# Awwww, Moxie has cherry eye



## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Overnight, (truly, because we were just looking at his eyes last night), he has developed that red tiny mass looking thing in the corner of his left eye. Luckily we caught the vet before she closed today and she gave us drops and the initial diagnosis. Wait and see and then surgery, I guess. Darn.
Did a quick search and it looks like there is some info on the forum from years past.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Awwww, poor little guy. Does he seem bothered by it at all? Crazy how it developed so quickly. I would have thought being an adult now, he would be in the clear


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Awwwwwwwwwww......Poor baby! Wondering how old is your pup? Does the vet think the drops might work?


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## mellowbo (Aug 12, 2007)

Oh, I'm so sorry. I need to look up cherry eye because I don't really know what it is. I'm surprised surgery is needed 
Carole


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

No, he seems fine, Amanda. He was so good at the vet.
The other thing is that he had to have his distemper parvo shot because the vet in CA let me titer him at one year and I have since learned that at one year they should be boosted with the three year vaccine and that a titer is not
enough in young dogs. So basically, it was double the expense with the wasted titer.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

He is one and a half. Guess I should tell the breeder.


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## casperkeep (May 16, 2007)

I am sorry to hear about Moxie....please give him belly rubs from us.


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## Amy R. (Jul 1, 2007)

Best of luck with this to you and sweet Moxie.


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## Scooter's Family (May 23, 2008)

Oh poor Moxie! Hope he's not bothered by it.


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## Evye's Mom (Dec 16, 2008)

Poor little guy...hope he is okay.


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## HavaBaloo (Mar 24, 2009)

Yes tell your breeder, they need to know. They may want to stop breeding with Moxies parents because after researching it there is a chance that it is hereditary. My Baloo just had cherry eye surgery 2 1/2 weeks ago and is doing well. It is unusual for dogs to get it at 1 and a half, it is mostly found in pups around 3 - 5 months I thought.

If you have any questions, let me know, I have researched it out the ying yang LOL. One thing most places I looked said that the drops may seem to work, but in 95% of cases surgery is required to correct it.
Question
is cherry eye in dogs is it scientifically documented to be an hereditary disease. 

Answer
While I couldn't find any scientific papers saying that this is a hereditary disease, I did find several sites that said that it was felt to be hereditary and that cherry eye is caused by a hereditary weakness in the connective tissue surrounding the Hardarian gland and that dogs affected with this condition should not be bred.


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## Lunastar (Feb 9, 2009)

Aw poor baby.


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

Oh, darn, Debra! I'd have thought Moxie was too old for it to develop, guess not 

Hugs to you and belly rubs for Moxie


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## Mraymo (Oct 30, 2007)

Sorry to hear Moxie has cherry eye. I don't know anything about cherry eye except that it came up when researching health issues before I brought home Izzy. I hope things work out with minimal impact on Moxie. I'm glad you said it doesn't seem to hurt him.

Just wanted to say that I love the new avatar picture of Moxie. Hope you can make it up to our next New England playdate.


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## gelbergirl (Jun 9, 2007)

glad you got to the vet quickly.
Hope surgery is not needed.
kisses to Moxie.


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## danak (Jun 17, 2007)

Debbie I'm so sorry. Will keep up good thoughts. Have to google cherry eye.

Danak


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## Trish (Jan 15, 2008)

Hi Debbie..I unfortunately had a cocker who had a cherry eye which needed suregry so I was familiar with what it looked like and treatment protocol. I had him originally evaluated by an opthamologist for canines which was at Angel Hospital, Springfield MA. I feel in love with her and the staff and my Mani was taken care of so well. My Happy (havie) developed a cherry eye January of '08 and he was seen that day by the vet who wanted to do surgery immediately. I told her I had made an appointment with the eye MD for canines now located in So. Deerfield, MA (Angel Hospital has since closed) which she understood my interest in a specialist..been there done that!! My vet had done many of this type of procedure for cherry eye, but I still felt an opthamolgist would be better at least for a second opinion. My vet gave me a tube of combo antibiotic/prednisone to put in his affected eye 2 times a day and saline gtts to keep the eye moist. The next morning it was gone and was not present for the eye doc to see....she prescribed a three month course of prednisone (low strength) and an antibiotic ointment for 1 month only. It did come back 3 or four times..charted it on the calendar and now it has been over 2 months since it happened. My vet has given me a stand-by ointment (prednisone/antibiotic) to use when it shows up...it goes away overnight and she felt he was not a surgicial candidate at this time. We are always staring at their eyes because they love to look at us..so we notice it as soon has it happens. It happened last week about an hour after he was groomed and after I immediately used the oiuntment it was gone within the hour. The opthamologist thought it was a weak muscle since she could not even cause the gland to protrude at the initial visit with her in February of "08. Good Luck with Moxie and it really doesn't bother them..just us!! Trish


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## Poornima (Jun 29, 2007)

Poor Moxie! Sending healing thoughts and belly rubs to Moxie. :hug: to you.


