Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Well my puppy had conjunctivitis and we brought him to the vet. We were told that he definately has conjunctivitis and possibly cherry eye. He has been on meds for the past week. We give him an antibiotic to fight the conjunctivitis and an eye cream to help it as well. The vet said that more than likely he will need surgery to fix this. Right now we have three options. Have the gland removed which is the cheapest($200) but could cause dry eye later on in Baileys life. The second option is a tuck and stitch method which is a bit more expensive($500) but there is still a chance of a prolapse. The third option is to take him to a dog opthamaligist(sp?). The procedure there is double what a regular vet would charge($1000). At the dog opth there is still a chance for the gland to prolapse but it is a smaller chance than that of the regular vet. I was hoping that some of the other dog owners here could help me out. I am clueless as to what should be done. Please let me know if you have went through this or know someone that has. Thanks.

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Okay this is really gross, makes me wanna vomit everytime i think about it, like right now, BUT when i worked for the pet store we used a very good vet in west hempstead, one of the dogs came in with cherry eye and of course i took it because i wasn't going to send it back to wherever it came from, but the vet actually popped the cherry eye out right in front of me. Not surgery needed. That was like 6 years ago. But ther is always the chance that it could come back. I would go with the tuck and stitch Method.

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

FM Peabody about this...her dog had two eye surgeries. Not for Cherry Eye, but she had some serious experiences with eye surgery and care. She originally went to the Vet on the Expressway Service Road in Plainview and was extremely unhappy.

I know that she ended up loving the Vets at Atlantic Coast Veterinary Specialists in Bohemia. Maybe you could take the dog there for a consult and see what they say. I know they were very good with us, financially, when Misty needed emergency surgery.

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

We love Dr. Strom at Hilton Animal Hospital in Lynbrook.

Our dog never had this problem but we had to have his eyes tacked 5 times due to entropian. This was supposed to be a temporary measure to see if he would grow into his wrinkles but he never did. We had the permanent surgery for him when he was full grown. Our experience with Charlie has been that he eventually requires whatever the main procedure is, so now we just go directly for that.

We have to worry about Charlie getting anything in his eye and keeping it lubricated. We put ointment in his eyes twice a day every day. (morning and night). It's not a problem and he is so used to it by now. (this is in case you are concerned about future dry eyes). The only thing is that if someone babysits him when we are out of town we have to train them but close family are pros by now.

Dr. Strom led us through every step of the way. If you are looking for a second opinion he is really terrific.

If you have any questions about our experiences feel free to FM me.

Good luck!

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

Many years ago when I had my dog and he was a puppy he had cherry eyes. He had the replacement procedure, when they push the gland back in and he never had a problem with it again. He also had conjunctivitis on and off but the cherry eyes always stayed in. I was told that if you remove the glands it is not good for the dog. Their tear ducts may not work properly so we went with the replacement surgery. He lived to be almost 14 years old though and the cherry eyes was never a problem again.

Re: Question about Cherry Eye in my puppy

My English Bulldog has THREE EYE surgeries. Twice the gland was tucked.
It never held. The third time it was removed. We originally tried to tuck it because of the dry eye factor and that fact that she was so young. Unfortunately I couldn't keep doing it to her. I am lucky, two years later and she has yet to develop any kind of dry eye. Her eyes are still very red with permament inflamation around the gland area but she is still beautiful.