Chocolate lab

This is my beautiful dog, Sammi. She is a chocolate lab and she is 10 years old, most of which she has been a member of my family. Within the last 2 years, she has developed a growth on her right eye. It started out looking like a sty, so we weren’t very concerned about it, but it continued to grow until it covered nearly half of her eye. We took her to the vet and found out that it’s actually a clogged pore in the eyelid that results in an overproduction of cells. The vet also informed us that most chocolate labs develop one of these when they are older. It’s in their genes. In fact, Labradors that are intended on being bred are required to be approved by a veterinary ophthalmologist for an eye score. Other than hot compresses, there isn’t much that we can do. Sammi is constantly trying to clean it by licking her paw and rubbing her eye. It fluctuates in size weekly. If we were to get the topical growth removed, it would only grow back. If they surgically remove the actual pore, they would have to put her under. Since she is so old, she probably wouldn’t survive the surgery. Luckily, we have found a way to care for it so that it stays small enough as not to obstruct her vision in any way. There she is, in the picture, asleep on my bed just happy as a clam. With her eyes closed, the growth is nearly invisible. Labs can also suffer from joint problems. In the past month, Sammi’s joints have been very sensitive. Some days, she will have trouble standing up and will walk with a limp, but most days she’s fine. Once again, it’s in her genes and there isn’t much we can do.