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## herrick51 (Mar 4, 2008)

*Cherry eye*

Hi Debbie,
I've also had experience with cherry eye - Brody developed it first at about 9 months; I noticed it and took him to our country vet, who gave hime the prednisone/antibiotic drops, and took a fine hemostat and physically pulled the third eyelid back across the inflammed area. He said that it might stay, but that it often recurs and that I should consider seeing my vet opthalmologist if it recurred. He gave me the drops to use for several days, and he seemed just fine. I called the vet op, and discovered it is an $800 surgery; so I decided to wait and see. It did recur several months later, while I was on a road trip with a friend, and a fair diatance from a vet; SO, being an RN, I decided to try hoem therapy, I put in the drops (which I carry as part of his first aid kit), then after about an hour, I gently but firmly massaged his eye from the nose outward to try to get the eyelid to come over the inflammed area. I then held gentle pressure on the area (cherry eye is simply inflammed tissue), and viola! it resolved!! That was about 9 months ago, and it's happened once since, with the same results to my intervention. I keep close watch, and if I catch it before it becomes very inflammed, I've been able to manage it myself.
It's a problem that can be safely managed with first aid; IF it's caught early, and IF it recurs infrequently. Otherwise, I think surgery to keep the eyelid from retracting is probably a good idea - who knows, it may still be needed for my boy. . .


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

moxie said:


> search and it looks like there is some info on the forum from years past.


Debra, Sorry to hear your beautiful Moxie has cherry eye. Since you did a search, you probably saw that Rufus had cherry eye too. It's good you saw the vet right away and they gave you something for it. Hopefully it will resolve on it's own. Some dogs will only have a problem due to an allergy or some slight irritation. If she does end up needing the surgery, it's better that you have something now that helps keep the tissue moist. We had a specialist do the surgery and he's not had any problems since. There was immediate improvement with the surgery and as the swelling went down post surgery he looked better and better each day. You would never even know he had a problem now.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Thank you all so much for taking the time to share experiences. The drops seem to be helping, reducing the swelling a bit, but it is still there. We have been traveling and so, I just skimmed through, but it seems that there is conflicting info about the urgency of doing surgery. Sure would love to avoid it.


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## Posh's Mom (Dec 20, 2007)

sorry to read this debra. hope it all clears up soon.


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## HavaBaloo (Mar 24, 2009)

moxie said:


> Thank you all so much for taking the time to share experiences. The drops seem to be helping, reducing the swelling a bit, but it is still there. We have been traveling and so, I just skimmed through, but it seems that there is conflicting info about the urgency of doing surgery. Sure would love to avoid it.


We did drops, but it didn't help for us so we didn't have a choice we had to do the surgery to correct it.

If the drops help then great, my vet said in some cases the drops will work, but it also has higher rate of reoccuring then with surgery. The only way to correct it for Baloo was surgery, now you would never know he had it. There is still a small chance of reoccurance with surgery.

Good luck, and let us know how Moxie is doing.


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## hyindc (Apr 21, 2008)

Our Paco woke up one morning in December with cherry eye. He was eleven months old at the time. Both our vet, and the doggie ophthalmologists to whom we were eventually referred were very conservative in their approach, especially since the prolapsed gland went back in by itself within hours of coming out, and would then stay in for a couple of weeks before popping out again. So we used prescription ointment from the vet 3 times a day whenever the gland reappeared, and kept our fingers crossed. However, in February it finally came out and stayed out, so surgery became the recommended course of treatment. It went very well, and Paco has been fine ever since. The most difficult part of the ordeal for him, and therefore for us, was the need to wear the e-collar (cone) on his head for ten days.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

OH!!! I hear ya with the head cone...crap. 
It is still there this morning and Leslie referred me to the CERF website to find an opthamologist. Probably better sooner than later, at least for further consult.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

But I should learn how to spell othamologist first...


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## Milo's Mom (Aug 31, 2008)

Debbie,

Have you contacted the veterinary specialists in West Hartford? I believe they have an eye specialist there.

That's where we brought Milo for his hip surgery, and they were fantastic.


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

I'm so sorry!  I hope it resolves without the need for surgery. Poor baby.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Thanks, Joyce, wonder why my vet in Bloomfield didn't mention W. Hartford as an option. She said that she would be sending us to Norwalk.
But, in any case, we are in San Diego now and have located a veterinary eye clinic very nearby and have an appointment for a consult tomorrow.


