Did you know that dogs have a third eyelid in each eye? I didn’t… until Puck’s got all screwy for some reason.
Here’s how it works: there’s the top eyelid, and the bottom eyelid, just like humans have… but underneath the bottom eyelid, there’s a thick membrane that rolls up over the eyeball from the bottom. It normally only pops up during sleep to help protect the eye… but sometimes it can appear when the dog’s eye is open.
And let me tell you, when it does, it’s seriously disturbing.
When we got home from NYC, I noticed there was something weird about Puck’s eye… At first, it looked like there was a rolled up contact lens in the bottom of his eye. But the more I looked at it, the worse it got. The bottom lid started to poke up, and it looked like his eye was drooping back into his head. It looked like a freakin’ STROKE! Here are some photos:
And then, it got better.
The weirdest part of all of this is that Puck didn’t seem the least bit fazed by any of it. He didn’t whine or cry, didn’t paw at his eye, didn’t seem in pain at all. All he did was drink a lot of water.
It would get better for awhile, then come back… yesterday morning, I woke up and checked his eye and it was fine. I had just finished txting Sal that his eye was okay, when I looked back and it was swelling up again. And the really weird part is that the eye that was screwy was totally constricted, while the other eye was fully dilated. It’s a creepy sight, that’s for sure.
One urgent trip to the vet’s office, waiting for my dear Courtney to arrive and open the clinic, and we were seen by the vet. She stained his eye with some colored drops (NOT a fun application!) and looked into the eye with a special light, and confirmed there wasn’t a scratch on the eyeball. She numbed the eye and pulled back the third eyelid to check for anything — dirts, debris, etc — stuck underneath it and causing irritation, but there was nothing. Finally we moved to a tentative treatment plan: drops in Puck’s eye every couple of hours. Return visit at the end of the week to check up on him.
Thirty-six hours later, and Puck seems totally fine. The drops seem to have worked wonders on him — his eyes are both clear, he’s acting completely normally, and nothing seems wrong at all. He still struggles like hell when we try to put the drops in, but he’s seeming to put up slightly less of a fight each time — probably because afterwards we shower him with affection and treats. Before long he’ll be begging for eye drops, just for the reward.
I’ll say this about Southend Veterinary Clinic: they’re professional, they’re caring and compassionate for both the dogs and their frazzled owners, and they give good care to pets without robbing their owners blind.
Plus, their receptionist is pretty damned awesome. Thanks for everything, Courtney!
Its the nictitating membrane. Some dog breeds are described in breed terms as “stoic” in that they shrug off discomfort, some to the point that they can be sick and you wont realize it.
Cats have that too – and when they’re sick, like a cold, that third eyelid droops down. It freaked me out the first time it happened too.
We have a 13 week old golden retriever and the same thing is happening to her. It tends to get worse when we go outside. After about 15 minutes inside, it’s better, till we go back out. By reading what you have here, I am assuming that this means she might have something irritating her eye? I plan on taking her to the vet tomorrow, but reading this helped me to get an idea of what might be causing her problems…very scary to a first time pet owner!
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