The litter of eight seemed to have a puppy of every color.  There were black ones, black and white ones, brown and white ones, tan ones, black and tan puppies and one little chocolate puppy.  They wriggled when they walked, their tails wagging furiously, obviously thrilled to be petted and handled.  They had been turned into the shelter as their family had not planned on having puppies.

      The little chocolate puppy was quieter than the others and the reason was soon apparent, her left eye was swollen shut and was leaking pus.  The shelter had noted the condition, but was unable to do more than apply a little eye ointment.  The little 5-week old puppy was obviously in pain.  But she still wagged her tiny tail and came over to be gently loved. 

      When Gypsy arrived at the Center, our veterinarian determined the need for a sedated procedure.   It looked as if she had entropion, a painful medical condition where the eyelid folds inward, causing the eyelashes to rub constantly against the cornea.  It was hard to tell as she kept the eye so tightly shut.  By pulling the lids away from the socket we could see if it was entropion that was continually irritating the cornea.  The staff was hopeful that if the eyelids no longer rubbed on the eye the cornea would clear up.

      The discharge did not decrease, however so the puppy was put back under anesthesia.  The swelling had gone down a little and the veterinarian was now able to see that the puppy had a fairly large foxtail wrapped up in the eyelid. Every time the puppy blinked the foxtail scraped over the sensitive cornea.  Eventually Gypsy just kept the eye closed and the foreign body created an infection inside the lid.  The foxtail was carefully removed in hopes the eye could be saved.

      Almost overnight the eye cleared up, the cornea lost its opaqueness and the swelling disappeared.  Gypsy started playing with her sibling with whom she was housed and the two of them went to foster together.  Soon they will be altered.  We are so glad that we were able to take little Gypsy and help her regain her health so she can go into her forever home.