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## good buddy (Feb 20, 2007)

Good luck at tomorrows consult! I hope you get good information.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

So, it was confirmed today at the veterinary eye clinic. She said that is small now, but would not go away on it's own and could get worse. She assured me that it will be an easy and quick surgery. So we will schedule that for the end of the month, I guess. Meanwhile, Moxie hasn't skipped a beat, doesn't seem uncomfortable in the least and is super good for the eyedrops that we will continue until the surgery.
I emailed my breeder to let her know.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Well, I'm glad that at least it should be easily taken care of. Will she have any restriction after the surgery?


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Oh yeah, Sheri.....TWO WEEKS without a bath!!!
She said the recuperation should be easy, with a head cone when necessary, mostly when he is playing with other dogs. It sounds like it will be similar to a neutering recovery, in fact they often do this surgery with a spay.

The bill? $1200....should've gotten the insurance I guess.:Cry::Cry:


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## danak (Jun 17, 2007)

Oh I'm so sorry Debra. I understand we do have an excellent eye clinic out here though.
Moxie you're a tough little guy and I know you'll be fine. 
You might want to look into one of those soft cones. They seem so much easier on the pups.

Dana


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## mellowbo (Aug 12, 2007)

Yeah, good idea Dana. Debra, I saw one the other day at pet people.
Hugs to you and Moxie!
Carole


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## Lunastar (Feb 9, 2009)

Ouch. I am glad it will be an easy surgery. Happy she is taking those eye drops well.


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## ECudmore (Jun 5, 2007)

Hope you get good news about Moxie. 

Elayne and Racquet


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## LuvCicero (Mar 31, 2008)

I hate to hear about your little Moxie having to have the surgery. I know you probably worry as a Mom...and I will pray everything goes smoothly for her.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Awesome, a soft collar from Pet People! That will make life easier and shave me a smidgeon off the bill.
Thank you everyone.


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## maryam187 (Jul 18, 2007)

Debra, so sorry your beautiful Moxie developed the darn cherry eye. I can't believe the vet bill! One would think they're replacing the entire eyeball for that price, LOL. There's one downside with the soft cones, they get wet and *very* smelly after a few days of eating and drinking, just FYI.


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## moxie (Feb 6, 2008)

Ahhh, wet and smelly....that is a downside for sure.
Maryam, you always make me smile (ie. replace the eyeball):wink:


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## HavaBaloo (Mar 24, 2009)

Well at least you know now, but wow 1200 is alot. I had to pay $150 per eye for Baloo's surgery, with only a $50 consult fee before hand. Moxie will be just fine, the important thing at first is to keep him from itching or rubbing his eye. 

My vet said Baloo only had to wear the cone when we weren't in the room with him to stop him from scratching, we made sure someone was home with him the first 4 days. We really only had the cone on him the first 2 nights and then he didn't wear it at all.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

Gezz! Maybe you should use the money fly somewhere with a decent price and go to the spa afterwards..... jk, don't leave so cal if you don't have to! I hope things go smoothly and you have no battle over the collar.


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## hyindc (Apr 21, 2008)

Debra,

We went to a Board certified pet ophthalmologist for Paco's cherry eye. Your ophthalmologist's fee does not sound out of line with what we paid. Paco's surgery fee was $800; but we had already paid another $300 for two prior office visits and prescription ointment. Your vet is correct based on what we were told...cherry eye virtually never goes away by itself, and can get larger over time. The sooner surgery is performed, the better because the smaller the swelling, the easier it is for the surgeon to put back in place and the more likely that the stitch will hold it in place for the life of the dog.

Our surgeon gave us a cone that I had not seen before. It was plastic, but thinner, softer and lighter weight than the standard one used after neutering. It was also shorter because it is designed only to keep the dog from trying to rub his eye on a rug or bed linen while the stitch takes hold. Our vet said Paco had to wear it all the time for an absolute minimum of 4 days, or we risked the stitch coming loose. He recommended two weeks, until Paco's follow-up visit, but said if Paco was miserable, to try to stick it out for a week to 10 days. Paco was miserable the entire time, but with 2 dogs, we didn't want to take any chances, so kept it on for 10 days. Our vet said in a small % of dogs, usually in breeds with more pronounced eyes where cherry eye is more common, the stitch can pop during the first 2 or 3 weeks. However, once you make it through that period, it is a virtual certainty not to recur.

As you indicated, the vet told us that the dogs do not feel any discomfort from the swelling, nor is it painful after the surgery...maybe just a little itchy.


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## marjrc (Jan 13, 2007)

Debra, I'm sorry to hear about Moxie needing surgery. That is always stressful, though fixing a cherry eye sounds pretty routine. I find the recovery part stressful on US more than anything. Try keeping a Hav down! ha !  

Every time I seriously consider canceling our pet insurance, I read something like this and I chicken out!!


