General Question Cherry Eye!! What to do now?!?!?

[aledoux4]

Hello All,I am wondering what I should do. I have Sophie, a 5mth old english bulldog puppy. We have had her for about 3 mths. 1 week after we got her, one cherry eye popped out, took her to the vet, got some drops and was told that she could wait until we spayed her to get the surgery done (tacking it). One week later the other eye popped out, so I took her to a different vet for a second opinion, that vet recommended fixing them right away. Sophie had the tacking surgery done on both eyes. Three weeks later they had popped right back out. Went back to the vet and they referred me to an eye specialist. This specialist wants to tack the glad back in also, but using a different technique (initial technique used was cutting a pocket and tucking them in, closing with a suture). This vet wants to tack the gland back and suture it to her eye somehow. This vet also wants to charge $1800 dollars, and of course no guarantee. The surgery is set for this coming Tuesday. I am wondering if anyone has had to go through anything similar? Is gland removal really that bad? Has anyone heard of the tacking technique that the eye specialist is going to use? What should I do?Thank You,Alicia

 

[2BullyMama]

Hi Alice and welcome to EBN.

Here is an article we have on cherry eye and we have a few member with experience that will be along soon to help with your questions/concerns.

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/content.php?r=398-Cherry-eye-what-is-it-and-how-to-treat-it

 

[ChanelnBrutus]

Hi Alice and Welcome to EBN! Glad you joined us Brutus had his right eye pop out at 4mnths and went back within 1 day on its own! (wasnt too big nor that pink) The left eye came out 2x and I massaged back in with warm compress and he is now 19 mnths and it hasnt popped since. I would reccomend massaging since surgery was already performed. I would try to hold off on the surgery until she is spayed. IMO 3 surgeries in 5 mnths seems like a lot. The only issue with removing the gland is she may require eye drops (nothing serious) everyday b/c she may develop dry eye. Its not a big deal but will require daily drops! A lot of bullies who do tacking end up reoccuring with another surgery needed.

Brutus had a prolapsed urethra that was 3200 for surgery and 1 week later he prolapsed again I know what your going through and we are all here for support whenever you need. I know others will be by with more advice as well

 

[cali~jenn]

[MENTION=959]kazzy220[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1648]Lucy-licious[/MENTION] both did the removal. I would first wait till you spay unless you plan on not of course. Putting them under terrifies me, the smoothly nosed pups have a tougher time with it. Unless he dr thinks it is NEEDED ASAP I would wait. Miila had hers tacked down and thankfully it held, so far over a year now. If it hadn't I think I would remove to be certain it is fixed. I would rather give eye drops forever than go thru another surgery if this next one doesn't take.

 

[Vikinggirl]

hi Alicia, I also have a female named Blossom who developed Cherry eye at the same age (5 months) , at first I was able to massage it back in, but by the time I had her spayed at 7 months, it was no longer staying in, and was getting bigger from swelling due to being exposed to the air. I had her eye repaired at the same time as her spay surgery when she was 7 months old. unfortunately a week later the other eye poppped out as well, and pretty big right from the beginning, it wouldn't massage back in at all, and so a month later she had a second surgery to fix the eye. Our vet does not remove the tear gland, and has been doing this surgery for over 20 years, and she has her own technique that she has perfected and told us she has a 85 to 90 % success rate for the eye not to pop out again. we are very happy with the job she did, and Blossoms eyes are beautiful. We had no problems post surgery, and its been 3 months since the surgeries, and no problems. I'm so sorry you and Sophie are going through this , and having such a tough time. I am not familiar with the other method of removing the gland, but there are other members who have had it removed with no problems, and others who have had problems with dry eye, I think they can develop dry eye with either method, and there really isn't any right or wrong way to repair the eye. There are risks with both, but the tacking in of the gland with sutures has more risk of recurring cherry eye, than removing the gland altogether. i think you just have to do your research, that's what I did, and ask lots of questions, then talk to your vet, and see which method he has done more and which one he recommends and why, and them make your decision based on what you are comfortable with. In your case since the first surgery was not succesful, and they have already cut a pocket in her eye, i would be wondering if another surgery with sutures might irritate her eye and cause her more problems, and for the price $1800 and no guarantee, i would be leery of doing it again, a better option for you may be to remove the gland altogether to save her having more surgeries, and risking irritation to her eyes, and future problems down the road. If you have it removed, you wouldn't have to worry about it not working, and having to do further surgeries. you may have to give drops after , but I would rather do that than have her go through more. It is something you have to discuss and think about, and then make a decision with your vet. I hope everythng works out for Sophie and you find a way to fix her eyes. sending love , hugs and prayers your way, for a solution, and a speedy recovery for Sophie. Keep us posted on what you decide , and how she is doing.

