# Cherry Eye



## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

Our new little Chi, Bailey, has cherry eye on her left eye. She will be going into the vet to get her last booster, spayed, and have her eye checked out soon. I researched this disorder, but I'm wondering if any of you have personal experience with this. What was done about it and how much is the surgical procedure, if it comes to that?


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## jazzman (Apr 8, 2009)

We had the surgery done on Poco and it was around $350 or $400.


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## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

Ooops, I think I posted this in the wrong area, anyway that's pretty pricey. What area are you from? Did the surgery fix the problem for good and was that the only alternative or did you try drops and massage at all?


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## LiMarChis (Mar 29, 2010)

Since she's going to be under anesthesia for the spay, it shouldn't be but a little more to have them correct the cherry eye at the same time. It's going to be less expensive than a stand long surgery for the correction and is less expensive too because you're only paying for it one time. The actual procedure itself isn't the expense, it's all the other stuff for the surgery. If it's out all the time and doesn't reduce most of the time and only present itself on occassion, please have it corrected. It's uncomfortable for them and isn't something that "fixes" itself. 

Keep us posted when she has her surgery. We'll all keep her in our thoughts for a speedy recovery. It helps.


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## OurCheekyChihuahuas (Nov 18, 2009)

Thats strange ive personally never experienced it with any Chihuahua. Good luck with her and her spay


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

How serious is it? When Maxie was 6 months old I noticed his 3rd eye lid was popping out a bit. When I took him in to be neutered they were going to "tack" it in but the vet doing the surgery advised against it the morning of surgery because it was so minor & tacking it in doesn't always last. If it doesn't...they cut out the lid all together which could open up a "can of worms" (as she put it) creating a life long issue of dry eye & daily drops. So we opted against it. It isn't protruding all the time & when it does it's very small. It only seems to pop out when he gets something in his eye or gets very stressed out about something. As he's aged...it's in more than it is out (it used to be out more than in when he was young) and is only out MAYBE 5% of the time and while it bugs me when it's out...it doesn't bother him at all & we've kind of gotten used to it. He is 2yrs 2mo now so it's been almost 2 years since he first got it. I'm SO glad we didn't go ahead with the surgery though....

Anyway, that is why I ask how serious it is.  Because just because they have it doesn't mean 1)it will always be there & 2)doesn't mean he has to have it corrected. I also want to add that Milo's 3rd eyelid popped out once & we were able to get it back in with some manipulation (the vet manipulated Maxies in in the beginning but it came back out) & he hasn't had a problem since. I also know a few other Chi's that have gotten cherry eye & their owners were able to pop it back in w/o any other issues.

I hope Baileys is very minor & won't require surgery to correct it. Keep us updated!


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

Oh & I wanted to add they gave us an estimate for his neuter & cherry eye correction. While veterinary cost varry from state to state (our state is quite expensive) I think the cherry eye correction was estimated at around $100 or so by itself on top of everything else. If you weren't already getting her spayed it would be more because of the anethstesia & such. Our total bill would have been about $400 with everything (bloodwork, anethstesia, neuter, cherry eye correction, meds, etc)


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Our Laurel has had this too, most likely she jabbed her eye at some point when running around outside...it's a little unsightly but 90% of the time it tucks itself back away and you don't even notice it. The vet gave us a steroid cream to use for awhile which helped with the inflamation, but said that removing the eyelid was a baaaaad idea as we live in CO and the climate is unusually dry here and the tear ducts are related to the third eyelid. I hope you figure out something that will work for your little baby, and just so you know, it never seems to bother Laurel at all...they're lucky to be doggies!


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

flippedstars said:


> Our Laurel has had this too, most likely she jabbed her eye at some point when running around outside...it's a little unsightly but 90% of the time it tucks itself back away and you don't even notice it. The vet gave us a steroid cream to use for awhile which helped with the inflamation, but said that removing the eyelid was a baaaaad idea as we live in CO and the climate is unusually dry here and the tear ducts are related to the third eyelid. I hope you figure out something that will work for your little baby, and just so you know, it never seems to bother Laurel at all...they're lucky to be doggies!



