Monday, August 20, 2007

Hagrid's eye issues

A few weeks ago Hagrid's third eyelid was red, swollen, and protruded out. I called the vet but he was out of town for a conference. Meanwhile, I did some research on canine eye conditions and decided to that flushing his eye out with sterile eye irrigating solution would be the best course of action. After just two washes, Hagrid woke up good as new. My best guess is that a small hair might have gotten in his eye from the haircut I'd given him earlier in the week.

While playing with a neighbor's black lab, Hagrid suddenly shrieked. He'd never done that before. I couldn't find anything wrong at the time and the dogs were playing again in no time. Later that day I noticed that the injury was on Hagrid's left outer eyelid: a scratch that didn't seem too bad. I washed it with hydrogen peroxide and put neosporin on it for a few days. It healed nicely.

Then Hagrid played with Gunner, a chocolate lab puppy two months his junior, his favorite pup to rough house with. The next morning, his third eyelid was red, swollen, protruding, and his outer eyelid wound had reopened.

In addition, he had a new scratch on his eyeball near the outer lid scratch. This time I took him in to see the vet.

Poor Hagrid hates the vet. His first meeting with the good doctor (as opposed to the doctor I don't like) was his neutering. That experience seems to be seared in his memory as an historic EVIL event; try as I do to feed him treats, bring him to visits just to socialize, remain upbeat, the pup is too smart to be fooled into changing his mind about the place and the good doctor. I'm talking screaming, shrieking, climbing onto me, and pawing/clawing on for dear life the minute we are in the exam room. The good doctor had to sedate him in order to examine his eye properly. The good news is that there was no damage to the cornea. He gave us a triple antibiotic with hydrocortisone ointment for the scratch. As for the swollen third eyelid, aka cherry eye, he said he did not expect that to go down on its own, and that he would likely have to send us to an opthalmalgic specialist.

I am growing more concerned about Hagrid's stress level at the good doctor's office and the injections of sedative. He screams in pain even though the needle is the smallest one that exists. The injection makes him drowsy and lose muscle movement, but he is still conscious, and even then he was making sad wimpering noises as the doctor examined his eyes. Surgery under anesthesia is something I would like to avoid, given his reaction to his neutering at age 5 months.

Canine ectropion is a condition common in some breeds, including English bull dogs, shar peis, basset hounds, and BMDs. Not bichon frises! Mild cases can be treated with regular irrigation with sterile saline eye fluid. Otherwise surgery is indicated.

Off to alternative medicine I go. I learned about the herbs eyebright and goldenseal and decide to try an eyewash of goldenseal first. (I take him off the ointment after 3 days of use.) At Nam Buk Hong Chinese Herbs in Chinatown I buy $1 worth of goldenseal. The woman tells me it's not for use in the eye, though, and she's very worried that I intend to use it as an eyewash. She kept saying that it was "for the inside." Then she shows me how much I should use per cup of boiling water (about a gram). I realize that this must be the best deal I stumbled on--hurray! At home I boil about a gram of goldenseal in a cup of distilled water for 20 minutes, add 1/2 tsp. sea salt, let cool, strain a few times through cheesecloth, disinfect (by boiling) a bulb syringe, and instill into Hagrid's eye 3x/day. He now has a golden yellow streak on his face. It's his warrior face. My bichon frise, my braveheart dog.

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