtt

Member
So, my fiance has a shih tzu, she rescued it from the pound before they put her down. The age is unknown for sure but at least 10 years old. Really sweet little dog. Ugly as can be but really sweet. almost never barks, doesnt start fights with the other dogs, she pretty much eats, sleeps, and lays on your lap. such a great little girl. doesnt jump all over you, shes the typical senior dog. she wants to just be with people, so if youre the only one home, she will follow you around but stay 5 feet away and as soon as she stops walking she instantly lays down. then you move to the other room, she follows, stands 5 feet away, and lays down. such a sweetheart.
Shih tzus have a lot of hair that needs to be groomed and cut all the time, our dog in particular has a lot of hair that grows on her face and it covers her eyes. Tonight as I was cooking turkey b r ea s t on the stove, she came up to me to beg for table scraps. So I dropped a piece, and it flew right past her face and on the floor, and she didnt even notice. Later on I pushed her hair back on her face to find out that one of her eyes was like crusted shut. She always has eye boogers that we need to clean but this was not even joking 10x as much goop in her eyes. So we cleaned it out with a warm damp towell. once we opened her eye, it was all cloudy and white.
We figure its Cataracts since that is common amongst old dogs and that we will take her to the vet in the morning, but half past midnight my fiance gets a really bad feeling and gets really worried and we go to an Animal ER and get it checked out. apparently earlier in the day something poked her in the eye nearly rupturing it. They said if we waited til morning to get it checked out it would likely have ruptured and we wouldnt have been able to save her eye. They gave us these special eye drops and tons of p i lls that we need to feed her and first thing in the morning we need to take her to a dog eye specialist. we also need to give her p i lls and eye drops every 2 hours for the whole rest of the night. That visit cost me $350 and we dont know how much everything else is going to cost with the specialist tomorrow and if she will need special treatment.
The doctor used these special flashlights with filters to show us the eye damage... you know how your eyes are round? or like, egg shaped or whatever? Imagine a gumball... with a huge dent in it. thats what her eye looks like. and its almost pure white and red. Its really sad and the dog is in a LOT of pain. anyways, Im gonna be up every 2 hours to apply drops and feed meds. I have an important thing I have to do tomorrow so this is really not convenient to have to get up every 2 hours. Good practice for when we want to have kids i guess....
This blows.
 

cranberry

Active Member
Oh... thats heart breaking. That would make me really sad.... I hope for a speedy recovery and a not too pricey fix.
 

jtt

Member
just got back from the eye specialist. spent over 3 hours there. this bill was $663 for all the tests and medications.
The cornea on her eye is 98% gone. which means that she is at extremely high risk of her eye ball rupturing and her pupil "melting"
they gave us 10 different medications, 6 of which are eye drops which need to be applied every hour, even through the night for the next 7 days straight. We have to go back in for a check up on saturday to see how the progress is going and if the eye is healing back up.
 

al mc

Active Member
Hope they talked to you about a third eyelid flap (surgery). I wish her a speedy recovery.
 

jtt

Member
So, they gave us all those drops, and my fiance and i have been taking turns giving the dog her meds. it is really a huge pain in the butt having to give her eye drops EVERY HOUR, 24 hours a day. We have an appointment to go back to the eye specialist tomorrow morning, and they are going to let us know if there is any improvement or not and what our options are. basically if we can salvage the eye or not.
 

al mc

Active Member
I have not looked at this eye but my best guess is that if no improvement has occurred with the topical medications that you will still have options to save the eye and at least partial vision with a third eyelid flap or a scleral flap. These procedures are not inexpensive but IMHO are well within the realm of possibility and the expertise of a specialist. Most 'family practice' vets can do third eyelid flaps. You might consider asking your regular vet if he/she has done this procedure and is comfortable doing it.
 

jtt

Member
went to the specialist this morning. they said the wound on the eye is healing, so the drops and stuff we are giving her are helping, however as a result of the injury, there is a bunch of dead white blood cells inside her eye, "puss" apparently. the wound can totally heal within the next 5 days... BUT if the puss inside the eye doesnt clear out then she will still lose the eye. they gave us even more antibiotics and made an appointment for monday morning. if these new antibiotics dont work with clearing out the puss, then the next appointment will be to remove the eye.
The current bill is up to $778
 

reefraff

Active Member
Bummer
A friends Jack Russel lost it's sight because of cataracts. Evidently it was in enough pain they had to replace the fluid in the eyes with something else, never heard of that before but it solved the pain issue.
Anyway completely blind it is amazing how well this dog gets around. Finds the dog door with no problem, navigates around all the furniture, really amazing. Even if the dog does lose the eye I wouldn't worry about the dog other than keeping a close eye on the other to make sure it stays healthy. They are incredibly adaptable.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by JTT
http:///forum/post/3216006
went to the specialist this morning. they said the wound on the eye is healing, so the drops and stuff we are giving her are helping, however as a result of the injury, there is a bunch of dead white blood cells inside her eye, "puss" apparently. the wound can totally heal within the next 5 days... BUT if the puss inside the eye doesnt clear out then she will still lose the eye. they gave us even more antibiotics and made an appointment for monday morning. if these new antibiotics dont work with clearing out the puss, then the next appointment will be to remove the eye.
The current bill is up to $778

Wow, testimony to your good care and vigilance to keep her eye medicated. My mother once had a cat that lost an eye. Depth perception was off but the cat was fine.
Sounds like a very sweet dog, she is worth every cent you spend on her.
 

jtt

Member
went to the specialist... again...
The wound on her eye is almost completely healed, thank God, BUT the puss has still barely gone down. keeping her on all the same meds, and will recheck in 5 days. still doing eye drops every friggin hour, including overnight.
The good news? The wound is 95% healed
The bad news? The puss is still under the eye and will still threaten the eye.
More good news? This should
be dealt with in a few weeks and wont get in the way of our wedding on the east coast, since we wont be able to give her hourly eye drops while on our honeymoon, 6 hours away.
more bad news: Current Bill is $852 and its still not over.
 
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