Along Milky’s Way

Over the years, we have been sterilizing dogs in the industrial estates, hundreds of them, to curb and lower the stray population. Therefore it is unusual for us to find a stray puppy in the area. However, on one of our usual feeding rounds, we saw a puppy with an injured right eye. The puppy could hardly open her right eye and it was tearing uncomfortably. Picture this : a puppy with one eye closed, tears flowing down from her injured eye and she was lying on the road chewing on a stick happily. That scene was so heartbreaking.

Going to the vet

Badly infected eye

We went around the factory to find out more about this abandoned puppy and was happy to know that the workers had been helping to take care of her, feeding her and apply their own eye drops. They said that the puppy just appeared outside their factory a couple of weeks ago. We believe that the puppy was left near the area believing that these factory workers would care for it, the factory workers certainly did not disappoint.

Following Saturday, we went back again to check on the puppy. We spotted her eating by the roadside and noticed that her eye condition has worsened. It was appalling as we realize that she could no longer keep her right eye open. We carried her up carefully and applied eye drops for her, hoping to relieve her of the pain. It allowed her to open her eye for a few seconds and then it got painful and uncomfortable again. We immediately spoke to the workers and informed them that we would take the puppy to the vet on Monday morning.

Eyes too painful to open. Milky is barely 3 months old

She was only about 2.5 months old and we named her Milky. We would like to thank our volunteers Michelle and Jozelle who took the day off on Monday to take Milky to the vet.

Right eye too painful to even open

When the vet saw Milky, she informed us that the puppy needed an immediate operation. It wasn’t just an eye infection as we had thought.  Poor Milky had a condition known as Entropion,  it is a genetic disorder that usually occurs in young puppies that are only a few months old. In some cases, it can also occur later in their lives. Entropion usually affects the lower eyelids more than the upper eyelids and it is commonly found in breeds like Chow Chow, Shar-Pei etc. In Milky’s case, it was her upper eyelid that had turned inwards, causing great pain and discomfort. She was also born with a slightly smaller right eye and with her eye condition left untreated, she would have eventually gone blind from the infection. Perhaps Milky has some Shar-Pei genes in her.

This poor cute little puppy will have to go back to the factory soon, when her eye is fully recovered. ADOPT HER?

The vet cleaned her eyes as it was so severely infected. The discharge was causing her eyes to be glued together. Subsequently, we applied eye drops to clean up the discharge so that her eyes could open.

The vet also checked her eye pupil's response to light and assured us her vision would not be affected after surgery and if it heals well. A scope was also used to check her eye cornea to ensure that it was not damaged. The puppy was also found with ticks and fleas so we wiped her clean and applied some Frontline on her.

Cleaning Milky

Milky will undergo the eye surgery the following day, basically a plastic surgery to cut a slit in her eyelid and flip it outwards. Because she is only 2.5 months old, she will not go under general anesthesia and instead be put on light sedation. The surgery will cost a total of $500, excluding the few days stay at the vet, and she would need to be in a clean environment for the coming two weeks.

Thankfully, we managed to find a foster for these two weeks. However if after two weeks, no one comes forth to adopt Milky, she will be returned to the factory and when she turns 5 months old, we will then contact the factory workers to catch her for sterilization. 

If you wish to adopt Milky, please do contact us at hopedogrescue@singnet.com.sg. Milky will be more than happy to have a home. Please email us if you wish to help with her vet bills as well. Thank you.