Cherry Eye for Eye Drops, Ice Pack, Acupressure

5 star (20) 
  95%
2 star (1) 
  5%

The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.

Laurie (CT) on 01/28/2019:
2 out of 5 stars

Neither remedies worked for my 10yr old, after coming in from outside rubbing his eye. I discovered he had a cherry eye. He eventually came down with another cherry eye within a year. I can only contribute it to some type of bacteria in the soil that got into the nasal or eye duct passages. I have to clean his eyes faithfully every morning to soften the gook from his eyes with a clean soft paper towel wetted down with distilled water, then use a tick comb to clean the gook gently away from the top and bottom. I keep hair clipped around the eyes as short as possible.

 View Entire Thread

REPLY   2      

Arleen (Mi) on 02/18/2017:
5 out of 5 stars

I'm a believer! My mini doxie came in from outside and in the corner of her eye was a red bulge. I immediately started looking up what it could be. It is known as a 'cherry eye". I read all comments on this site about this and decided to go with using first an eye drop solution-1 drop, then ice in a baggie w/cloth wrapped around it for 5 minutes laid on the bulge and finally gently pushing the bulge towards the corner from which it protruded not on the eyeball. I did this 3 times that day. I could still see a reduced bulge before she went to bed for the night. This morning - nothing - gone. I am so thankful for this site and the results.
REPLY   3      

2puppyowner (Texas) on 02/18/2016:
5 out of 5 stars

I noticed my old 8 week puppy all of a sudden had cherry eye thought he scratched it or got something in it, but looking online I used the method with the warm cloth and massaged his eye while having him laying on his back.Then I put 3 drops of eye drops to the eye and continued to massage. Within 15 minutes his cherry eye was gone. Thank you for the post and how to correct this. Got me very worried about my little guy.He's doing better. Thanks
REPLY   9      



Jennifer (Madisonville, Ky) on 12/17/2015:
5 out of 5 stars

I just did the ice and massage treatment on an eight week old beagle mix. Used cube of ice for minute or two the massaged for about three minutes n it's gone. Hers was really protruding out.
REPLY   4      

Jean (West Midlands, UK) on 04/02/2015:
5 out of 5 stars

Thank You so much. My little coton de tulear developed a cherry eye during the night, I took the advice from this site regarding the Ice and massage and I can't believe after half an hour of using the ice and massaging the big bubble has gone!!! x
REPLY   1      

Daphne (Richmond, US) on 11/30/2014:
5 out of 5 stars

My chi weenie has cherry eye! It was just red and I looked at her eye and there was a big bubble right under the lid. My son massaged her eye gently for a minute. Nothing. I put on a hot compress for about a minute and gently pushed along her closed eye toward her nose about 3 times. Nothing. I found this site and decided to try ice. (Someone said it took them 3 min). I put ice in a ziplock. I snuggled her and put it on her closed eye for 3 minutes. I pushed on her closed lid toward her nose 3x. I could kind of feel it as I pushed. Third time I couldn't feel it so I just petted her and got her to look up at an angle and it is still red but no bubble! Taking her to the vet tomorrow to see what is going on but happy that we know another option. Yay!
REPLY   4      

Molley (Australia) on 11/15/2014:
5 out of 5 stars

Hello , my name is Tasha, I am a white shitzu cross, I would like to thank you for the advice you have given for cherry eye, I am a little tired of mum messing with it, I don't like going to the doctors and don't need an operation, the eye drops are so soothing, and now I don't run into every thing, with the ointment she was giving me, I nearly zonked out the last time I walked into something hard, well thanks again folks and keep up the good work.

Best wishes from Tasha

REPLY   4      

Pam (MI, US) on 08/16/2014:
5 out of 5 stars

I have a 9yr. old shepard / chow mix she has had cherry eye for more then a yr. I could not afford surgery; I just found this, so I decided to give it a try. It worked much to my amazement in just a few minutes, I really could feel it "pop" back in, and she seemed to like it. It has only been a few min. and I expect I will have to do it again, but I have to say WOW! I wish I would have seen this sooner!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY   1      



Nicole (Chicago) on 05/06/2014:
5 out of 5 stars

Worked like a charm for me! My dog really liked the ice on her eye—I think she found that soothing. Thanks!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY         

