Cherry Eye

[Pugmum]

I recently (a week ago ) got an 18 mth old french bulldog to keep my elderly pug company. This morning the frenchie (Donna) had what I thought might be the beginning of a cherry eye, I've only sort of seen one before on a friends dog and it had long hair so was hard to see it properly.

Donna's was not red, but as she in dark faced it was very noticable that there was extra light coloured flesh on the nose side of one eye. She is not bothered by it, but it made her dark face look strange.

We decided which one of us would stay home and take her to the vet - OH won. But when I got to work he sent me a picture and showed that it had now totally gone away again

I'm thrilled that it has gone again, but anyone have any ideas what it might have been ? Does cherry eye come and go ?

thank you

[ellz]

Yes, they can come and go.

A "Cherry eye" is actually the gland that pops out and can be seen above the eyelid so it can come and go if it is mild, but the more severe cases will pop and stay out, requiring some sort of intervention.

Many vets cut them out, but this can lead to dry eye because the gland is no longer there to provide the lubrication that the eyeball needs to stay healthy.

Sometimes, in less severe cases, they only need to be pushed back into place and they will rarely, if ever reappear.

Most often though is that a veterinary opthalmologist can actually stitch them down so that they stay functional.

[Pugmum]

Thank you ellz, so it might come back or it might not. We'll have to keep en eye on it (yes, pun intended ) and hope that it does not re-occur. Poor thing, looked a bit lop sided this morning.

[matilda1]

As a general rule of thumb if it hasn't gone back in within 24 hours you need veterinary attention.

The gland can dry out and cause problems if prolapsed any longer than this.

in most cases if you have had a cherry eye once it will be a repeat offender and in the long run it may be better to treat.

having said that...my JRT had a cherry eye once and it has never played up again.

Edited October 28, 2010 by BellaDonna

[Pugmum]

Thank you BellaDonna. It had only been there from sometime after we went to bed last night, and its gone again now. At least we now know, should it happen again , if it lasts longer than 24 hours to take her for treatment. We were ready to rush her in this morning as we tend to be worry warts.

thanks again...

[matilda1]

If it does pop out again I suggest keeping your dog indoors and away from dust and sunlight to prevent further irritation.

make sure he/she isn't rubbing at it and irritating it or damaging the sensitive area of the eye. if this happens then get her looked at sooner rather than later.

[Bullbreedlover]

While I dont advocate anyone poking and prodding around the eye area, the experienced person can tuck the gland back into place. This needs to be caught in time otherwise the gland if left out will become swollen and irritated and then will become impossible to be put back into place and will definetely need to be stitched or taken off.

There is a bit of a knack to doing this. A few of our Bulldogs have had a cherry eye as young puppies. In most cases we were able to massage the gland back and as the puppy matured a bit more the gland stopped protruding all together.

If you are not going for the surgery then ask your vet to show you how to do this proceedure

[ellz]

Yep, Stafford puppies get them on occasions after particularly rough play and usually around teething time or other stressful interludes and American Cockers are LOUSY for them! I've had Yank puppies go to bed fine and wake up 20 minutes later with cherry eye for no apparent reason.

If you press in the right place, you can actually feel them pop back into place. I would say that probably 8 out of 10 times, they are never seen again.

The important thing is that the gland isn't compromised. Treating dry eye is a darn sight worse than treating cherry eye.