eye injury and constipation

[judy]

zack is giving me lots of gray hairs lately.

yesterday he ran out to fetch a ball. He ran back inside with the ball, shaking his head, then dropped the ball and started rubbing his face with his paw. Then i saw his eye was half shut. He must've ran into a twig from a plant. Soon, pretty much immediately, he forgot about it and his eye looked normal. At first i thought i should put some Renew lubricant in it but since it looked fine, i didn't. It looked fine the rest of the day, but this morning when we got up, his eye was half closed and it's red around the edges and there is that third lid from the center kind of coming over, and the eye even looks like it goes off in another direction. He's pretty quiet. I'm worried. I called each of my 3 vets in order of preference. The first one is supposed to call me back. The second one didn't have an appointment til tomorrow morning, which i made, and the third one gave me an appointment for 3:30 today. I sure hope it will heal. The woman at the last vet mentioned it being an infection and giving him medication.

also he's having smelly gas yesterday and today. Yesterday afternoon, i found him chewing one of his toys but right next to the toy and his face was something else he had been chewing, i don't know what it is but it doesn't look good, it's dark shiny black, looks kind of like tar, smells like tar or some kind of heavy chemical smell, like rubber, but not really, and it had lots of teeth marks in it, and lots of crumbs of it on the ground. This seems to have happened about 4 feet away from me without my knowing it. I have no idea what that thing is or where it came from.

Last Friday night, i did the foolish thing of, instead of what i 've always done before, taking the trash right out, I thought i'd be taking it in just a minute so i left it in the bag by the front door. Then i noticed Zack was quiet and not around as usual, and i went to look and he'd torn a hole in the bag and eaten chicken bones. I couldn't tell how much, certainly ate plenty of chicken skin. so, i kept an eye on him after that but he haasn't shown any symptoms of the chicken bones, unless it's the gas and also, he has been a little constipated and never has been before. He goes every day, sometimes more than once, but the day after the chicken bone eating, i checked the stool to see if there was any blood or anything else in it and from the outside it looked typically soft so i was surprised when i tried to break it apart and it was hard, not dry but hard.
I've noticed his stools are not as big, although he's eating normally.

I will definitely talk to the vet about this today.

[Moviedust]

Zack sure gets into a lot of trouble!! Good thing he's so cute, or he'd be in LOTS of trouble.

I hope he feels better soon!

[Mimi]

Ruby my first cavalier often woke up with the most alarming looking eyes , she never scratched them or anything she was just prone to eye problems. We always managed to clear them up quite quickly though , much to the surprise of the vet . When we were told to put drops or ointment in her eyes 6 times a day we did . It depends on whats wrong whether you get drops or ointment. Apparently some owners only manage to get the treatment done 1 time a day so it takes longer to heal. I would always follow vet instructions they are my babies.
Mimi

[judy]

Zack sure gets into a lot of trouble!! Good thing he's so cute, or he'd be in LOTS of trouble.

I hope he feels better soon!

lately he's been like one of those little boys who drives their mother crazy falling out of trees and things like that. i had him at the vet which is always kind of fun because there's a steady stream of people going by who ooh and ahhhhh about him` the word 'cute' was a common one. i know you know what that's like. then, while i was paying before leaving, the woman behind the counter suddenly goes "OH MY GAWD," and i turned to look at what she was looking at, and a lady was coming in the door holding the most adorable little black and tan cavalier girl. The vet office woman was like, "Oh no, two of them!!" and Zack and the little girl were very excited about each other. I would say she was probably about Cedar's size, quite a bit smaller than Zack--and Zack is not that big, prolly less than 15 lbs. He turned 9 months yesterday. She was over a year old. Anyway, it was cute city at the vet. The woman said she has a tri boy at home too. Another addict. Very charismatic dogs...

[judy]

Ruby my first cavalier often woke up with the most alarming looking eyes , she never scratched them or anything she was just prone to eye problems. We always managed to clear them up quite quickly though , much to the surprise of the vet . When we were told to put drops or ointment in her eyes 6 times a day we did . It depends on whats wrong whether you get drops or ointment. Apparently some owners only manage to get the treatment done 1 time a day so it takes longer to heal. I would always follow vet instructions they are my babies.
Mimi

Thanks for the advice mimi. Zack got both drops and ointmentt.
I ended up taking him to the vet office that i like the best, though more expensive. I didn't like the first vet that i saw there back in February, but i went back to see another one and was very happy with how she cured zack and was clearly really smart about what she does. Today, for the first time, i saw the third vet they have in the practice and i'm glad i did, i really liked him, very gentle and good communication. He stained the eye to see if it was scratched, and there was an ulcer on the cornea. So he gave him a salve, or ointment, for the ulcer, it's antibacterial, like neosporin. He said to give him that twice a day, but if i'm home, to give it to him as much as 4 or 5 times a day. then, he also gave atropine drops to dilate the pupil because he said sometimes the iris can constrict when the eye has an ulcer, and then when the ulcer heals, the iris can stay constricted and won't open back up. He said to give that one twice a day for 3 days. so i'll do just what he says. I can probably give the ointment 3 or 4 times a day and more when i'm home. I'm supposed to take Zack back to see him wednesday next week, and give the medicine until then, but he said it was a small ulcer and should be 100% healed by much sooner than a week from now, like a few days. The biggest tragedy for Zack is, no dog park for a week, because of all the dust they kick up there. Anyway, i'm glad i got to see the third vet in that practice. The one i liked before is only in Friday through Monday, so it's good to have one i llike there during the week too. I asked him to put the first dose of medication in his eye so i could see how to do it, and he showed me his technique where you hold the bottom of the muzzle/chin in your left hand and put the heel of your hand above their eye, and you hold the medicine dropper in the right hand and use the heel of the hand to pull the eyelid up and squeeze the medicine in. So then he let me do it with the ointment after i watched him do it with the drops.

After that, i got him microchipped. It cost $52 The other vet i had made an appointment with would've been $33. oh well. at least the insurance will cover the eye thing, except for the $50 deductible.

I asked if i could be with him and watch for the microchip insertion and at first they said no, but i kind of insisted so they said it was ok. I held his head while the technician put it in, and the poor little guy screamed until she took the needle out. After that, there was blood on his fur, quite a bit really. I asked about it as we were leaving and then they cleaned it off. It was a bit more invasive than i thought based on what i read on the net. It was between the shoulder blades. I asked if they would put it behind the ear, and she said the only place allowed to put it is between the shoulder blades.

[Moviedust]

I'm glad Zack got to see the dr and will feel better soon. Is an ulcer caused by damage? Like running into a stick or something like you though? Poor kid.

I'm surprised that you had to ask to be with Zack when he was chipped! My vet has never taken the dog (except for surgery) without me being with her, no matter what they are doing. I'm glad you insisted in staying. Cedar handled her chipping like a pro, but she doesnt fuss much about needles of any sort. She's never made a peep for any vac or chipping. Hers bled a bit too (like when I get a shot!), but an alcohol wipe took care of it. I'm sure Zack is fine now, and you'll be happy to know he's got that permanent identification should he disappear again!

[Cathy Moon]

Glad Zack's eye is going to be ok.
A long time ago, Geordie came in from playing and he was holding one eye nearly shut. We rushed him to the emergency vet where they checked for scratches. He didn't have a scratch, but they still gave us the ointment to use for a few days.