My keeper puppy, now 5 months old, has entropion. I did not see it until a week or so ago when she was tearing. I understand it takes surgery to correct it. Is the surgery costly & what is the recovery like? I will call around for prices & etc on Monday. Do you think the surgery can only be done by a specialist or could my regular vet do it?

It does take surgery to correct, but sometimes, it will correct itself as the pup grows. Depends how bad it is. It is an easy fix and the pup will have a great life as a pet. You can no longer show a dog who has had this surgery and you should not breed it either. Heartbreaking. But, this can be a heartbreaking hobby.

Before going for surgical repair, try tacking the lid for 2-3 weeks. Sometimes this will keep the eye more comfortable allowing the head some time to grow, and the condition will resolve. If the problem continues after the tacks are removed, surgery may be necessary. As said above, the dog shouldn't be shown after full entropion surgery, but tacking isn't considered to be a permanent surgical procedure and won't prevent you from showing your pup. Good luck with your baby.

We had 4 entropian pups in 2 litters awhile back. 3 of the 4 pups were show picks naturally. 2 of the 4 pups entropian didn't show up until they were around 5 months old but they did require surgery in the end. My 2 pick girls had it pretty bad on both upper and lower lids so I chose to have my cerf vet perform his handy work on our 2 girls and the brother to the 2 girls already in a pet home took him to my cerf dr to get his lower lids done. Each dog cost $1000.00 each give or take $50.00.

If the surgery isn't done, it causes great pain in the dog and damages their cornea after awhile. Most vets don't have the experience to fix bad cases of entropian, at least not in our area. The regular vets refer out to specialists anyway.

Good luck with your little girl's surgery.

And did you place all these "show picks" (wow 4 in a litter!) after the surgery was done?

Why such an arrogant reply to a person who obviously was devastated by what happened to the puppies?

I have realized in the past several years, that several Breeders have had Entropian repairs done on their dogs,and chose to keep that secret, as luck would have it , most of the affected puppies are the nicest in the litter. So Breeders have these puppies repaired, keep them, show them, are successful in the ring with them. Then they breed from them. You will always have affected puppies from these dogs with repaired Entropians ! When you stand a stud dog with an Entropian repair , he will produce affected puppies in his litters, just about every time, as will a bitch. [yes, I know someone will now come on here with the exception], we will hear the "lets look at the big picture" scenario , BUT how many puppies can YOU afford to repair , or how much damage can YOUR reputation withstand when your pet people get stuck paying for the repair. So , talk to an ACVO vet and learn the mode of inheritance, and you will then be able to make an educated decision , and do the right thing. These affected Labradors are now pets, repair them, spay/neuter them, and place them in loving pet homes, and MOVE ON !

Of course all 4 pups from my 2 litters were sold and later neutered or spayed. Why would I want to perpetuate entropian. Sure it's an easy enough fix but I don't want to have to pay $1000.00 surgery per pup when it pops up in each litter. It's not fair for families or persons who adopt puppies with entropian to pay for surgery. I would be afraid for the entropian pups who went to companion homes and the families didn't want to spend the money or didn't have the money to fix it's eyes so it could live a comfortable life, not in pain. They have already paid a nice sum for what they thought was a healthy puppy so why would they want to pay an additional $1000.00 to fix their new pup's eyes ? Sure, it some times doesn't show up till the pup is a little older but that is no reason for breeders to shrug off their responsibility to stand behind the pups they put out in the world.

>>>> Sure, it some times doesn't show up till the pup is a little older but that is no reason for breeders to shrug off their responsibility to stand behind the pups they put out in the world.<<<<


Which might also be another reason to stop standing 7 and 8 month old Baby boys at stud.

We found a vet at a clinic near us that did the surgery on both eyes and spay for $250. Its not a difficult surgery.

NEVER HAVE TRUER WORDS BEEN SPOKEN!!!!!

In our entropian case., we used 2 different champions on our 2 girls I bred at the same time..days apart. There was never a history of entropian in my lines. These champion boys were older, owned by other breeders. Who knows why it happened the way it did.

I have seen quite a bit of entropion develop in that age group... what many describe as the "pin head" group.

From what I've seen (a couple of service dog organizations- mostly labs/goldens/GDS's, and local breeders of various breeds), the condition can often self-correct as the skull broadens and takes up some of the "slack" or loose skin around the puppies' heads. This isn't always the case, but it would definitely be worth a shorter anesthesia and quick easy procedure to put in a couple of little tacking sutures to pull the haired skin of the lid away from the corneal surface (for comfort) while waiting for that head to mature and broaden a bit. Entropion surgery may never need to be done- it can be a transient problem (ie- not permanent, only happening during certain stages of growth).

JMHO, of course.