Cherry Eye

The first time we heard of "cherry eye" was when we were living in Munich, when Denzel was about 4 months old. We took him out for his evening walk and on the way home, we noticed that the inside corner of his eye was swollen and bulging out of the socket. It was also bright pink. Of course, we totally freaked out. We ran home and I called the Vet on her emergency line, while G looked up all of the possible explanations online. Well, the Vet told us to calm down - we were more stressed out than Denzel - and to put a cool wet towel over his eye to help with the swelling. She also told us to get off the internet, trying to diagnose the problem on our own. We were 99% positive it was the "cherry eye", which is basically when the gland of a dog's third eyelid falls out of place and becomes extremely visible. It's like your tear duct being four times the normal size. Scary. And it requires surgery. So we put a cool towel over his eye, for as long as he would allow, and by the next morning, his eye was back to normal. Thank God! We took him to the Vet and she examined his eye. She said that he probably scratched his eye and irritated it or when he was roaming around in the bushes, he could have scratched his eye on a branch. She said it was definitely not the "cherry eye". We were so relieved that Denzel was back to normal with his eyesight and eyelid in tact. Fast forward to yesterday. We discovered a kick ass Doggy Park near our new house. Every dog must be legally licensed and vaccinated. Denzel has met so many cool dogs and to be honest, most of the parents we've met so far, seem very responsible and friendly. Well, last night, as Denzel wrestled with a Boston Terrier, I noticed the bulge in his eye again. This time, it wasn't bright pink but it was clearly swollen and protruding out from his eye socket. Can you tell in the photo? This time, we didn't freak out, we just scooped him up and drove home, put a cool wet towel over his eye and yup, just like the last time, his eye was back to normal in the morning. Thank God! But now we can't help wondering if this is going to be a recurring thing. I don't think our Vet in Munich was wrong because from my understanding of "cherry eye", when the bulge occurs, it doesn't go away. It has to be corrected with surgery to make it disappear. Denzel's eye issue went away twice, with only a cold compress. So what do we do? We decided to wait to see if it happens again and if it does, we are going to see a Vet in Virginia. Until then, the little fraggle is going to take a break from the kick ass Doggy Park, just to make sure his eyelid is back to normal.