Buck's Eye Surgery and Recovery Complications

Update May 29th: Buck git his stitches out and he looks great! Eyepatch is coming soon, and he will finally get his cone off tomorrow!

Update May 15th: Buck had to go back to the vet. After a couple of sleepless nights ensuring he didn't mess with his eye wound, I woke up with his cone on the bed and him in a corner of the room. The vet was called, he was taken in, and they decided based on how it looked that he had reopened a part of the wound in his eye over the night and needed to be sedated to operate and fix it. Hopefully for Buck, third time is the charm and his recovery continues without complications from here. We acquired a small dog kennel for him to stay in during the night until it heals enough for him to be unmatched through the night. ❤️‍

Update May 12th:

Buck had his surgery on The 8th, and everything went smoothly until today when it appeared that his stitched eye drainage was not normal and appeared to be infected. For the weekend everything was normal, and light natural fluid or blood drainage was a good sign. But He was hot to the touch on that side, kept shaking his head, and this morning it had an unnatural yellow green tint to it. So I took him ti the vet the second they opened and they took him back and called their doctor. They determined it was infected, needed antibiotics and he would have to take a prescribed sedative while he heals. The additional cost was 30 for his chewable antibiotics and 16 for the sedation meds he took today, so its not too bad.

ORIGINAL POST:

This is Buckle B. Barnabas. He has been a member of our family since 2021, when he was posted on Craigslist for free when he was just under a year old.

We were told that he was born with an ulcer that ended up causing his left eye to go blind. It turned out after a vet visit, he actually has chronic dry eye and cannot produce tears in his left eye, resulting in crust overs, irritation, and agitation.

The vet recommended a twice-daily treatment of antibiotics, lubricant, and steroids to help revive his eye. After 3 long years, his last vet visit proved true what we were all hoping wouldn't be the case.

He has 0 moisture detected in his left eye, and removal was recommended, with an estimate of around 1200.

We had a saving plan for him, along with savings for emergencies for the animals, which are my pride and joy, but we were struck with tragedy after tragedy, which ultimately depleted his eye savings.

When we were close to saving up enough, and still holding out hope his eye would come back with the help of the medications, a beloved 8-year-old cat was attacked by a neighbor's dogs that broke through the fence onto the property, resulting in a leg needing to be amputated. During that process, the owners of said dogs refused to help with any bills. We learned that the damage was more severe than just needing a leg amputation; she ended up with liver failure due to a tooth puncture and had to be let go after struggling for days.

Then, we suddenly lost Buck's best friend, 1-year-old Finn the Flamepoint, due to perceived illness, poisoning of herbicide, or a fight with a stray.

Shortly after all of this, we had to have an emergency vet visit for my elderly mother's Beagle, Boogie, who we have had for 8 of his 9 years. He was diagnosed with pancreatitis and suggested to stay at an overnight 24-hour care facility. The second he got there, they took him to the back room for labored breathing. His quality of life was drastically cut down, his blood pressure was literally off their chart, and my mother was considering taking a loan on the house to see him through. He was diagnosed as diabetic, with a low chance of surviving the required time in the vet, which would have cost thousands, so we had to say goodbye to him too.

Most of our animals, our dogs and cats, were taken in from streets, people who needed them to have a home, Craigslist freebies, foster fails, and we love them all.

8 in the pack, and 12 in the Clan

My mother helps me a ton with the animals as they are our babies, and although this is one thing that can wait if it needs to, she was thinking of getting it done and paying it back, and I'd rather see if I can't help her save up some of it.

If anyone is able to help us get Buck into an eye patch sooner rather than later, it would be highly appreciated, and anything extra we make will go into the emergency vet savings for the pups.

Thank you for reading.