The obvious answer is “take her to the vet”, but honestly, after reading up on it, I’m not sure they can do much until it gets really bad.
My dog has it off and on. It tends to disappear after she sleeps for a bit and then returns in a day or so.
I was hoping someone will have had experience with this and can tell me what to expect long term. I dunno if it’s going to get worse or what. Not sure what to do since removal would mean that we would have to put eye drops in her eye for the rest of her life it sounds like.
Did they have to start putting eyedrops in the dogs eyes after the surgery was complete? It sounds like surgery may not be possible yet due to it being an on and off occurrence in my dog at this point. It comes and goes. I guess after rereading the article that I posted that they can also “tack down” gland to prevent it from coming back out again. This may be what we end up having to do. Not sure what to do in the meantime.
" In previous years a veterinarian would simply excise, or cut out the offending prolapsed tear gland, but it was quickly realized that by doing this the dog would not be able to make adequate tears in that eye. Dogs that have the tear gland removed completely are put on artificial tears for life to prevent dry eye and ocular irritation2. A more modern surgical approach is to tack the gland back down below the eyelid. The downside of this method is that there is still a risk of re-prolapse but it still remains the more popular of the two surgical methods since the risk of re-prolapse is less than the risk of chronic dry eye from completely removing the gland. If your dog does have surgery to replace the tear gland and it re-prolapses, your vet may recommend the gland removal method versus trying to replace it again.
Unfortunately, surgery can only be pursued if the tear gland is actively prolapsed. If your dog’s cherry eye is transient your vet may opt to wait until it’s more consistently out."
Please give her hugs from Jims and I. 