Dog bite dog.

About 3 months ago, an owner came to me with her dog (Snoopy) wrapping up in her arms. Tears started to flow down her cheek while she related the incident that happened the night before. Snoopy was always kept inside her house while the other fellow, Max, a local breed, was kept outside. Somehow, on that night, Snoopy managed to slip through the glass door and when into Max territory. Now, Max was not a friendly neighborhood dog that you'll find licking your feet or wagging his tail at some strangers. Snoopy did not realised that he was about to put his feet in somebody else territory. At that time, Max was munching away his favourite dishes and that made the situation more tense. At an instance, the owner heard a loud noise coming from Snoopy asking for help. The attack was over in just a few seconds, and the only thing the owner saw was blood splatterd everywhere on the floor.

The owner panicked and tried to calm down. Snoopy was obviously hurt and scared. He immediately when under the car to hide. After several attempts, finally, the owner managed to get Snoopy out of its hiding. Further check up revealed Snoopy's right eye were popping out but the bleeding has stopped.

It was around 10:30p.m. and most vet clinics have closed for the day. The owner did not have any vet's contact number so she thought to consult the vet the next morning.

This was how Snoopy looked like when he was presented to me, of course after the hair surrounding the right eye had been shaved. Obviously, the right eye was popping out and it is caused normally by a large force created within the orbit, such as hit by car or bog bite or being kicked from the side. We managed to do a quick physical examination on Snoopy and found a few bite wounds surrounding the neck. Other than that, no other abnormalities were found on the external body.

Then, a thorough check on the right eye revealed that the eye has been damaged and because it happened the night before, a few hours have gone (which was crucial) and the corneal has became dried and damaged. It was difficult to save the cornea and the muscles surrounding the eye ball also has been torned. We have discussed with the owner about the prognosis of the right eye and the best option (we had 2 options) at that time was to remove the eye.

And, so we did removed the right eye. The surgery took about an hour and it was a successful one. Apart from that, we also put Snoopy on intravenous drips, antibiotic, anti-inflammatory drugs and good nutrition.

Snnopy stayed with us for 3 days. He is a healthy and happy one eyed dog now.

The moral of this episode? Don't mix your dog if they are not happy with each other and please send your dog to the vets as soon as possible if you encounter such a case in the future. Who knows, the vet might be able to save the popped out eye instead of removing it although sometimes, the dog can't see with the eye.