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Recurring Bleeding in a Dachshund's Blind Eye

by A reader


Reader Question
My 11 year old Dachshund was injured when a thrown baseball cap struck her in the left eye in late 2011. We put ice on the injury at the time and it seemed ok, although it was sensitive to the touch for a few days. The eye appeared normal after that. Then, in March of 2012 we traveled to another state where (we think, by the sound) she ran into a glass door because she thought she saw me on the other side. The eye then became bloody, so we took her to a vet and then an optomalogist. He said that that eye had probably been blind for years, but was "operational" and not painful, so no surgery was indicated. He gave us some drops for her eyes which cleared up the blood for a while, but the eye remained opaque from then on.

About a month ago her eye became bloody again and we took her to a vet. That vet gave us some eyedrops but these have not made the blood go away; it is now bright red all the time, except after she has been laying very still for some time. As soon as she moves around it turns bright red again.

Is there some kind of clotting agent that would help clear up her eye?


Answer from Our Team

An eye that has been blind for years and keeps bleeding often has ongoing inflammation inside it, fragile new blood vessels, or raised eye pressure, and occasionally a growth. Blood moving around when she gets up fits blood floating in the front of the eye. There isn't a clotting medicine that clears blood from the eye.

Ask your vet or the ophthalmologist to check the eye pressure. A blind eye with recurring bleeding can become painful, even when a dog doesn't show it clearly. If the eye keeps bleeding, is painful or the pressure is high, removing the blind eye is often the kindest option, because it ends the pain and most dogs do very well.

Also ask about checking her blood pressure and clotting, since those can cause bleeding in the eye.

See red eyes and blood in the eye.

This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.

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