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CHERRY EYE

Article refereed by Drs Jeff Smith and Cameron Whittaker at the Animal Referral Hospital, South Strathfield.

Dogs and cats have an extra eyelid in the corner of their eyes close to their nose. It acts a bit like a windshield wiper and is normally not visible. It can stretch across the eyeball to protect it whilst a pet sleeps.

The third eyelid has a gland in its base which helps fight infection/inflammation and produces tears. Inside the third eyelid is a T-shaped piece of cartilage which helps maintain its flat shape.

In some dogs, the gland at the base of the third eyelid swells up and causes the eyelid to roll out and become prominent. This looks like a raised reddened lump in the comer of the eye.

Cherry eye in a Basset hound	Cherry eye in a small dog	Cherry eye in a small dog

Causes

The third eyelid gland may swell up for a number of reasons including infection and/or inflammation of the eye. Some pets have a genetic defect predisposition that causes the problem.

Treatment

Normally, if an infection and or inflammation is suspected, we try conservative treatment with eye ointments containing anti-biotics and/or anti-inflammatories to try to get the gland to reduce in size. Unfortunately, it has a high failure rate and often the problem re-surfaces;

If the problem keeps re-occurring, then surgery becomes the best option.

For BVH clients, we refer eye cases to Drs Jeff Smith and Cameron Whittaker at the Animal Referral Hospital, Strathfield, Sydney.

The Animal Referral Hospital referral letter	Map of the Animal Referral Hospital