Can someone please tell me if this is normal (dogs eye)

[Istheresomethingwrong]

Is this normal?

I'm looking after my friends dog for 4 weeks, she's been off her food since she arrived yesterday but I thought she was just missing my friend.

I've just noticed her eye looks really weird.

I don't have a lot of experience with dogs at all, but this doesn't look right.

Shes a spaniel, and she's about 6.

Any advice gratefully received. I cant contact my friend at all for the full time she is away so I'm slightly freaking out.

Pictures of both of her eyes for reference, I cleaned the weird eye about 10 mins ago and that's when I noticed.

How did you get on OP? How's the dog? Any word from the owner.

When I went back for a checkup the vet said that she was in pain, I thought the symptoms she was having were due to missing my friend, but the vet said she was suffering so I made the decision to go ahead with the op (I asked the vet if there was any way to delay it and keep her comfortable, but after going over the options and risks I decided surgery would be best for her overall).

Unfortunately the operation she had resulted in her losing her eye, the vet did say that there was a very high chance, however she has recovered remarkably well and is pretty much back to herself.

Still no contact with my friend who will be home in around 2 weeks, so I'm not looking forward to that, I feel oddly guilty over the whole thing.

The vet has been amazing and has allowed a short delay in paying most of it until friend is back and can sort the insurance out with her, so that's one less stress for me.

The main thing is that this sweet girl is feeling better and out of pain now though.

I can understand feeling guilty even though you made absolutely the right decisions here. And the vet must think so too as they are being supportive. I am glad the dog is being out of pain your friend is very lucky she left her pets in such safe hands.

Glad the dog is doing well, my pup had his eye removed 2 weeks ago now, other than the fact he still has to wear his cone he is back to normal completely, I am still traumatised and do feel guilty but he is most definitely not bothered in the slightest.

What a tough situation. Ultimately you made the best decision for the dog. As a dog owner I would be grateful to you but would feel a bit bad you hadn't been able to contact me. I'm sure your friend will be happy you put her dogs well-being first.

I really can’t understand how your ‘friend’ has been away for at least 2 weeks and hasn’t contacted you at all , in any way to check on her dogs welfare . Even if I thought my dog was healthy , I’d be checking in with the care giver . Very strange behaviour indeed .

I agree with Flora I have no idea how your friend can go away and not give you contact details for just this sort of thing happening.

You have been a great friend to deal with this and to look after a convalescing dog - do not feel guilty. Your friend needs to be indebted to you.

(You can look after all of mine when I go away if you are up to it )

Its probably my fault about the contact thing, we both assumed everything would be fine for a few weeks, to the point we didn't talk about it at all, she was just so emotional about her trip that I offered to take this sweet girl in while she was away and I just didn't think any further than that. It never crossed my mind that anything like this would happen, which was very niave of me.

Lesson well and truly learned there and I'll be setting up some way of keeping in touch if she should happen to go away in future (or if she ever trusts me with her again).

The vet said that putting the op off would just be delaying the inevitable, she would have stood a greater chance of losing her eye the longer it was left and she would be in pain until she had the op, so that's what swayed my decision really. She was off her food (I now know that was due to pain) and waiting another few weeks with her barely eating, and being sore just to get the op anyway seemed pretty daft, and would have impacted her health a lot more.

I'm so glad that you would all be grateful, I'm really hoping friend feels the same way, I guess it would be a shock, but ultimately I did what I thought was best, and what the vet thought best, under challenging circumstances.

pug I hope your pup, and you, are doing OK, its really not a nice thing to go through.

should happy to dogsit any time, payment in chocolate only, and I now require at least 2 phone numbers and an email address 🤣

I wouldn’t worry @Istheresomethingwrong , you’ve absolutely done the correct thing for the dog and I’m sure your friend will be grateful

Thank you @Istheresomethingwrong it's been a really hard couple of weeks but we know he'll be fine, I just need time to stop thinking about it all. I really think you have been amazing through all this, not an easy thing to do at all but you have thought about the dogs welfare completely even though it's a really hard decision. We were told that we could have left it and treated it for a while but that the outcome would be the same and he would eventually be in (more) pain before then having to have the surgery. Part of me wanted to leave it as I just so desperately wanted him to recover but I knew I couldn't let him suffer.

If it was me, I would ask the vets to give you a letter saying what happened at both appointments and the operation and what their advice was, she is likely to be emotional when she discovers this and having that expert information may stop her incorrectly taking it out on you?

I’ll be honest, I think you need to be prepared for a bit of backlash from the owner.
Not because it’s your fault (it’s not) but the shock of coming back and finding out your dog has had surgery and lost an eye. It’s a ‘shoot the messenger’ type thing.

Rationally I would know it’s not your fault, but I would struggle with it all the same.

I think @RunningFromInsanity is right, unfortunately. I think you've absolutely done the right thing, but I would be devastated to come home to find this had happened to my dog. I'm sure, with time, I'd accept you'd done the right thing and be grateful, but I think in the moment I would be very very angry and very very upset.

Sorry.

If you would be angry and upset if the dog sitter was forced into this position then presumably you would ensure there is a way of contacting you so you could make those decisions, otherwise IMO no one would have a right to be angry. For me, leaving my dogs is as stressful as leaving my children TBH. I probably worry just as much, maybe even more as they are 100% reliant on someone to look after them. No way would I be uncontactable for more than absolutely necessary.

Hi OP, I just wondered how you are doing? How is the dog getting along?

I just wanted to say that my pup is now a month post op and you really wouldn't know there is anything different about him at all, he is still full of life and it hasn't seemed to have affected him in anyway, just wanted to give some reassurance.

Hi, just a quick update on this. Once again, thank you for all the advice and support.

My friend got back about a week ago and was shocked, but grateful. I was so relieved, I felt absolutely sick when she phoned to say she was back in the country, I didn't tell her on the phone as she still had a fair bit of travelling to do before she got back home and I didn't want her alone and upset on the train for a few hours. It's one of the worst things I've ever had to do and I was howling before I could even get one word out.

Lots of tears and apologies and blaming herself and reassuring me (which made me feel more guilty).

It was quite funny to see the sweet girl, who had been absolutely thriving, milking it with my friend for sympathy. She kept on forgetting and going around as usual and then she would go and limp up to my friend when she remembered again for some cuddles and treats before bouncing off again.

She recovered really well, the vet is totally happy with her and you wouldn't even know the trauma she has been through.

The vet also took time to explain everything to my friend and reassure her that I did the right thing for the dog and about the decision making process. They have also sorted everything out with insurance and whatnot.

@PugInTheHouse I am so glad your pup is doing well, I was amazed at how fast the recovery was, I would have still insisted on being waited on hand and foot a month post op 🤣 Dogs really are amazing.

The problem I have now is that my house feels empty now that beautiful girl is back home, I'm putting some serious thought into how feasible it would be for me to get my own dog.....

Thanks for updating @Istheresomethingwrong glad it worked out ok

@Istheresomethingwrong so glad to hear she is doing so well and that your friend was OK. Dogs are amazingly resilient. As much as mine are a pain at times (many times lol) I would miss having a dog now. It's quite good you have had a recent 'trial' as after least you know how you would feel having a dog around to help you make a decision.