My milo

Milo is a cocker spaniel 5 years old we have had him from being a puppy, he is a big softie.

Shortly after we got milo we realised he had something wrong with his eye, we took him to the vet who referred to a specialist and he diagnosed him with a chacteracts in his left eye. Milo had the best possible outcome it dissolved without surgery and he had 95% vision.

He was fine for a lot of years till just before he turned 5 in 2014. We noticed his left eye was red and had discharge from it, we took him to the vets and they said it was an infection we treated him with drops and antibiotics and went back to vets. They said it was still an infection and gave further drops. About a week later we noticed his eye had gone slightly cloudy in appearance and still very red. We took him to the vets and they checked his pressures and they measured 65. This is very high and he was referred to the specialist and put on drops every 4 hours through out the night. We went to the specialist and he carried out lots of tests on his eye and told us he was blind in that eye and had been for some time.

The cruel thing with glaucoma is by the time you notice symptoms the dogs eye is usually already blind. We were totally devastated to say the least and we continued with the drops every 4 hours waking up during the night for over 3 weeks. We then realised unfortunately the drops were no longer working and the pressures were still too high.

We had to make the hardest decision to have his eye removed as it was causing him pain and had no vision. I really struggled with this, I had all different emotions – anger, guilt- why didn’t I see it sooner? , upset and sadness for how young he is and going through this. I booked the appointment to have his eye out and researched other owners accounts of what happens. I had prepared myself with photos of other dogs who have had it done. The day of the surgery I was absolutely petrified for him and just wanted him to come through the operation, the vets were very supportive and told me what to expect. I waited with him for his pre med and took photos of him ( after all I knew this would be the last time I saw him with both eyes). I gave him a kiss and left him at the vets.

The next two hours were hard waiting to hear. The vets rang me and said he had the operation and was recovering well. I went to pick him up four hours later and I couldn’t wait to see my baby boy. The vets told me again it is a shock and I said I was prepared. I will be honest when I first saw him I burst into tears as it was such a huge shock and looked so sore. I got him home and gave him loads of tlc as he was very tired from the operation. I had thoughts of horror at what I had done to him I felt as though I had disfigured him. He crawled over to me and wagged his tail and I knew then he was going to be fine.

The next day he was running around in the garden and wagging his tail and was a different dog. Although the wound was still swollen and bruised he was fine in himself. We have had a follow up appointment and he is doing really well. The third day post opp is itchy for him and he is trying to itch it and he has had drops of blood from his nose which we were told is normal. He is still my baby boy and is still gorgeous. I have uploaded photos of him before, after and during healing. I will upload a photo of him once he is fully healed. I will be happy to talk to anyone who is going through this, it’s very hard but there is light at the end of the tunnel