Oh yes...we also got the steriod cream but it seems to make it worse because the feeling of it bugs Maxie so he ends up rubbing his eyes (and licking off the ointment :roll and irritates it even more. LOL But it always goes away on it's own within a day or two w/o any intervention. If it gets really red & inflamed I'll put a couple drops of Systane (natural tears NON MEDICATED) but we haven't had to do that since he was about 9 months old....

I found this pic I had taken back when he first got it. This was about as bad as it ever got. Never got any bigger & never gets that big anymore. Usually when he gets it now it's just a tiny bit of red showing. And I think I only notice it because I know it's there. To anyonen else they probably wouldn't even see it.


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## MarieUkxx (May 19, 2009)

Lola had that. I read online if you notice it the first day you can massage it back into place. The inner eyelid goes over it. I massaged Lola's and it went back into place and she's not had it come out again since. 

You just push the bottom eyelid up and over it gently.


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## jazzman (Apr 8, 2009)

Poco was an older adult when he had it done. 
We'd put it off for some of the reasons mentioned, but it got so bad,
and would go through phases where it got really puffy. It was obvious 
that it bothered him, he couldn't close his eye at it's worst, so we decided to do it.

It never returned, and he passed about 5 years later. Looking back the money means nothing compared to his comfort.

I'm sure there are mild variations of it which can go along fine untreated, just wanted to be clear that in his case, it was not mild.


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## foggy (Oct 12, 2009)

Roo has this once in awhile on her one eye, but only very rarely, and it always goes away on its own within a day or so. It's in the majority of the time.


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

jazzman said:


> Poco was an older adult when he had it done.
> We'd put it off for some of the reasons mentioned, but it got so bad,
> and would go through phases where it got really puffy. It was obvious
> that it bothered him, he couldn't close his eye at it's worst, so we decided to do it.
> ...



I totally understand why you had it done & it sounds like it was the right thing to do. If Maxies got bad or it bothered him at any time...we'd have it done with out even thinking about it no matter the cost.


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## MarieUkxx (May 19, 2009)

You can just pop it back in easily. I did Lola's and she had a huge great lump there


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

MarieUkxx said:


> You can just pop it back in easily. I did Lola's and she had a huge great lump there



That's not always the case though Marie. Some pups don't have the "strength" or "elasticity" (or whatever you want to call it LOL) that hold the third eye lid in...that's why sometimes it needs to be surgically corrected. When we first took Maxie into the vet they popped it back in & it only stayed for a couple days before coming back out. I can't manipulate his back in like I could when Milo had it happen. (trust me - I tried for a couple months in the beginning & it just never worked LOL) I just have to let it be & wait for the swelling to go down so it will fit back into it's original place on it's own. 

I think most of the time you can get it popped back in with a little manipulation. I've heard more cases of cherry eye being able to be popped back in, than what needed surgery. Actually...the only case I heard of that needed corrective surgery was just here in this thread!  So hopefully she's able to pop Baileys back in w/o a problem....


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## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

Well, we've only had Bailey for three days now, but it's always been popped out. It's not huge, but pretty noticeable. I'd like to get it taken care of, but it sounds like it will be a bigger decision than I originally thought. She's met quite a few people since coming home (don't worry she has her shots) and the first thing they ask is "OMG what's wrong with her eye?!" So I give them the speel. Personally, I see right past it to those beautiful green eyes of hers, but it really seems to bother my hubby too. I guess it will come down to what our vet suggests doing. I certainly don't want to leave it and have it bother her or get it fixed and make it worse....sigh


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## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

You can see it in the picture.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=29652&l=0ed79570bc&id=100001104437194


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## MChis (Oct 13, 2009)

That does look pretty bad but I know Milo's was very "alarming" when it happened. Have you tried lifting up on the bottom of his eye lid & putting it up over the inflamed part? Does it bother her at all? Poor little thing...


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## MisStingerRN (May 16, 2010)

She's only been home for three days and it's always been there. I tried to gently manipulate it today, but it didn't do any good. It doesn't seem to bother her, but it bugs me when it's the only thing other people see when they first meet her(OMG what's wrong with her eye?!?!)....me, I can see right past it to those pretty little green eyes. If I had thought about it I would have asked the breeder how long it's been that way (suppose I could email)....duh!

After reading all the replies I guess it's gonna be a bigger decision than I thought it was going to be. I certainly don't want to make it worse for her in the long run. Suppose it will come down to what our vet has to say.


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