My Buddy Lost an Eye Yesterday

[gusbubba]

A couple weeks ago our dog , Gus, began having some problems with his right eye.
While his eyes are usually mildly bloodshot and slightly cloudy , the problem suddenly worsened.
After several trips to Vets and canine Opthamologists , it was determined that he had a tumor.
The initial fear was that it was malignant and had metastasized from his chest or abdomen
and manifest itself via the eye. That being the case , there would have been no option but to put him down.
To our relief , scans showed his chest to be clear and the likelyhood of malignancy low.
The Vet believes it to be Melanoma isolated to the eye. We'll know more when the pathology results return in a week or so.

Bottom line is , the eye had to be removed.
Although it sounds strange , it was almost a relief to find that he "only" had to have an eye removed when the other possibility was euthanization.

My wife and I were worried sick. We rescued Gus about three years ago in bad health and from terrible circumstances. We've been through alot with this guy and we weren't ready to let him go just yet. Pet owners will understand what I mean....it's easy to get very attached to your animals.

Although we're not completely out of the woods yet , with diligent care and observation we're hopeful that Gus will be with us for some years to come. We're already getting good signs that he responded well to the surgery and see little reason to believe that he won't make a fine recovery.
He's harrassing me now for treats as I type this......


Thanks to those who were patient and concerned enough to read this....it was something I just had to get off my chest.

[BigAl3]

i know what you mean, pets are just like family. a 1 1/2 ago, my sister had to put our 13 year old cocker spaniel to sleep as it suffered terribly to bronchitis (would keep coughing and gagging ) . but it was the best thing to do, otherwise his lungs would of eventualy collapsed on him and he would of freaked out and that something i wouldn't want anyone to ever see.... glad everything seems to be working out okay, and give him a nice pat and hug for me!

[atticdog]

sorry he lost and eye
but im Happy you still have your friend
hope he heals well

[John Styrnol]

I'm sure Gus will be fine now, enjoy the time you have with him.

[gusbubba]

carnut: Gus has been properly patted and hugged ; in fact , he's enjoying a belly-rub as we speak. Thanks.

John, dog: as Gus is coming out of his anasthetic fog , he's falling back into old habits---mugging for food and attention, chasing his sister around the back yard and pummelling her into submission, etc...
You've summed up my thoughts well----losing an eye was less worriesome to me than losing him all together. I'm very appreciative to still have him around.

My wife made a good point: he would have had to have been aware in the first place that he even had two eyes to realize he lost one of them. All he probably knows is that his face hurts and things don't quite look the same as they used to.
But he's handled it better than we have and adjusted amazingly well in an incredibly short amount of time. Animals never cease to amaze me.

Thanks again for the kind words, guys.

[Mark77]

Sorry to hear about your dog Gus having his eye removed, but at least he can enjoy a few more years Our 12 year old daxen Dusin has some problems also, but he is taking it well, the Vet gave him a couple of years more just last week.
Dogs and other pets really become family members. Thank god there are good people like you who found him, and take care of him.

Dogs really are humans best friend

[Surfer]

Sorry to here, best of luck. I'm so attached to my dog, love her. She's a Min Pin. I don't know what I'd do if anything ever happened to her.

[TH0001]

I'm sorry for your pet but I'm glad you still have your friend. Dogs can tug at the heart strings like no other.

[jp2175]

Originally Posted by gusbubba

Pet owners will understand what I mean....it's easy to get very attached to your animals.

Gotcha there. Best of luck. I don't know if they have the capacity to understand the trauma of losing an eye, but Gus is probably just relieved that the discomfort he was feeling is gone. God bless for spending the $$$ to help an animal. I know that a lot of people would just put him down instead.

A stray cat has been seen outside the shop lately, so I picked up some food for him. When I shook it, he came flying like I was an industrial magnet and him (her?) steel. He's(she's?) been named Collinite and hangs out at the shop all the time now and is very friendly. We are building a small house for him for the winter.

[Accumulator]

gusbubba- I just now stumbled across this thread, glad to hear he's on the mend. Good for you, seeing to it that he got the proper care.

jp2175- Heh heh, I liked hearing about Collinite

[gusbubba]

Everybody , thank you so much for the overwhelming response.
I appreciate it and Gus can certainly use the good karma.

Everyday we see progress. His spirit seems to be back as he's already trying to go back to work hunting and treeing squirrels in the back yard and herding up anything that moves.
I'm tellin' ya ,this dog has an immune system like a shark and a relentless attitude toward his "work".
I've seen him herd with a broken toe , torn ligaments in his hind leg and I've even seen him run the pads clean off the bottom of his paws without slowing down.
That's why it was so hard to see him down and hurting when the eye was removed.
It just didn't seem right.

My wife and I are finally starting to grow somewhat comfortable with the situation and even joked about getting him a novelty prosthetic replacement. I mentioned something like you see on stuffed animals where the eye rolls around in circles whenever you shake it. Stacy suggested a miniature snow-globe with a nice seasonal winter scene.
I'll probably just customize a patch----it fits his personality.

All kidding aside , thank you everyone , once again. I'll post pics of the fella when the gallery is back up.

[Sludge]

gusbubba,

You won't need the patch. Once Gus grows his hair back the incision site will disappear. I'm sorry Gus had to go through the surgery, but I'm glad he is doing well. Dogs adapt very well to having only one eye.

Sludge