Dog with eye ulcer

[zoobuzz]

My boxer has an eye ulcer and the vet diagnosed it weeks ago. It's taking a very long time to heal. Does anyone have experience with this? We're using eye drops and he's in "the cone of shame" to keep him from scratching his eye.

The vet said that surgery is an option - and an expensive one - so not only are we sad to see him in pain but, in this bad economy, we don't want to put money into eye surgery. Ugg.

Anyone with thoughts, experience, suggestions?

Thanks!

[Bob Perry]

My own experience with sick dogs is that as long as you provide them with plenty of healthy food and water mixed with genuine affection, their healing processes will be stronger but you have to be patient... just make sure he can't get to it with his feet and keep a fresh bandage on it and give it some time, that's a pretty serious injury though so if it gets worse Vets are way over paid but sometimes necessary...

[Bob Perry]

How's he doing?

[zoobuzz]

His results thus far are mixed. He had to have a procedure/surgery on his eye (at least that's what the specialist said and the reasoning was pretty sound as best I could tell).

We feed him Tripett (beef, lamb, deer intestines - don't knock it, it's very healthy for dogs) and definitely get plenty of fresh water and love to him.

We shouldn't see improvement for a week or two from this point. He seems to be taking it well though sometimes he clearly doesn't feel well. Oh, and he's got a plastic cone on his head to keep him from scratching.

[Bob Perry]

He's still going to be able to see out of that eye isn't he?

[zoobuzz]

As far as we know he can see out of it now and they didn't mention that he was at risk of losing his sight.

[zoobuzz]

It appears there's some improvement today. His eye is less cloudy and he seems to be feeling better. He's back to his old barking-for-no-reason self as well.

The vet told us to expect it to not get better (or appear to) for 2 weeks or more but they are seeing him back early next week so we'll get more word then. Hoping he's better not just for him but for my wallet and checking account as well!

[zoobuzz]

He's doing a lot better. The progress has been slow since this last procedure but it seems like over the last 4 or 5 days it's improved much faster from day to day.

His eyes are clear and he seems like he's not in any pain at the moment. So maybe we're in the clear.

He's really wanting to get the "cone of shame" off though. He's gotten it off a few times in the last few days.

[Bob Perry]

Yea they hate that cone, and if their ears give them trouble while they are wearing it they'll shake their heads so much that the ears can get bloody sores on them to a point where its necessary to remove the cone...

[zoobuzz]

Yeah, he's definitely a head shaker. But so far his ears don't appear to be cut.

[Bob Perry]

If his ears are cropped it helps to keep them from being damaged, my dogs ears are floppy, so when she had to do this a couple years ago her poor ol ears took a beating...