Skip to main content

So Your Dog Has Entropion?


From the moment I first saw Stella I thought that her eyes looked extra squinty. She was the puppy who ran to us and cuddled while all hell was broke loose on the farm: her grandmother howling, a goat was bahhh'ed (I swear I heard it), her sisters were clumsily exploring, finally free from their crate, and one notoriously pranky Chocolate pup, was biting crotches. As I pried this one away from us, Stella stayed close by, quickly falling asleep in Travis' arms. she was the obvious choice. So after the breeder showed us her credentials, gave us records certifying the puppies' parents were healthy, we were convinced. Stella was the obvious choice, we had picked our pup.
Here is Stella on one of her first days home. You can tell her eyes are runny even then.


Our non-pet-friendly apartment lease was ending, we had no idea where we'd go, and only two months time before Stella was due home. I had no house to bring her home to, but I felt assured knowing that we were prepared by being in possession of several doggie essentials limited to a brush, a leash and a bowl. At Christmas my sister had asked, "Why do you need a dog dish, you don't even have a dog?"

The breeder called a few days later informing us of the news. "Our vet believes that your puppy has Entropion in at least one of her eyes, do you still want her?'' While my initial  reaction was tears that something was wrong with our planned puppy, we looked at each other and knew; she was already ours.


In the years following this day, I have found some really good sources that can explain Entropion much better than I can, so I won't waste your time reviewing what you can easily Google, after all, my purpose is pointed toward the recovery process. I also know that the severity of  each case is different. In our case, three different vets over the course of four years talked to us extensively about Stella's condition. Your best resource is always your vet (ours recognizes my voice when I call).

Stella had her first Entropion surgery when she was spayed at 7 months. From my understanding, our local vet pulled the loose skin from her face hoping that as she grew, the severity would improve .

You can barely see the stitches in this photo. Recovery was a breeze. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 6- Surgery Nightmare & The Only Compress Technique Advice That Works

We had made up our minds to endure the hour trek to the Surgeon's, cone hitting everything in sight, an angry dog barking for her window to be put down, and me, angry that we would "just be wasting our time." Why? We're overly cautious. I can't tell you the amount of times in the past that we went back and forth for one ailment or another and ran her down to the vet, the ER, only to be assured she was fine. With that being said, you can't put a price on assurance and there was something that just irked us about her left eye. To go or not to go? Go. Always go. Stella's left eye looked much different to us than her right. When she figured out where we were, betrayal swept across that shaved face. She made us pay for it by causing a scene: pulling, yelping, pulling, repeat. We heard how much training she needed (no surprise there) but were devastated, shocked, surprised and angry with the state of her eyes. The ophthalmologist believed that not only...
Post a Comment
Read more

1 Month Gone- Looking Back

Our recovery consisted of the highest highs, the lowest lows and every emotion from fear to exhaustion to exultation and back again. But it's over.  I remember the night before surgery asking my spouse, "but how will we tell her apart from any other Lab without her signature runny eyes?"Her eyes are still runny, goopy, and now red, and less than idea, but it's over. We don't regret the surgery. We don't believe that we unfairly put our dog through this painstaking recovery. I do believe that Ectropic is better than Entropic and whether that means she'll have more eye infections, only time will tell. Our only recovery advice is, "just get through it. You're one minute closer to it being over." The three of us will have quickly forgotten (or repressed) what we endured and continue living our happy-go-lucky lab loving lives. Thank GOD it's over! Tomorrow Stella celebrates her 5th Birthday. Her entire recovery process has been a l...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Year of Healing

    Since I am a firm believe that your body is constantly looking for ways to heal itself, my goal is to add pictures of Stella and see just how different, if anything, her eyes look in the months following surgery leading up to one year post operation. At a few different times we have needed to compress her eyes but otherwise find our eye surgery a distant nightma...memory.   We are now onto bigger and better things- DOG TRAINING, but that is a different blog, for a different day.     Of course, like any girl, Stella is generally only photographed on her good side.    
Post a Comment
Read more