Eye Ruptured

[FurReal]

Hello Everyone,

I've heard of this happening but never seen it until yesterday. I went to groom an older Shih Tzu and noticed when I put her on the table her eye was swollen shut. I thought maybe it was just allergies and "gunk" so I got a moist cotton swab and cleaned it up a bit. Puss started pouring out, I could not even see her eye in there. Immediately back in the house and the owner took her to the vet. I called last night to see how she was doing and the owner said the eye had ruptured and they had to remove it. Poor baby. Anyway, I know the breeds w/large protruding eyes are prone to these problems...my question is this: Whenever I groomed this dog her topknot was always too tight. I would try to gently encourage the client not to make it so tight. Do you think this may have contributed to the eye rupturing? I'm wondering if I should have tried harder to convince them not to make it so tight. Thanks for any input/experience you have with this.

[Particentral]

I don't think that had anything to do with it. In my dogs case it was an eye infection at the back of the eye that the vet misdaignosed as cataracts that caused the eye to rupture. It LOOKED like cataracts to me as well. Cloudy, crystaline almost, just like Cataracts. Usually it is an untreated infection that causes the eye to rupture as the pressure inside the eye itself causes it to rupture.

[D'tails]

It could be untreated glaucoma. We groomed a Lhasa for years and the owners refused to get medical help for it's glaucoma. Eventually his eyes ruptured. It was really gross and his eyes looked like shriveled balls of cloudy tin foil in the sockets. I dont think a top knot being too tight would cause it.

[Helly]

I agree with the above. Infection, glaucoma, or possibly a tumor. Pulling a top knot up too tight would probably only cause a problem if the dog couldn't blink at all, and it developed dry eyes as a result.

Don't worry about it. Not only are we usually not at fault for all the things the vets like to blame us for, we're seldom at fault for the things we blame ourselves for.