I haven't posted on here for quite some time but I am desperate for some help and advice and the only place I know that gives out the benefit of years of experience is here.

Two of my dogs had a scuffle on Monday evening which resulted in my yorkie,, Tiegan having a badly injured eye. We rushed her straight to the vets when we saw her eye was slightly bulging. She hadn't shown any sign of pain and didn't yelp or cry out when she was injured. Initially the vet recommended keeping her in, sedating her to pop the eye back into place to make sure she was comfortable and then removing the eye the following day.

The vet called us the next morning to say there was some reaction to light from the eye and it was felt enough to try to save the eye. They had sewn her eyelids together to protect her eye and we began a regime of drops and painkillers.  We took her back yesterday to have the stitches removed and to reassess her eye. Again it was felt that there was some pupil reaction and as she is pain free and eating and drinking normally we started a new drug regime and gave it another 24 hours.

We went back this morning and saw another vet who's opinion is that the her eye reactions are inconsistent and that the muscles are most probably stretched. She seemed to be saying that removal of her eye is the best option. Tiegan is not in any pain so it was decided to continue with the treatment and she has to go back on Sunday to see a vet who has experience in this field.

I haven't left her for a minute since it happened and I have stayed up with her every night just in case she becomes uncomfortable or something happens. I have set a timer to make sure all her meds have been given at the right time. I feel incredibly guilty that I didn't get to her in time to stop this happening and Im desperate to do everything in my power to help save her eye. The vets, though, are extremely pessimistic.

Am I fighting a losing battle?  Has anyone else had a similar experience? What are the chances of saving her eye? When do I say enough is enough? I am absolutely gutted for my baby. Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

Many thanks
Jane

Are you seeing your normal vet or have you requested a referral. I think with something as important as this I would want to see a specialist and would insist on being referred for another opinion. If the specialist agrees that you need to have her eye removed, then so be it, but I'm sorry I would not make this decision on the say so of my normal vet.
This is however just my thinking

My Weimaraner bitch nearly lost her eye last week to a foreign body.  We were referred by my Vet straight to the Opthamologist Vets at the Willows referrals at Solihull, they kept her in for 3 days and luckily managed to save her eye.

I would agree with Sue. I would also want a second opinion from a specialist asap. 

When one of my bitches had a severe eye injury, I actually just knew that we were too late to save any sight.  You could just tell, her eye was actually hanging out onto her cheek.  I do not like looking at the back of an eye.  It was horrible.

The vet I saw agreed that there was no sight, but that he would try and save the eye for cosmetic reasons only.  He mentioned that if there were problems later, then the eye would have to be removed.  My decision was made.  I asked for the eye to be removed.  He did say that he would try and pad it out with muscle if he could, so that there wasn't a sunken area.  Well it didn't work, and there is a sunken area.  But I don't care.  If people don't like it because of cosmetic reasons, it's their problem.

I would have the eye removed in a heartbeat if any more of my dogs had something similar happen.  While my favourite vet wasn't there to do the op, I was more than happy with the vet that carried out the surgery.  Over the last 40 or so years I have owned 3 one eyed dogs, and you do need to take the dog out and about pretty soon after surgery.  While I have always wanted to "baby" them, it's the wrong thing to do.  The vet told me that we can make an animal fearful by wrapping them up in cotton wool.

I use a well known veterinary hospital with 24/7 attendance (I know, I've phoned them very late) and have had no regrets at all.

My dog caused an injury to his eye with his dew claw when rubbing his eye. The vet did the usual sewing it up to see if it would heal but it didn't. The eye started to bulge and the night before we took him to vet it ruptured. The vet said the pain he must have been in would have been excruciating and he removed the eye. It looks awful for a few days but now he has no problems at all.

Many thanks for the replies. Saw a specialist on Sunday who says she does have vision in her injured eye. It is not infected, she is not in any pain and he thinks it looks as though it will be fine and sees no reason to remove the eye. Im over the moon. We have to continue with some meds for a few more days and have another check up on Sunday. Im finally allowing myself to be positive. So glad I didn't rush into anything and went along with my instincts. It was made easier because Tiegan wasn't in any pain though. So happy.

Jane

Junior my Boston terrier (24 pounds) then about 3-4 yrs old went after my Hybrid Taz 8 yrs old (158-162 pounds) over a toy. Taz just turned to growl and nicked Junior eye. We ran
him off to the vet and she felt we may be able to save it- so went with drops & some pain meds. By day 2 Junior started barking at the door, I was keeping him calm
but was in the bathroom when he was barking and his eye started bleeding. Rushed him off to the vet which she decided to remove the eye. After she showed it to us &
it was punctured right through. Funny how he never really showed he was in pain but am sure it hurt pretty bad.

Junior is now 13 1/2 yrs old & you would never no he only has one eye- we even continued with some agility for a bit afterwards.