Brett the Vet

Last night, Heather, Riley and I headed to Pella. We were supposed to have a Christmas party for Heather's work, SOY, from 6 to 8 at the Pizza Ranch. We thought while we are there we need to get Riley into the vet for a check up, 2 birds 1 stone. Our vet appointment was at 5:30, Heather had some errands to run, so she dropped Riley and I off at the vet. We also wanted to go to the vet to have Riley's eye looked at. About a week ago, Riley's friend Coco was staying at our house and I thought Riley might have scratched her eye, because it was really red in one corner. This had happened before, but it went away in a few days but this time it had been a week and it was still there, so we wanted the vet to check it out.

Her eye kind of looked like this: Before I go any farther, let me say Riley isn't a fan of the vet's office. As soon as we walked through the door, her tail dropped between her legs and she was looking for a way out. She becomes very nervous. Brett is a great vet and he is great with Riley, but I think Riley remembers the shots that he gave her and she won't let that go. Anyway, we get into the room and Brett looks at her eye and knows what it is. He shows me some pictures and examples of what he thinks it is and asks if it looks like what Riley's eye looks like. Riley has a classic case of "cherry eye". "Cherry Eye" or Glandular hypertrophy is simply an enlargement of the gland of the third eyelid with resultant prolapse. Cocker spaniels and bulldogs seem to be predisposed to this disorder. Cherry eye is also commonly seen in Beagles, Bloodhounds, Great Danes, Lhasa Apsos, and Basset hounds.

An inflammation and/or a lack of connective tissue bands which hold the gland in place, are thought to be causes of this condition. Typically trauma does not cause this but; many experts believe there is a genetic component to developing this problem.

Brett explained that there is a gland behind the eye that sometime pops to the front of the eye and becomes irritated and inflamed. Often times, he can simply pop it back in place by pulling open the eyelid and gently pushing the gland back into place. So, he gave Riley some eye drops to numb her eye. Once those kicked in, the assistant and I held Riley while Brett worked his magic with some tweezers and got that "cherry eye" to go back into place! He said we should watch it, if it becomes a problem there is a surgical option to fixing the gland back into place.
So, we got her eye fixed. While we were waiting for the eye drops to kick in, Brett finished his exam. Riley currently weights 22.5 lbs, that is 5 more lbs. than last year or a 35% increase in weight! Not good. Brett said Riley needs to go on a diet.
So when we got home I had to have a conversation with Riley regarding her eating habits, she wasn't too thrilled, she tried to play the "I'm not fat, just big boned" card, but I didn't buy it.

But her spirits lifted when I told her we didn't have to go back to the vet for at least 6 months!
So all in all, it was a good vet appointment. Riley is in good health. After we left the vet, Riley and I walked over to Chad and Shay's house to meet up with Heather and hang out with Shay and Nathan. The vet appointment took a little longer than planned, so we ended up missing the Christmas party, but we got to hang out with Nathan and watch The Office, so the night ended well.