Glaucoma. Possible eye removal

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Goya

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:(Have any of you any experiences with dogs with glaucoma and/or dogswho have had an eye removed?
I'll fill you all in.
When we had Skye (about a year ago) we were aware of a damaged eye which she had apparently had an accident with a stick. This is what we were told.
Anyway, the eye has given no problems. She had very limited sight in it, but this has not affected her at all. She has been doing Flyball and is doing basic Agility.
However, last Wednesday I noticed the eye was quite red and seemed to be bulging. I've been taking her to the vet several times since then and today she had to stay in to be sedated so the vet could check the pessure in the eye.
The result is that he is almost certain she has glaucoma and has advised removal of the eye.
I just wanted to ask you lovely people if any of you have experienced dogs with Glacoma and/or eye removal to perhaps advise me on what to expect etc.
:(
 
No experience of glaucoma, but my gsd bitch had to have her eye removed due to a tumour when she was 10. She had no problem with her sight up until then, but coped amazingly well with the loss of vision. It took a while to work out depth perception, but other than that you honestly woudln't have noticed the difference. She managed far better than her daughter who is losing sight gradually in both eyes (totally unrelated ). The eye looked a bit gruesome at first though not as bad as I feared and we soon got totally used to it though other people sometimes stared at her.
I've bored everyone on here loads of times with this pic of my girl, but you've given me an excuse.

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Gina B and Prose have also had dogs who have had eyes removed, I think due to glaucome so hopefully they will see this thread and give you some more advice.
 
Thank you. I was feeling very lonely as no-one had even read my post. I am desperately worried about this,although I know she has limited if any sight in the eye and has been like this for some time.
I have to take her to vet again on Monday when.no doubt, the decision will have to be made.
 
I know its easy to say, but try not to worry, they really do cope very well. I suppose in a way I was lucky, my girl had no symptoms until a sunday morning when her eye was partially closed and obviously irritating her. I spoke to my vet who said to bring her in as eyes are always a concern. He looked at her eye and put drops in etc, and said he thought it was a tumour. He booked her in the next day to have a look under ga but warned me that there was every chance he would have to remove her eye as it would become increasingly painful very quickly and she would lose her sight anyhow. So I had overnight to get used to it.:( I was probably in shock so didn't have time to worry about how she would cope, but as I have said she coped amazingly in a very short time, the only time she panicked was when we tried to put an elizabethan collar on to stop her scratching, so I had her with me day and night for a week to make sure she didn't open the wound. Sorry, I've rambled on a bit, hope I've reassured you. Chaka was able to jump in the car etc with one eye so I would think Skye would possibly be able to do agility and flyball. I have seen a pony jumping with one eye and successfully at that.
 
The little jack russel where i work had his eye removed, due to an illness when he was quite young, before i worked there. I dont even notice it now and he is still full of beans, leaping everywhere!
 
OK, so not a dog, but we have a number of one eyed horses at work and they cope really well and are all in work. If a flight animal like a horse can cope, I reckon a dog should adapt really well:)
 
Goya said:
Thank you. I was feeling very lonely as no-one had even read my post. I am desperately worried about this,although I know she has limited if any sight in the eye and has been like this for some time.
I have to take her to vet again on Monday when.no doubt, the decision will have to be made.
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This is exactly what happened to my Boston terrier, Stella, two years ago. She suffered a head trauma, which caused the pressure in her right eye to rise (a reading of 68, as opposed to a normal reading of 15-25) and the vet advised removal of the eye. I was in pieces. She went into hospital on Sunday morning with two eyes, with what I thought was conjunctivitis, as her eye only appeared cloudy, and then came out Tuesday morning with one eye (well, one eye + prosthesis). Trust me, though, your dog will learn to cope and learn to cope quickly. We don't do flyball, but here are a couple of short videos of my dog running around and playing fetch. She is like a rabbit at cornering and a demon after that ball!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DivAH_TgXgE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjdJ7IfXnZU
 
My old lab, Tina had her eye removed due to gluacoma. She had started out with a cataract developing with she coped fine with but then she developed gluacoma and also an ulcer on the surface of the eye (thought to be caused by Midget lab) It was taken out 3 years ago this year I think it was. She copes extremely well, however as she had went gradually blind due to the cataract, the eye removal caused no issue. She was out worknig again just over a month following surgery.

The surgery cost £250, it took longer than thought due to the ulcer/infection in the eye. Not once did this little dog whimper/whine or complain. She was supposed to get her drain removed after a week, however there were still fluid draining so it was left in a while longer. The stitches were snipped, drain pulled out and Tina went home a happy girl. She did have to stay overnight for the surgery and had to wear a buster collar when no one was with her to stop her rubbing it, Not easy, she's a big girl and the buster collar was huge!

Some pictures following surgery and recovery

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Thank you everyone for the videos and pics and your experiences. It has really helped me,although obviously I am still worried for her. I suppose the one saving point is that she has had very little, if any sight in that eye for at least a year now (I don't know when the injury first occured as she is a rehome), so in theory at least she probably won't notice any difference.
I'll let you know what the vet says on Monday and keep you posted.
Thank you all again
 
I am sorry to hear about your dog. A few years ago my dog was also diagnosed with glaucoma. Unfortunately by the time she was referred to a specialist the pressure in her right eye was over 80 and the damage was done. She had this eye removed straight away. We were prescribed Trusopt and Xalatan eye drops but unfortunately 8 months later we lost the second eye. We had been dreading it for so long that it was almost a relief when it eventually happened. I can honestly say that it really didn't seem to bother her that much because at last she was pain free.
We were amazed at how well she adapted. She was still the same happy little dog who still did all the things she loved.
Daisy spent the last 3 years of her life completely blind. At first we had worried that she would have no quality of life but this wasn't the case. She was still able to find her way around. She still loved going for walks especially to new places where there were new and exciting smells. She still played with toys especially those that made a noise or had a smell - like a kong or a treat ball.
I remember how devastating the news is. But I think it is worse for us than for them because they just get on with it.

