Dog Shot in Eye - Second Update

BritChaser

BritChaser

Well-known member
My dog was accidently shot in the eye on Sunday. X-rays show the pellet is lodged in muscle tissue beyond the eyeball. The pellet entered just outside the iris on the medial aspect of the eyeball and probably exited at a lower spot because it appears the dog had his head down when it happened. Anyone ever have a dog shot in the eye? I am interested to hear what the end result was.

Update: Swelling and protrusion of eyeball has gone down. Sticking with antibiotics both oral and topical and vetprofen. Dog is happy as ever, unaware what has happened to him, but the master is distraught. <big sigh>

Second Update: Blind in the eye. No current need to remove the eye. Dog as happy as ever and hunting, pointing, and retrieving just as before. Master still distraught. <sigh>
 
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Damn, that really sucks. I am really sorry to hear about this. Hopefully the dog recovers quickly but even with one eye he/she should be able to get along just fine. Dogs are amazingly resiliant critters. Let us know the prognosis.
 
No I have not ever heard of a dog being shot in the eye. Bad deal BC, sorry to hear of this matter.

I do know that it is not uncommon for bird dogs to pick up stray pellets. I had two britts in the 80's. That both x-rayed shot pellets in them. The vet told me its very common, with bird dogs.

I hope your dog recovers.:)
 
damn. sorry to hear that. I know a guy who has a pellet behind his eye, but that's another story. I hunted last year with a dog who had been shot in the side two weeks before... dog showed no signs of slowing down. Other than the big shaved spot on her side, she was fired up to get back out there. Really hope your pup recovers quick for you both.
 
BC,
A hunter's worst nightmare. I hope he recovers fine so he can keep doing what he loves.
PairOfLabs
 
Sorry BC, Who in the heck shot your dog? That sucks.

I don't want to see this turn in to a bashing here either.
I also would like to say this is the biggest reason for steadying a dog,"saftey" And this is not directed at you BC. This just simply will never happen to a dog that is steady to flush wing and shot... If we think about it, would we chase after a slow moving bird while our buddy trys to shoot it in front of us? It will most likely never be us that shoots our dogs, but some other goof. So I want my dogs safe, and steady is safe...

Good luck with your dog BC and hope he is OK.
 
Quote FC

"This just simply will never happen to a dog that is steady to flush wing and shot.."

______________________________________

Never say NEVER accidents happen in any activity
 
Thank you for your kind words. Actually, the accident's cause was not related to whether the dog is steady or unsteady. We, my hunting companion and I, were not aware for some time that the dog was shot. After moving to another field, I noticed a dark spot on his muzzle and discovered it was a pellet which we were able to remove. It was only then that I realized that his fresh eye trauma may have been caused by being shot rather than running into something. He never yelped nor were any shots fired in his direction while he was visible. Since the pellets struck the eye, the top of his muzzle, and the front of his shoulder, he was facing the shooter straight on with head lowered, not going away chasing a bird. Most likely, he was in heavy kochia along a fencerow and was hit when a bird flushed out of that cover.
 
You have a brittany I am assuming from your name on here? Wow that is sad to hear about. Hopefully it will be ok and won't have any long term effects from it. Maybe you should consider using some type of blaze orange on it while hunting in the future.
 
BC sorry to hear!! Hoping for a full recovery!!
 
Dakotazeb said:
BC, has the dog lost vision in that eye? Or is it too early to tell.
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Too early to tell. He is on oral and topical antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (Vetprofen). But his lens and/or cornea are cloudy.
 
Bird Buster said:
You have a brittany I am assuming from your name on here? Wow that is sad to hear about. Hopefully it will be ok and won't have any long term effects from it. Maybe you should consider using some type of blaze orange on it while hunting in the future.
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The dog was not visible when shot -- in thick kochia as best we can determine. We had no idea it had been shot until some time after it happened. None of our shots were, so far as we knew, near the dog. Not a case of hasty shooting over a visible dog.
 
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Everything about this is sickening. A dog pays the price for someone not following the basic gun safety rules, let alone not knowing where the dog was when the trigger was pulled while shooting into the ground. Shame on the hunter that pulled that trigger.
 
He will adapt to the loss of vision and still hunt just fine. My mom's dog and one of my dogs got into a 2 second skirmish over a bone and my dog bit the other's eye. It ruptured inside and they had to remove it. The dog adapted and is just fine, other than he runs with his head cocked to the side to center his only eye.
 
jeffstally said:
He will adapt to the loss of vision and still hunt just fine. My mom's dog and one of my dogs got into a 2 second skirmish over a bone and my dog bit the other's eye. It ruptured inside and they had to remove it. The dog adapted and is just fine, other than he runs with his head cocked to the side to center his only eye.
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I had that happen with two Britt brothers that ordinarily are inseperable. Next thing you know fight to the death. Dog with the lost eye is more or less functional. He still hunts but runs into things.
 
My female is blind in one eye. Other than running into things and not being able to mark downed birds well she is a good little bird dog.
 
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I am feeling better about the whole thing. The dog acts as if nothing ever happened to him, still always happy and wagging his tail. He will not lose his eye and he hunts just like before. He made four retrieves and was spot on in finding each bird to retrieve. I guess we got lucky.
 
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