9.28.2008

My poor puppy


So, Friday night when I got home from work, Bryce told me that Gunner had something in his eye. He had a big red, swollen mass of something in the corner of his left eye. It didn't look very good at all so on Saturday morning I took him into the vet. After waiting for over an hour, (there were lots of other people there with their dogs and cats, who Gunner went crazy trying to get their attention and get them to love him, both the owners and the other dogs; he loves anyone he meets plus it a whole other story), we got in to see his doctor. She said that dogs have a 3rd eyelid, which I kind of remember hearing about but wasn't ever sure if it was true. The 3rd eyelid has one of the 2 glands that produces the tears. This particular gland produces a significant portion of the tears. Anyway, his had slipped out of place and was swollen. They call it the Cherry Eye. It happens often in smaller breeds like Boston Terriers (which Gunner is), Cocker Spaniels, bulldogs and beagles, because the 3rd eyelid gland is not strongly held in place.

To fix it they have to do surgery. They stitch it permanently back in place. We were planning on getting him fixed and micro chipped soon. They said the earliest we could have him fixed was 6 months old and he will be in a few weeks so we are just going to everything all at once. She got me estimates which it wasn't as bad as Bryce and I thought it would be. With everything we are going to do it will be about $280. It's not that bad plus it has to be done. Until the surgery, she gave us drops to put in his eye 4 times a day to help with the swelling and probably the uncomfortable feeling it would be to have a bulge in your eye. He didn't eat at all Saturday morning which the doctor said it probably because he was thrown off with his eye but after putting the 1 st drop in, it went away. He kind of has a darker spot in the corner of his eye, where the bulge was now but he is better until the surgery of course.

I feel so bad for him. He is such a good boy, granted he is really hyper but he is only5 almost 6 months old. We have lots of fun with him and Zoey loves to run with him. He is getting big though. He is now 17 pounds! We have read they get to be between 15 and 25 pounds so I think he will be closer to 25 pounds we he is full grown. Anyway, I will keep you guys posted on his surgery. We don't have it scheduled yet but we have to do it in about a week. My poor puppy!

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