Abraham B. (Hialeah, Fl.) on 04/01/2014:
5 out of 5 stars

I got my Boston Terrier puppy 3 weeks ago. He is just 12 weeks now. He got cherry eyed the day before yesteday and my wife got some iced water with a sterile gause and put it on the puppy's closed eye a couple of times. She then gave the puppy the circular massage and it worked!!!! We got really happy after feeling soooo bad for the puppy. Bostons rock!!!!!!! Thank you all for the help...
REPLY   1      

Stephanie (Springfield, Mo) on 12/18/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

I came home from work today to see that my 3 year old puggle had a, what I found out was, a cherry eye. This website seemed to know what it was talking about, but I'm always questioning if the stuff you read on websites actually work. It was too late to take her to the vet, so I got a warm cloth and put it over her eye adding a little pressure for about one minute. Sure enough, it was gone! I was shocked it was that easy! Thank you all so much!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY   3      

Briana (Vancouver, Wa) on 03/31/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

Omg thank you so much for this info. We have a chihuahua and she was getting it. We did the eye drops, ice and then massaged twice last night and when we woke up today it was gone!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY         

Corinne (Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey ) on 02/24/2013:
5 out of 5 stars

Thank you thank you!! It worked I just massaged her eye for about 2 minutes and it was gone. I had to wait till she was sleeping because she is a puppy and wouldn't sit still. Thank you so much!!!
REPLY         



Heather (Waltham, Ma) on 11/03/2012:
5 out of 5 stars

THANK YOU THANK YOU!! I have a 8month old malitzu, I noticed he had cherry eye and right away searched the internet. I used one eye drop, iced and rubbed as directed and it worked! Thank you all so much! Still in shock it worked. took only 3 minutes.
REPLY   1      

Joel (Hialeah, Fl) on 05/29/2012:
5 out of 5 stars

I tried rubbing the eyelid toward the nose but the cherry eye was still there just a little hidden. I had a little idea I put my mouth over her eyelid and ever so gently blew a little air into her eye. I mean I had to do it twice cause the first time I hardly put any air in it. I don't mean a whole mouth full. Anyways, the entire cherry eye is gone. I tried so hard to see if it finally went away. It's all gone, no sign she ever even had it. I think she got it when my little sister put the blow dryer toward my dogs face. I hope you guys try it. I saved alot of money trying this out.
REPLY   1      

Esther (Vilseck, Bavaria, Germany) on 04/02/2012:
5 out of 5 stars

Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU! This morning my 5 month old pup woke up with cherry eye and we all had no idea what it was or why it had happened. I called the vet and they said it sounded like "cherry eye" and that I should come in asap as this condition usually requires surgery to fix. I didn't like that, but I did make an appointment. Tooling around the internet led me to this lovely site. I tried this method with my darling little pup and whammo! Perfect! She's as good as new! Okay, almost as good as new. She's a little red around the inner corner of the eye, but I think that's from her scratching at the cherry. I'm so very, very pleased. Next up, apple cider vinegar for the conjunctivitus (sp?). Thank you all!!!!
REPLY   1      

Lily (Baton Rouge, La) on 01/16/2012:
5 out of 5 stars

Thanks so much for this feedback! About a month ago, I was bathing my Shinese puppy and shampoo got in her eye. The result was a inflammation to her tear duct. I took her to the vet, and she was prescribed eye drops. For several weeks, I saw no improvements and eventually took her back to the vet, where I was told she might need eye surgery in the future.

Yesterday, I stumbled upon this website and followed the instructions, hoping to pop the gland back into place. After applying a warm compress and massaging the area for a little while, the cherry eye disappeared -- only to come back immediately. I repeated the process today, and it worked!! She has been playing with other puppies and going about her normal activities, and her eye is completely back to normal. This is absolutely incredible! Thanks for the advice!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY   3      

Beagle-dashound Mix (Atlanta, Ga) on 01/26/2011:
5 out of 5 stars

My dog had cherry eye yesterday - I put in lubricating tear drops, held an ice cube in a baggy on it for about 5 minutes at most and then my husband massaged it for about 3 minutes tops using moderate pressure, pushing in towards the nose - AND IT WORKED! All of the sudden it was just gone!!!! This happened last night and her eye looks totally normal today!!!
REPLY         