 

[kazzy220]

Hello All,I am wondering what I should do. I have Sophie, a 5mth old english bulldog puppy. We have had her for about 3 mths. 1 week after we got her, one cherry eye popped out, took her to the vet, got some drops and was told that she could wait until we spayed her to get the surgery done (tacking it). One week later the other eye popped out, so I took her to a different vet for a second opinion, that vet recommended fixing them right away. Sophie had the tacking surgery done on both eyes. Three weeks later they had popped right back out. Went back to the vet and they referred me to an eye specialist. This specialist wants to tack the glad back in also, but using a different technique (initial technique used was cutting a pocket and tucking them in, closing with a suture). This vet wants to tack the gland back and suture it to her eye somehow. This vet also wants to charge $1800 dollars, and of course no guarantee. The surgery is set for this coming Tuesday. I am wondering if anyone has had to go through anything similar? Is gland removal really that bad? Has anyone heard of the tacking technique that the eye specialist is going to use? What should I do?Thank You,Alicia

First of all, don't be too worried because although cherry eye looks nasty it's not painful to the bully. So YES you could wait until you are ready to get her spayed and that way you will not have to put her under twice. ALWAYS a good thing with a bully!!!!

What happened to you happened to me too ... we took our foster bully in, Bella, to have her cherry eye and spay done at the same time. The one cherry eye was so small you would barely know it was there so that stayed in beautifully. The other cherry eye had popped straight back out within 3 days of surgery!!

So we had two options ... get it tacked back down again, or removal. The vet highly recommended removal. So we went for that option. The downside of removal is that later in life Bella may now develop dry eye. There are many many many bullies out there who have never had cherry eye and yet still have dry eye. It's just a "thing" that bullies are prone to.

So I guess it comes down to one question .... do you have $1800 lying around to do this procedure with no guarantee?? If so, then go ahead.

If not then I would say removal.

I'm typing this looking down into Bella'a pretty brown eyes and I don't regret the decision one little bit!!

 

[aledoux4]

Thank you all very much for your input!! :D

 

[Luci Jo's mama]

is cherry eye hereditary??

 

[Ftse 100]

Ftse developed cherry eye at 4 months and at first he was put on drops didn't do anything massaging did for a day or two but would pop back out we had his eye tacked and 10 days after surgery it popped out again I was so disappointed and I thought well he is not having taking again but we would go with removal a few days later after it popped out it went back and has not been out since except we notice when it is very windy it looks like he has a cherry eye beginning and five minutes after beening in out of the wind it disappears.
I can see why you are upset and worried but I too would not opt for the tacking a second time in case the same happens again.

 

[VegasGeorge]

I would certainly try simply tucking that Cherry Eye back in every time it pops out for a while. I'm doing that with Daisy, and the episodes are getting fewer and further apart all the time. It's gone from daily to weekly, and is still improving. My theory is that the quicker you get it back in place the better. So, since I'm retired and with Daisy 24/7 it's pretty efficient. I suppose it would be a lot harder if I worked and had to be away from her during the day.

 

[ABEBD]

Hello,

Cherry eye is not hereditary but is a fairly common issue with bulldogs.

I had a young male that at 4 months old had both eyes popping. At first we were able to massage them back into place and they would stay. When he got excited from playing or running around is when it seemed to happen more often. The number of occurrences were getting fewer and fewer over time. Then we went away for a wedding trip for 8 days. The dog sitter who stayed at our house to watch all of the dogs and other animals said that she had experience with cherry eye. We showed her how to do it. When we came back after 8 days the cherry eyes were fully popped out and no way to get them back in. She said after the first day she wasn't able to get them back in. So they were out for the next 7 days.

We have surgery done at our vet. They didn't remove the glad but did a laser surgery which was less evasive and healed faster. We only paid less than $400 for both eyes! At almost 9 months later we have never had any problems with his eyes or any dry eye problems.

So if enough time can be provided early and often enough to massage them back in, they can most likely build up the ability to stay in. If not, depending on how bad the issue is and exactly what is causing the popping will depend on what surgical treatment is done.

(btw...$1800 seems way too much?)

Good Day~

 

[porkysmamma]

is cherry eye hereditary??

Good question I've heard yes and no so idk lol


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[porkysmamma]

It's all a personal decision btw love ur name (I'm Alicia too) when I talked to the vet he explained the gland is only responsible for 30% of tear production which swayed me more towards removal he also explained there is really no recovery with removal, no drops after, no stitches. I saw her right after the surgery (she had a lot of stuff done) there was no swelling redness nothing!!!!! I'm very happy with my decision


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[brileythebully]

My EB, Briley, had cherry eye. I knew this was very common, and there was a high chance of having the other side pop out as well. I wanted to wait a few weeks or so to see if the other eye developed the problem before doing anything, because it would be easier and safer to do it all in one procedure rather than 2 and my vet gave me eye drops to use in the meantime. A few weeks went by and the other eye never had any issues. I had the option of tacking or removal. I chose removal because it was a one time procedure and I didn't want to risk it coming back after tacking and going through it all over again. I didn't want him to be put under more than once because of their known issues with it, so I took the risk of dry eye and had it removed. This was about 3 months ago and I've had no signs of dry eye! And the surgery was only $175! Your quote seems AWFULLY high, I would maybe get another opinion/quote.
Chances are, if it came back after being tacked once, it probably will again. Although, since it's a new technique it may not (I don't know what this approach entails)
Goodluck with it all!

 

[Lulu belle]

Max had cherry eye in both eyes also. My vet recommended laser surgery. That was 5 years ago, I haven't had a problem since. I spent $300.00 an eye.