Someone posted this link on another forum it shows a blind dog having fun: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXdxwnmg8xA
 
Goya said:
PS the prothesis is a good idea for cosmetic reasons. Are there any problems with it?
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None whatsoever. We put a regular human eye drop in there to keep the tissue moisturised, but that's it. She does not flinch, yelp or anything when I touch it, so I imagine she's fairly unaware of her fake eye (or the bionic eye, as we like to call it :)).

I would go with a certified opthamologist, if at all possible. Being based in NYC, we were lucky enough to get one of the best opthamologists in the US perform Stella's op, and it was actually very reasonably priced.

I think one-eyed dogs are cute. Largely the reason we opted for the prosthesis is because we thought it was genetic at the time, therefore involving both eyes, but thankfully that was not the case. It was brown at first, but they do fade over time.

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Ah i love stella, she is so cute!

Just out of interest is the prosthesis sewn in?? The reason i ask is that i have a prosthetic eye, having lost mine after i was assaulted at work. I just wondered how they differed from human ones?? Does it come out and does it move?
 
Stinkbomb said:
Ah i love stella, she is so cute!

Just out of interest is the prosthesis sewn in?? The reason i ask is that i have a prosthetic eye, having lost mine after i was assaulted at work. I just wondered how they differed from human ones?? Does it come out and does it move?
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Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. What happened, if you don't mind me asking?

Stella's is sewn in, and pretty tightly I should imagine. It moves around like a normal eye would, and she still blinks.
 
Prose i have pm'd you!!

Goya - just from my own personal experience having lost an eye myself, it really is quite strange how you adapt to only having one eye. Im sure its no different for dogs :) I cant actually remember what its like to have two eyes! I can drive and do everything i could normally, i just have to think about them alittle more. it does affect your depth perception but only takes a few months for your brain to adjust. Believe it or not it didnt actually hurt having it taken out. ( although the circumstances of me injuring it were very very painful ) The surgery and after care was uncomfortable but not painful if that helps.

GinaB - Prose may correct me but i think the prosthesis for dogs is to help the owners adjust rather than the dogs. My eye does get irritated by the sun, dry days, wind etc.. and i have to use drops constantly. I would imagine it would be less hassle and more comfortable for me to have had it sewn up, but obviously appearances are much more important in humans than animals, so ill put up with it! maybe your vet just thought it would be easier without the prosthesis. TBH ive never heard of prosthetic eyes in dogs until Stella had hers. :)
 
I had a lab x rottie that lost an eye after a horse kicked him - mare was dozing and didn't see him - so dog had eye removed. Never had a problem at all and lived a very active 8yrs after the accident, the only time he had any problems was if he was not concentrating when jumping a fence or wall, he would jump too soon - :D:D!! Cosmetically he looked fine and just had a flat patch of fur - although he still had his eyebrow so could still move that which was rather amusing!! Have also had a mare with one eye and she was fine albeit rather spooky as she got old but she lived until she was nearly twenty and apparently lost the eye as a youngster so I wouldn't worry at all = animals cope amazingly well.
 
Stinkbomb said:
Prose i have pm'd you!!

GinaB - Prose may correct me but i think the prosthesis for dogs is to help the owners adjust rather than the dogs. My eye does get irritated by the sun, dry days, wind etc.. and i have to use drops constantly. I would imagine it would be less hassle and more comfortable for me to have had it sewn up, but obviously appearances are much more important in humans than animals, so ill put up with it! maybe your vet just thought it would be easier without the prosthesis. TBH ive never heard of prosthetic eyes in dogs until Stella had hers. :)
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It is a bit daft, I suppose, having a prosthesis for your dog. In any case, it is entirely for humans. Gina B, I suspect your vet didn't mention it because Tina is a working dog. Did she have a tumour or growth behind the eye, too? That's another reason a vet won't do the op. And let's not forget that I'm based in America ;)
 
My older Miniature Bull terrier Tiffany is affected with Primary Lens Luxation (PLL) which if left untreated would cause glaucoma and eye removal, she was diagnosed just over 3 years ago and has since been on Xalatan drops daily, she is going blind slowly but she does not suffer the pain of glaucoma and still has both her eyes. I know of other MBT's who have been on Xalatan drops for 6+ years with no problems at all.

Xalatan reduces the eye pressure and keeps glaucoma at bay.

More about Tiffany here http://www.arcazy.co.uk/tiffany.htm

Anyone who uses Xalatan check the prices from your vet, our vet charges £42 a bottle or a repeat presciption that can be used 6 times, I think is £12. I take it to Boots and it's £18 a bottle so a huge difference.
 
I'm not sure if prostheshis eyes are available in the uk, one ofour vetgs has a terrier with one eye I imagine if they were easily available she may have gone for it, although as said they make no difference to the dog. I grew to love Chaka's one eyed leer.:D
 
Thank you again everyone. Although I am obviously still devastated for Skye, it is comforting to know that the outcome and prognosis is good.
Stinkbomb--I am sorry to hear about your accident and brave of you to post about it. I lost a finger years ago but that is nothing to losing an eye.
 
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