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## Leslie (Feb 28, 2007)

Debra, I'm sorry to read poor little Moxie is needing to have the surgery. Darn! At least you know he's in good hands (even if you have to pay $$$$ for them) Hugs to you and belly rubs for Moxie-boy


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## Meemamar (Aug 6, 2011)

*Cherry Eye*

I have an 11 week old puppy who woke up today with cherry eye...Coincidentally the little guy had a vet appt for a shot this morning and that's when the vet told me what it was...I've been so upset all day not knowing what to do-


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Relax, it will be fine. Scudder had cherry eye and it's an easy fix. There are a couple ways to correct it. Because of the way Scudders eyes are shaped, the vet had to dig a pocket and stitch. He looked like a monster after surgery! He was all swollen and they shaved his eye. Most times they don't need to do that and you can't even tell anything was done. Scudder was a different story for sure! I wish a had a picture, but he was so ugly at the time I didn't take any Here he is all fixed up. Good luck. You;re furbaby will be fine.


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## Meemamar (Aug 6, 2011)

*cherry Eye*

Do you mind telling me what it cost to repair Scudder's cherry eye and whether you used an opthamologist...Thanks, Relaxing...


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

You can just have your local vet do it. My vet is very good, he is a Cornell grad so I totally trust him. I think if not done correctly, it could come back. Scudders was done years ago and it never came back. I think if my vet didn't carve a pocket, it may have come back. The surgery is not expensive. I think it ran about a couple hundred dollars. If your vet has not done many of these surgeries, take your pup to a local vet who has. Please keep us posted. 

Oh yeah, cherry eye can pop in and out. One day it will be gone and the next it will be back. You don't want to do surgery until the cherry is out all the time. Eventually it will be...


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## Brady's mom (Dec 1, 2006)

Cassie had it done too. My vet did it as well. You want to be sure that they tuck it and do not remove the gland. If they remove it, it can cause dry eye and other problems. Cassie looked totally perfect afterwards and just had to wear a cone for 10 days or so. I got her a soft cone which she was much happier in then in the plastic lampshade. 

I am sorry, but I don't remember how much it cost. Perhaps since she is so young, your breeder would be willing to help with the cost. I want to say Cassie's was in the range of $350-400, but I am not sure.


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## Meemamar (Aug 6, 2011)

*cherry eye*

Thanks for all the responses..very helpful and reassuring...I think my vet is way over the top and will check with others..


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## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

Do check with your breeder. She might pay for the surgery. I know when Bella had a liver shunt, her breeder paid 1750.00 of the cost


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## StarrLhasa (Jun 6, 2010)

The cost of the surgery will vary depending on where you live and whether or not you are using a regular Vet or a Veterinary Ophthalmologist.

The Original Poster [OP] paid $1200 recently in LaJolla, a ritzy area near San Diego. It cost about the same for another poster in Washington, DC.

Others have said it cost $150 or more, but they didn't seem to be in high-cost areas. There was also a mention of doing the surgery while the puppy was being spayed or neutered. That would also reduce the cost.

Where do you live? Oh, and by the way, any photos?


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## ShirleyH (Sep 13, 2009)

Keeper had his cherry eye fixed by our very competent veteranarian at a cost of about $450 in total. $1200 is just ridiculous. Keeper had one stitch done and although we were told it might look bad the next day, you couldn't even tell it had been done. Do be careful of people just plain taking advantage of you--just no excuse for this.

Shirley


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## Bramble's Mummy (Mar 4, 2010)

I'm so sorry you have to have surgery . Bramble developed cherry eye at 11 weeks old, with both eyes being affected..I rang the breeder and they specifically wanted me to take him to the vetinary opthamologist, and have them do the surgery as opposed to our local vet. (if not done properly, it can recurr apparently) It cost $1400....and the breeder paid for all of it! They were really fabulous and even spoke to the vet about whether they should continue to breed the parent dogs again! The vet said she had never known breeders like it! Unlucky to have a dog with cherry eye, but lucky to have such caring breeders!

Recovery was easy, so I am sure you will have nothing to worry about! 

Good luck!


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## Meemamar (Aug 6, 2011)

Question...I feel a little dumb but I can't figure out how to upload a photo of Bennie...


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## tootle (Jun 19, 2007)

I think Cherry Eye is a very common problem in Havanese (and a lot of other breeds as well) We've had a few pups develop this condition. My vet feels that it can be injury or genetic. Since there is a possibility of it being genetic, we will pay for the surgery for our puppy buyers if requested. My vet is not a specialist but he does lots of Cherry Eye surgery and for a more reasonable price. Just be sure that you don't remove the gland. Due to the prevalence of the problem in our breed, I would probably not remove a dog that produced a Cherry Eye from my breeding program but would stay away from a repeat breeding of those two dogs or close relative pairings. It's a relatively safe and quick fix unlike a lot of other genetic problems that can cause real pain.


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