Bulldog Cherry Eye Removal

I've been following and participating in a number of online discussions on treating bulldog cherry eye. The consensus seems to be that the modern techniques of "tucking" and/or "tacking" are the way to go, whereas the "old school" method of "third eyelid removal" is barbaric.

The modern procedure of tucking or tacking involves tucking in the third eyelid and stitching it down or even tacking it to the bone so it doesn't "pop out."

After speaking with our breeder--who is fantastic and if you're looking for a breeder, e-mail me, and I'll recommend her!--she strongly recommended removal. She would even meet with us halfway between Brooklyn and Boston to perform the removal for free.

We agreed. And now Ruki's cherry eye is gone, and so far she's fine--but I'll keep this blog updated on the progress.

Our main concerns with the removal were secondary infections and the later occurrence of dry eye. After three days, no infection, the eye is fine--but we've also been using antibiotic and steroid eyedrops on her. And for the dry eye our breeder assured us that the tear gland was not removed.

Our main concerns with tucking/tacking were expense and the effects of the procedure. Online, prices ranged from $90 for both eyes to $600 for one. I spoke with a vet tech who said that in our neighborhood, the procedure would cost at least $300, not including the cost of the visit, anesthesia, etc.

As for the effects of the procedure, it's not safe to anesthetize Ruki at her age--14 weeks. We'd then have to wait until she gets spayed at 5-6 months. And on top of that the surgery may be fairly invasive--especially with tacking to the bone.

Our breeder reported that she's seen tucking and tacking procedures which "popped out" and eventually ended up in removal anyways. And as for the dry eye? It seems that dry eye occurs in bulldogs who have had tucking/tacking, removal, and no cherry eye at all.

So maybe medically-speaking, tucking/tacking is the best procedure. But practically speaking, it seems that removal is not a bad option--and less barbaric than the complicated surgery. Literally, the removal took a few minutes--with the actual cutting taking a few seconds. They used topical anesthesia, and Ruki didn't yelp one bit from the cut. And when we were done, she was on her feet as if nothing happened. There was some bleeding, but that stopped in a few minutes.

I may get some hate from this post, but I'm just reporting our experiences. I'm actually more interested in any long terms effects, and we won't know those until much later on...