Till date, a lot of impenetrable mysteries still surround the nature of the cherry eye ailment. The anatomical analysis of the ailment shows that it’s related to a defective nictitating membrane. The nictitating membrane (also known as the third eyelid), is a connective tissue underlining the lower eyelids of dogs. It is responsible for eye lubrication and the production of the tear film, and also acts as a protective shield against dust and other foreign objects. The third eyelid also comes with a tear gland that supplies the dog’s eye with 35%-50% of the total moisture required, hence it’s a crucial component of the dog’s ocular system.
But when the bond between the fibrous tissues and the eye-globes weaken, the tear glands protrude through the pockets of spaces between the two disentangling parts. This severance allows red tissue masses to spurt across the visible eye sections. The partial eclipse usually covers the visible eye section nearest to the nose. Also, as a natural response to such breakdown of links between connective tissues, tissue hypertrophy ensues, as the nictitating membrane swells, not because of a proliferation of cells, but the bloating of extant cells. This outlay can spread across both eyes, and leaves the affected dogs desperately scratching and pawing away at the affected site. The ailment’s moniker does a very quirky job
…show more content…
But it’s a well-documented fact that cherry eyes can take a hereditary dimension and pass on from one generation to the next. It tends to occur frequently in breeds with compact muzzles. But all dogs at all life stages are susceptible to the ailment. Beyond the genetic factor and the anatomical analysis of the ailment, nothing much is known about its true nature. It’s certain that failure of the connective tissues that enclose the nictitating membranes leads to a protrusion of the tear gland, and this condition most likely holds in breeds with certain genetic