Other Delilah Has Entropian Eyelid and Needs Surgery :(

[laurendoodler]

I finally got Delilah to the vet a few days ago. She had been squinting her eye for about a week and she was having a lot of drainage and puss looking stuff coming out of it and just refusing to open her eye at all and didn't want to let me look at it. Plus it was starting to swell a bit so I finally got her an appointment..felt bad enough putting it off but I literally have no money so I had to scrape together to get her in.

The vet looked in her eye and it turns out she has a really bad entropian eyelid. She has it in both eyes I guess. The left eye, the bad one, has three corneal ulcers caused by the entropian. Poor dog. They gave her numbing drops and put dye in her eye so they could look at it real good and sure enough it's pretty hurt. They also showed me how bad her eyelids are. They plucked the eyelashes off of both eyes for temporary relief and now she is on a medication for her eye that I've been doing 4x a day.

I wish someone would have noticed this sooner. All of the other vets she went to in the past SHOULD HAVE looked at her eyes, you know?? And they didn't. I always thought she had good eyes and I was lucky because no one had ever said anything. I only recently started going to this vet and she had suggested she might have it from the get go when she noticed how squinty Delilah's eyes were..but Delilah was being a pill and wouldn't let her look and we were there for a different reason, so we didn't go in depth with that. It just sucks to think her eyes have been bugging her for a long time and no one bothered to look. I just didn't know.

They told me to make an appointment with the local ophthalmologist. I called them and they wanted $175 just for a consultation fee which seemed ridiculous..plus about $2500 for surgery. That seemed ridiculously high to me. I did make her an appointment there, but I'm going to have to call and cancel it because I decided to call up to Ames today and ask about what they do at the veterinary teaching hospital. She has a consult there on November 12 and that's going to cost $141.50, which is a bit better at least. Only thing that stinks is the three hours of driving. The main thing though is they charge considerably less for the surgery..they estimated me between $1050-$1300. That's just the estimate without seeing her though. Regardless that's quite a difference so I'd say it's worth the drive, plus they are cutting edge as far as veterinary medicine goes. I've heard nothing but good things.

I'm just stressing out about finding funds for this. I want to get her the surgery ASAP so her eye can get better. Poor dog, I know it really hurts. Someone from a rescue group tried to get me to sign Delilah over to someone else so that she could get the surgery done! I was absolutely appalled that someone would suggest I get rid of my dog.

 

[cali~jenn]

I am sorry Lauren, this has to be so stressful on you! Have you checked out care credit? Maybe a shot for you to try.

 

[Bella'sMom]

I have Care Credit for my pups. It comes in handy with something like this. The only bad thing about bullies....their expense. I know and with two I have to be very careful to save for a rainy day. But to me it is so worth it.

 

[Davidh]

Sorry to hear about her. The first price you were quoted is high, the $1300.00 sounds better. Jewels eye surgery was $1500.00 and she looks 100% better. I'm sure you will find a way to get the money for her. Give hugs and kisses to her from us.

 

[cali baker]

Sorry about Delilah!

I have heard lots of positives about Care Credit so that is something worth looking into.

Can you get a loan from a family member perhaps?

 

[mabel lou]

Please don't look at me badly after reading this but I have surrendered a wonderful little girl of whom I always think about but her health issues were out of my means of finances. I was at this vet to that specialist to that vet. Tumors being removed to cardiologist to leg surgeries. This was so hard for me maintaining a home and family and doing right by a puppy of whom I so loved dearly. I turned to the rescue people and gave them all of my paperwork of what had already been done which by no means was it cheap. 2nd and 3rd opinion after another. Out of 9 puppies I fell in love with the one who had so much going on and I at that time had to make a decision. Watch her continue falling apart or allow someone who was going to help her take over. I surrendered my little girl because I wanted what was best for her and I at that point was no longer what was best. I know you all say "you could never do that" well it wasn't a easy decision and at that period in my life I had to do let her go so she could grow into the wonderful little girl bully she was supposed to be with out being in the pain that she was in. From the first 10 hrs of getting her the issues began, now her breeder just so happened to be my best friend of 18yrs and it was hard because she didn't want to believe my girl could be as sick as the vet said and so like I said from one vet to another vet to another vet and all the paperwork in the world you still couldn't convince the breeder that these were real medical issues that were was happening. Needless to say she was taken care of and I smile knowing that the first vet said she was ok and all the other vets said no no and no. So I choose my vet wisely and because of the rescue of my girl I surrendered, she is much better off I am sure of it. This was many yrs ago and today I am still very happy with my vet of choice. Please don't think badly of me when reading this as I done what was best for my girl at the time and not what was best for me.

 

[JeannieCO]

Lauren, I'm very sorry to hear about Delilah needing surgery. Check into care credit. The vet's office should have an application or you can apply online. They may not give you all the credit $$ you need but it sure could help. and keep us updated. Hang in there.

 

[kim n the guys]

If I remember right from what Lauren posted on fb, she already has Care Credit and is maxed out. She was going to see if they would up her limit but apparently that didn't work out. I think taking Miss D to the teaching hospital is the smart way to go.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

So sorry Lauren. Poor Delilah! Must've been so painful for her. I hope you are able to get this done soon.