Monica (St. George, Utah) on 04/01/2010:
5 out of 5 stars

Thank you for this site and the information of what to do with cherry eye. I tried it on my puppy and it worked. It popped out a few hours later. I did the warm compress and then massaged again, and there hasn't been another problem with it. Everyone else is saying surgery. Thank you for the real remedy! Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

 View Entire Thread

REPLY   3      

Vicki (Mesquite, Tx) on 01/12/2010:
5 out of 5 stars

Hand Manipulation, Ice Packs & Similasan eye drops for Cherry Eye

I have a little male Chihuahua/JRT mix dog that looks like a puggle (blocky head, slightly bug eyes). About 3 years ago, when he was around a year old, I went on a trip and he cried the whole 3 days I was gone. He had a cherry eye when I got back. He also suffers from some sort of allergies and they'd been bothering him also.

I couldn't afford a vet & didn't believe it was necessary anyway, so I thought I'd try to work it back in myself. I had some Simalisan redness relief eye drops, so I put a few drops in his eye, then an ice compress for a few minutes. This shrank it down a bit, so I closed his eye and began working the lid around in a tiny circle, pressing in toward the corner where the "cherry" was. I keep my fingernails really, really short, by the way, not even out to the ends of my fingers. If you have long fingernails, they'd need to clipped off to do this because you have to form a little compress "tool" with your thumb and either your first two or first three fingers held all together, depending on the size of the dog's eye or what will contain the "cherry" in the little space between the ends of your fingers.

After a few minutes I could feel it slightly "pop" back in. I pressed on it for a couple of minutes with my thumb, then I put the ice compress back on for a few more minutes, gave him a weight appropriate dose of benedryl liquid and let him go. I put the drops in again a few more times the next couple of days, and an ice pack on whenever it looked like the eye was getting irritated the rest of his allergy season. It's been 3 years and it hasn't popped out again.

I also changed my dogs' food to one that doesn't have any grains in it, because his granny dog has really bad corn allergies and I figured that might be part of the cause of cherry eye in his case (she itches and looses hair).

REPLY   1      

Violet (St. Pete, Fl) on 09/15/2009:
5 out of 5 stars

Cherry eye is an unsightly swelling and protruding of the tear duct gland in dogs (prolapsed gland). It is most commonly seen in Bulldogs, Boston Terriers and Boxers.

Vets will usually recommend expensive surgery to correct this, but I was able to correct it at home on my own dog.

When my male Boston Terrier got cherry eye I started doing research and was dismayed to find that the surgery has a poor success rate. Even after surgery the cherry eye can come back, and I read so many messages from people who had shelled out hundreds of dollars for more than one surgery. But I came across a non surgucal fix on a bulldog website and I tried it for myself. It was super simple, it was cheap, it look less than 15 minutes, and it worked!

Here are the instructions I somewhat followed from Bullwrinkle.com:

"There are old timers with extensive experience with "Cherry Eye Condition" that recommend an alternative to surgery, especially those breeds that have high surgical risks. The first thing that is done to "treat" this condition is to prescribe an antibiotic ointment, second use warm compresses to the corner of the eye, third is to massage the gland lightly with the index finger applying even gentle pressure in a circular motion. Once the tear duct becomes "unblocked" even if it is out of its normal place it is now of a size that usually can be returned by pulling very gently the outer tissue and "popping" the tear duct back into place. You may have to replace the tear duct several times over a two week period, sometimes I have heard for even a month, but then it does not require surgery, and the dog as a general rule has no more problems with the condition whatsoever. We urge new pet owners to be very careful when attempting to use this technique because you can cause injury to the eyeball if you scratch it when trying to massage the tear duct. Try to find another owner of a bulldog or similar breed to walk you through it the first time to make sure you are doing it correctly. We do urge you to seek veterinarian assistance if the condition worsens or if this technique fails to make an improvement. There are some bulldogs that have an inflamatory disease as well and you may see a worsening of the condition. Inflamatory conditions must be treated with an anti-inflamatory antibiotic drop or ointment."

I made a few changes to the above instructions. I used OTC lubricating eye drops I bought at a pharmacy. They were called Gen Teal. I trimmed my fingernail all the way down. I did the massage and popped the gland back in keeping light pressure on it for about 5 minutes. I repeated the process for the next 2 days but I saw immediate results after the first day. It has been 3 months and we have not had another occurence of cherry eye!

REPLY   6      

Go Back