Hello Lacey, glad you're pleased with the Clinitas

The surgeon said the op went very well & he was surprised that there was very little damage to the corneas (which he put down to the fact that I've been putting the Clinitas in so often)

She had 40 sutures in each eye & they operated from inside the mouth, so, apart from swelling around the eyes, she doesn't look too bad. Eyes are very stuck together in the mornings & need a lot of bathing, but I'm hoping this is just post operative, or the sutures dissolving

He said ulcers could still form, could get infections and things could get blocked, as saliva doesn't have same healing properties as tears, so have to be vigilant. Apparently, the crystals form if diet is too alkaline, so said may have to change her diet. They promote Royal Canin at the hospital, but when I said I wouldn't be very happy with her having what I considered rubbish he did say it might be possible to add some sort of milk powder to existing food if necessary instead.

Early days yet - I've got loads of questions to ask at her check up on Wednesday, but am just so relieved she came through it OK.

Have to give her titbits as frequently as possible & she'll still need artificial tears permanently, though obviously not as often. Will always need food at least every 2 hours, so anyone else considering this who is not retired & can't be with their dog all day, every day would not be able to cope.

Will update on how she gets on (at the moment, she's bored stiff as can't be let off the lead & all she wants to do is play)

So great to hear Katie has it all over with Rita,have been thinking of her loads.Keeping everything crossed she continues to recover well.The fact you are pleased with her progress so far is brilliant news Obviously you taking such great care of her beforehand has been a great help...Good for you
Lacey has been in kennels for two nights as we've been away Just picked her up.Kennel owner has been putting her drops in of course and her eye is looking fab,so pleased
Keep in touch and let us know how Katie is,please.Amazing how well dogs recover(( hugs)) to you both.

Well I really appreciate all your help & encouragement. By the way, I asked them if 11 was automatically too old for a shitzu with limited vision to have the op. They said general health would, of course, have to be taken into account, but I got the impression it would be a bit too much to put her through, as you have said. I was surprised to learn, too, that general vets only have 5 hours (or 5 days, can't remember which) training in eye problems

We have a pug and if you know about pugs they always have eye problems.
Ours currently has a second ulcer, we think it has come from playing with a 12 wekk old pug, possible scratch.
After spending £800 on surgery and treatment in one go + another £120 for the follow up , I looked at other alternative treatments.
I can tell you the gel we got is called Fucithalmic Vet.

I saw no results, in fact made the dogs eye constantly a blue colour(refer to photo)
In fact best results i found was this,
1 teaspoon of pure honey (not supermarket crap),#
Manuka honey if possible.
place in bowl with boiling water, stir until dissolved.
LET COOL until cold.
Then with a tissue or cotton wool, drip it in the eyes.
You will see after 10 minutes your do looks much more comfortable and eye should open as normal..
We apply 3 - 5times daily and you can see results within a week or so.
They say Coriander leaves in boiling water, let sit for 15 minutes, then cool down.
Apply the same way.
This helps with pink eye.

And also, if you tell your Vet this, he will probably talk you away from this but then he wouldnt make any money from the medication..

Wow,even if it is 5 days that's ridiculous isn't it? Think Lacey is too old now and because she's been through so much already I wouldn't want to put her through any more.100% happy with her new drops now,am well happy.
Great thread you started here Rita,reckon it will be helpful to other people in the same situation.Really wish I'd found Dogsey when I was going through it with mine.
Big kiss to Katie

Sorry to hear your wee pug has had problems Interesting to read about the honey and Coriander leaves,its great that they are working for you.Can't recommend the Clinitas drops enough as advised by RITA
Was also giving the gel by my vet and like you wasn't impressed
Really hope your pug improves,will keep the honey and leaves in mind,thankyou

Hi Eileen,
Just keep in mind, this is the second eye its happened too,
hence the trial of honey, which has been going 3 days.. so far, so good..

We can only see if this honey method has worked in a couple of weeks where i will compare side by side photos..

I just notice from the dogs reaction that it definitely soothes the eye..

Look forward to seeing the results,fingers crossed it works.
Lacey had an ulcer,the vet give me antibiotics for her.Unfortunately they didn't work and the ulcer got worse Vet decided to remove the top layer of her eye.Afterwards she had stitches and looked like she'd gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson,it was horrendous
I did ask at the time if it wouldn't be better to remove her eye completely.Vet thought there was a good chance her eye could be saved.Unfortunately one week later the op proved to be unsuccessful and she ended up losing her eye.I really had no choice and don't regret it for a second,she is doing amazingly well I'm fanatical about keeping her remaining eye as healthy as possible...has left me fanatical about looking at all dogs eye's if I'm honest

Not good news at Katie's check-up. Left eye not secreting enough saliva. Gave her anaesthetic to see why. Both tubes are working but inflammation around the left one. Graft probably not accepted yet. Also the eyelid was rolling inwards, with lashes digging in. They've put in temporary sutures to turn eyelid out. Surgeon says he's pleased with her & seems optimistic, but think this might be more for my benefit as he knows I'm in a right state over her, & he said the same last week after her op. He did say that sometimes gland stops working or tube doesn't work or there can be recurrent ulcers, in which case still have to remove eye. Cysts can also occur if saliva doesn't drain properly

When they called us into consulting room, she jumped up at me as if to say don't let them take me in there. Felt so sorry for her. Now she's got to stay in overnight again. 10 p.m. & have just 'phoned up & they say she's OK and fast asleep.

Am beginning to wonder if I made the right decision - they didn't tell me about all these potential problems before the op. Hope to pick her up tomorrow & find out a bit more, but am not very optimistic about things

So sorry Katie has gone back in and is having problems Rita Hopefully it's something they can rectify and she'll go on to make great progress.Such a worry for you I know,keeping fingers and paws crossed for you both((hugs))
I know it's not something you'll want to hear right now and really hope it doesn't come to this but if she does end up having to have her eye removed,honestly Rita,she will be fine.My thoughts on how it was going to be were a million times worse than what it was actually like.Amazing how quickly they bounce back...Hope you don't mind me saying that,I wish someone had been there to say it to me at the time( joined Dogsey shortly after)
Really hopeing for good news,please let us know how she gets on xxx