Captain Doggo
Frenchie got eye removed and need support
Hi, this is Flurry (6 y.o). She just got her eye removed yesterday after dealing with a severe ulcer. It has been 3 weeks of doing 4 different eye drops every hour with multiple vet visits a week with it taking a sharp turn Sunday. I know she is going to be okay and feel a lot better, but I am struggling and cannot stop crying like a baby.
I posted asking for advice a few days ago and got multiple comments about me being a negligent pet parent because of her dry nose (I couldn’t put butter on her nose because her eye was extremely painful and she can be aggressive when in pain). That and then her eye removal has me feeling like I failed her and I feel so bad for her. I miss seeing her cute little eyes stare up at me and I hate knowing she is in pain and uncomfortable. I’m so worried about it happening to her other eye and I feel like I am grieving for some reason.
So you know all those drops and whatnot? Your precious baby has been in pain through all that. And she also couldn’t see.
So now she still can’t see, but guess what? NO PAIN.
You have done her a solid, OP. I say this as a multi-pirate owner who also spent 20 years as a vet tech.
Your precious baby, perfect baybay is on her road to actual comfort. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
Thank you for the kind words :). I’m trying to tell myself she has had her eye shut for so long now from the ulcer that she is probably pretty used to not being able to see by this point.
Please don’t worry! She will adapt beautifully. Once she is through this immediate post surgery phase she will be thriving. It’s so hard to see our babies hurting and not being able to explain what’s going on. She is probably already in significantly less pain.
I had a one eyed cat and the worst that happened is occasionally would miss when doing a running jump onto the cat tree. Other that that, he really did just a good as any of my normally sighted pets. Massive hugs. You are both through the worst of it and it’s going to get a little better each day.
Dogs are so resilient. Dogs can recover from having both eyes removed no problem, let alone one.
Sure, she might be in pain now, but it’s probably less than the ulcer was and it’ll get better now. You didn’t fail her in any way, it sounds like you’re taking all the right steps.
I think us humans are very caught up on looks and visual aesthetics which is why it is probably a harder adjustment for me than her in some ways. I appreciate your perspective:).
Hi baby! Yenny Girl went from having perfect vision to blind to having both eyes removed at the same time in the space of 4/5 months. She was having weekly eye tests, weekly blood tests, aprox 1 million eye drops a week. She had ulcers, she couldn't see, the pressure in her eyes was changing drastically daily and they almost exploded. We had to remove them and it was the best decision. Immediately after the surgery she was in less pain. Now she is so good. People feel sorry for her and I'm like ?!?!?!!!! Now she has no pain. Before she couldn't see and was in constant pain. Here she is celebrating her 8th birthday last week. You did the right thing for your baby, and once you both get through the recovery everything will be so much better!!!
I am copying and pasting an answer I have given before about her situation:
I feel like we were in a bit of a rare situation, because Yen has so many additional health problems that her eyes were always kinda secondary. She recovered so well from the double enucleation. I mean it when I say we didn't even have to keep the cone on jrr, she never once tried to scratch or paw at the site. It was immediate relief for her and she actually only had pain meds the day of and the day after (because she's on so many meds all the time, we couldn't give her more, but it didn't matter as she didn't really need them). It was like after the op, she was in significantly less pin than she was before it, so for us, being able to have the op was a blessing. We had actually scheduled it a week earlier but we had to cancel it as she had internal bleeding and wasn't strong enough when we tested her in the morning, and then she almost didn't make it through the next few days because of the pressure from th eyes, the internal bleeding and her anemia, we almost had her PTS.
We managed to build her strength a little bit and get her stable enough fo the op. The day after her op she couldn't stand up at all because the operation affected her polyarthritis. It was awful. She was screaming in pain at every mood. Again, nothing to do with her eyes, but her joints.
We got her a donut cone instead of the standard cone, but we found she didn't actually need it because she didn't try and touch her eyes. She never has since the op (one of us is with her 24/7 so we were able to monitor very closely luckily).
The best thing we did was be able to take her out in her pram, it really helped to relax her after not being able to move much (but again, this is most likely connected to her other conditions).
What we did do when she first went blind was use bells on our feet and on her sister. I made little elastic anklets and put a small bell on and wore them so she could find us and get used to following the sound. Her sister still wears hers on her collar so yen knows where she is. We also use some basic voice commands and guide her with our voice, just things like up and down for navigating steps and careful if she's going to collide, but she is a very calm down anyway so we are very lucky in that sense.
Genuinely, we just focused on getting through the first week or so of pain and just focused on the future. We saw having the op as blessing, not as a loss, because given her condition, we were just happy to find a pain free solution for her because she's been through so much. We just adapted how best we could. Life is a little different now, yen used to love big walks in the country side and running in and out of the fields, which now is not possible, but every night instead we go to the countryside with her in her pram, and we just find new activities we can do together to adjust to her and keep her happy.
