I am writing this to hopefully get some other feedback to our dilemma. We have 2 Basset Hounds. Percy who is 14 years old, and Emily who is 13 years old. Emily has been diagnosed with glaucoma in her right eye. The vet is wanting to remove her eyeball and says that the other eye may contract glaucoma and down the road may have to have her other eye removed.
We rescued Emily when she was 1 1/2 years old from an abusive owner. She and Percy have been my husband and my kids. My concern is Emilys age. The average life span for a Basset Hound is 8-10 years. She is 13 years old and I am very concerned about putting her through the trauma of having her eyeball removed. At the moment we are using eye drops to try to bring the pressure in her eye down.
I don’t know how many of you had your dogs eyeballs removed when they are past their average life span. I just want to do what is best for Emily. I would love to hear your feedback. I would do anything for either of our Bassets but really want to do the best for Emily.
Thank you for your input!
Evie
There have been a number of people on this site with older dogs that have had their eyes removed. With any operation there is going to be risk regardless of the dogs age.
Unfortunately with glaucoma in dogs, there will have to be a time when the eye is removed because the drops no longer work. The reason they remove the eye at that point is because it becomes extremely painful for the dog. It’s like having a migraine 24/7. The dog is in constant pain.
So it is risky at that age but you have to decide whether you want your dog to live a life of pain or whether to take the risk of having the operation. Not a great decision I know and only you can make the decision but I know which one I would go with.
Hi Evie. We also have two bassets! Our girl Elly recently developed glaucoma in her left eye. Within a little under two.months her pressure spiked and she was completely blind. Both of our bassets are 7 years old, which isn’t terribly old but they are getting up there. We ended up having her eye removed as we believed it was the best.option. I can definitely say we made the best decision. Sadly, she already has the glaucoma starting in her remaining eye. Thank god for the drops and pill she has been taking though as they are still keeping her pressure down. Surgery is a personal choice only you can make. I weighed my options daily for a while but when I would lookat her and just see her acting differently, not playful, I knew she was in pain. And everytime she wagged her tail in some effort to make me feel better, I knew I had to do it even with the risks that were possible. You will know what is best for you and her. And I feel like if the vet has hope and isn’t being negative about it, it’s worth a shot. 🙂
Oh and also, when we were at her specialists office, there was a lady who was telling us about a basset she had. Her basset lived to be 16 years old. There’s always hope.