 

[Libra926]

I posted on your fb page...but I will post again here. In our case....Orion has 1 eyelash that keeps giving her problems. Initially it caused an ulcer that needed medication to heal. Our vet pulled the lash and she was fine for about 4 or 5 months. Then we noticed her starting to squint her eye, so we took her back in. He put dye in her eye and saw that the lash hadn't caused an injury...so he pulled the lash again. And again 4 to 5 months after that. You said that you wanted the surgery ASAP so she can heal.....I'm not sure if that is the ONLY way for her to heal.
My point is....for an office visit of 39.00 and an dye test of 11.00.....it fixes her for 4 to 5 months and it's non-evasive!!!. If Delilah just had the offending eye lashes pulled...you have about 4 months to save some money for the procedure. If you go back in at the first sign of her squinting and have the lashes removed BEFORE an ulcer forms...you have a good 7 months to save some money. So, start now and put 50.00 into savings per week. In 7 months you will have saved 1400.00 for her surgery. Having this breed of dog, you have to have some sort of rainy day fund for her. As we all know, the cheapest part of owning a bulldog is the initial purchase price.

It sucks that someone suggested you rehome Delilah...but they were probably thinking only about Delilah's well being. If your care credit is maxed out and you have no credit cards that you can use...and you don't have insurance on her, and you've stated that you had to scrape by enough money just to have her looked at in the first place, that's probably why they suggested it.

 

[loveabully]

I hope all goes well I hope she feels better soon

 

[cali~jenn]

Please don't look at me badly after reading this but I have surrendered a wonderful little girl of whom I always think about but her health issues were out of my means of finances. I was at this vet to that specialist to that vet. Tumors being removed to cardiologist to leg surgeries. This was so hard for me maintaining a home and family and doing right by a puppy of whom I so loved dearly. I turned to the rescue people and gave them all of my paperwork of what had already been done which by no means was it cheap. 2nd and 3rd opinion after another. Out of 9 puppies I fell in love with the one who had so much going on and I at that time had to make a decision. Watch her continue falling apart or allow someone who was going to help her take over. I surrendered my little girl because I wanted what was best for her and I at that point was no longer what was best. I know you all say "you could never do that" well it wasn't a easy decision and at that period in my life I had to do let her go so she could grow into the wonderful little girl bully she was supposed to be with out being in the pain that she was in. From the first 10 hrs of getting her the issues began, now her breeder just so happened to be my best friend of 18yrs and it was hard because she didn't want to believe my girl could be as sick as the vet said and so like I said from one vet to another vet to another vet and all the paperwork in the world you still couldn't convince the breeder that these were real medical issues that were was happening. Needless to say she was taken care of and I smile knowing that the first vet said she was ok and all the other vets said no no and no. So I choose my vet wisely and because of the rescue of my girl I surrendered, she is much better off I am sure of it. This was many yrs ago and today I am still very happy with my vet of choice. Please don't think badly of me when reading this as I done what was best for my girl at the time and not what was best for me.

I don't think anyone could look badly on your choice to give your baby a better life. It is easy to say what you would or wouldn't do when it is someone else. Sometimes the best thing we can do is the hardest for us.

 

[LariP]

HRH's vet thought she might have entropian at first when she squinted a lot, but he checked and found dry eye to be the reason for the swelling of her eyelids causing them to turn in, and she has done very well on Optimmune gel applied daily.
My point is, that all options and reasons behind the swelling should be considered before resorting to expensive and perhaps unnecessary surgery.


And [MENTION=6198]mabel lou[/MENTION] bless your heart for putting your babies well being first. like Jenn said, sometimes the best choice isn't the easiest one.

 

[mabel lou]

I know believe you me it wasn't a easy decision since I watched the dam go through the whole AI an and pregnancy and watched my girl being born as well so yeah she was meant to be with me I know this much. It effected my friendship of a lifetime yes because of the way a person looks at another when money is involved or at least in my case it did. I actually went to the vet with her and helped her with all 9 puppies as each and everyone received their health cert. including mine only to go home with her and be woke up to our first issue of breathing and or choking problems and informing my friend of this she told me it was a hairball in her throat. Now I don't own a cat so not sure where the hairball could have even entered the pic but off to the vet I went and this is how it all started. From the vet back to the breeders home to be looked upon as though I just made all of this up and then to be told no that is not true and grade level 4 heart murmor isn't no big deal and she will grow out of it OMG among the other issues the vet told me of. Gosh how sad I felt because keep in mind this was my bff of 18yrs and so the quest began of taking on this issue of what to do, what to do while crying because of so many mixed emotions. How is it that you can go to one vet on one side of town and get a health cert and then within 10 hrs you go to another vet (mine) and she says completely opposite of what the breeders vet said. Needless to say I did right by my moo moo girl and she was meant to be with me for whatever the reason was sick or not.. I do believe in my heart that some come to you because they are meant to be with you for whatever time you have with them and then when your time is up and it is time to say goodbye to your friend and or child, it is time for the next phase of their precious life. Almost like school teachers and how a student goes into the next grade. I must admit that loving my girl and letting her go did effect my friendship terribly with my X bff but I know in my heart that to be a free spirit which I do believe EBDs are. Sometimes you gotta believe that to be free you have to smile and know that your decision is based on kindess and love. The breeder said to me that her and her husband would take my girl back and I said NO because I knew her and knew that she would resell her and who knows what may have happened to my girl. So as you can see I stuck it out but sticking it out only meant I was brought into her life and visa versa because we were suppose to be together for whatever reason and for however long. Again I say this with a smile because EBDs show me how to do selfless acts simply because being a free spirit means to be free and not hold onto something because of the fear of no longer having that wonderful feeling they bring to my heart. We all love them and it is ok but my love for them is not wrong in how I look upon them, It is just the way I view life and yes I hurt and cry just like the next one. But I wouldn't trade what they give me for any amount of money in the world. Thanks all

 

[laurendoodler]

Thanks everyone. I do have care credit, but I have a max credit of $1000 and it kind of is almost completely maxed out because my cat recently needed expensive stuff done. I've got a couple hundred left on it but right now I'm saving that for her office visits.

I had funds saved up but sometimes crap happens. When it rains, it pours, I guess.