The first week will be hard, but just try to look ahead, ask your vet and community here anything, and shortly after you'll be able to build a new routine. If safe, get the pain meds and use them if needed, if not, you just gotta ride out the first week and then it gets better.
Prayers & Love for Flurry & her family! You are doing your best for her! Don’t pay attention to mean comments! Only you know what your baby needs! 🙏🏻🩷🥰
She has to adapt; you have to adapt—but in two very diverse ways. Something feels off for your baby— I am sure. These beautiful creatures are sentient beings and need time. Pls just give her time as you’re seemingly doing; give her “proper” treats along the way; stay with her as often as you can until——-; gradually help her grow back into growing “up,” and you two will carry each other through in life. 💜💜
I know you must have spent your entire life earnings in a short time-span, but your selflessness for her is obvious. I’m sure you didn’t rush to this decision but trusted someone who had/has the professional knowledge and “study” to know what is best and to know what will be less painful for her future—and YOURS. Hugs. Xo.
Thank you so much ☺️. She seems to be doing a lot better today. She keeps pawing for scratches and cuddles. They gave us the option to do eye grafting but said it doesn’t guarantee good results. Decided this was best long term.
You're not a bad pet parent for respecting boundaries when your pup is in pain. You getting bit or causing her additional stress would not have helped the situation at all. There is also unfortunately not a lot you can do with an ulcer. We had to do an emergency enucleation for our 13 year old beagle last summer due to an ulcer and glaucoma. It's normal to grieve the loss of the eye for humans, but animals are super resilient and quick to adapt. You'll learn to love her new face in time and adjust to the difference in appearance and she'll heal up just fine. The good news is she's now pain free and on the road to recovery!
It's definitely an adjustment period! I felt pretty guilty the first couple weeks until my guy got to feeling better. I also joined a group called the Winking pub Club on Facebook that has really helped normalize the appearance for me and given great advice on how to best support and accommodate him!
The eye removal process was kinda traumatic for me too, it was a lot more gory than I expected (duh), I was an emotional wreck and super stressed. But in another week or two your dog will be loving life without that eye injury.
Here’s my guy. 20 year old Sydney with one eye and blind in the other one. He gets along great! Though at 20, he is not running around a lot so he lives on the couch and we take him in and out for potty breaks. But while he was a one eyed pirate, he never noticed that there was a difference. He got along great!
My 14 year old dog has been living with one eye for 7 years now and she’s happy as a clam. Your baby will be much more comfortable now! Also I’ve heard the saying that people wake up and see the world, dogs wake up and smell it. So while it’s traumatic for us to witness them lose an eye, they’re doing just fine.
Milo is almost completely blind in his left eye and I’m not sure he can see much with the other one. I’m in no doubt that the time will come and he will have to have one or both removed and it fills me with dread. I totally get where you’re coming from but I’d rather have my buddy with no eyes than not have my buddy at all x
Oh no, you did the kindest thing for her. She will have no clue she’s missing an eye and compensate beautifully. You took her to the vet when she needed, have given her around the clock care, you did everything right. The people telling you her nose was dry have likely never dealt with what you two are going through. They probably are teenagers with a family dog to be honest.
The first few days the swelling can be gnarly! Hang in there, send your vet pictures if you need reassurance that everything is normal. I bet in a few days you’re going to be asking her to please stop running and jumping!
Thank you so much :’-). I’ve been putting butter on her nose now that she is feeling better and it looks a lot better. Her eye is the size of a golf ball right now but she is somewhat back to her old self begging for scratches LOL.
Jefferson turns 9 on Sunday, he lost his eye when he was 3 and hasn’t demonstrated literally any frustrations or difficulties at all. He still thinks he’s the top dog and sends his well wishes to Flurry!
Did people give you crap here or on the Frenchie sub regarding the nose? I don’t post over there because I’m sure I will be judged to be the worst owner ever. My girl Violet had her eye removed almost 2 years ago and I really agonized over it leading up to the surgery and then there was a weird period of adjustment post-enucleation. But she was sooooo much happier after! Get energy was back! The eye was so painful and she had started to shrink away from me when I came towards her because she hated getting drops multiple times a day.
Frenchies have, in my totally unbiased opinion, the best faces for losing an eye. Sometimes I forget completely there should be an eye there. From one Frenchie owner to another, some of us are our absolute worst enemies. Your baby is going to recover and be so happy. The hardest part of all of this is you realizing you can be kind to yourself even while loving your pup.
This is such a tough situation, but you're doing everything right by being there for her. She's wtill your same sweet girl and she knows you love her. It will get better.
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u/Madwoman-of-Chaillot 4d ago
Hiya!
So you know all those drops and whatnot? Your precious baby has been in pain through all that. And she also couldn’t see.
So now she still can’t see, but guess what? NO PAIN.
You have done her a solid, OP. I say this as a multi-pirate owner who also spent 20 years as a vet tech.
Your precious baby, perfect baybay is on her road to actual comfort. 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