08/31/2026
Chloe’s Medical Update from our friends at Lucky Penny Rescue Network as I certainly couldn't track and describe all this information so well.
"Chloe was back at the vet this week for her recheck, and it’s safe to say she stole everyone’s hearts. She trotted into the waiting room as if this was a perfectly normal activity for her. No one would have known that just 2 weeks ago the same activity caused her to cower and be afraid. Chloe wagged her tail at every single person in there, and tried to make friends with anyone who glanced her way. While some of the other pet owners were nervous of her because of her hair loss, Chloe’s smile and personality quickly won them over.
Her re-check was a bit of a mixed bag, so let’s break it down between the good and not-so-good news.
First, the good news 🎉
Chloe has put on 4lbs since her last appointment. While she wasn’t skinny upon release from the shelter, that kind of rapid weight gain when only eating normal regular meals suggests her body was in need of nutrition and we’re delighted she’s getting it.
Chloe’s skin has dramatically improved too: it’s calmer, healthier, and a soft light-pink instead of the angry red she arrived with.
Her paws are no longer swollen and look a lot less painful (the incredible clinic staff even managed to trim her nails!) and for the first time, Chloe’s bad eye was open enough for our vet to finally get a clear look at what we’re dealing with.
And that’s where we start with the not so good news.
Sadly, Chloe’s eye issues are chronic and more severe than we had hoped. She has a condition called Entropion which means her eye lid rolls into her eye, causing her eye lashes to rub against the globe of her eye and do damage. Sadly, that repetitive rubbing of lashes against her eye has resulted in a very large and deep ulcer which is essentially covering the entire lower portion of her eye.
We also saw signs of possible scarring in Chloe’s eye from older injuries. This is the kind of consequence that comes from repeated injury over time - because Chloe is still under a year old, it’s possible she has had a painful eye for most of her life.
There is a surgery to tack her eyelid back up, but that surgery only makes sense if Chloe’s eye is salvageable. Sadly, based on the damage we’ve seen, we are uncertain whether her eye has any function left. In which case, removing her eye is the kinder option.
Chloe left her appointment with her own mini-pharmacy of meds. She is now on 4 different eye medications, three times a day. We added meds and swapped out others to see if we can get the ulcer to respond. Chloe is also on 4 oral medications, twice a day. Some of those are internal antibiotics to reinforce the topical treatments combined with really good pain relief. Eye ulcers are incredibly painful and the thought that Chloe has been dealing with this pain her whole life is heartbreaking - getting her comfortable is our top priority.
The next two weeks are critical for Chloe’s eye. We’ll be watching closely to see whether her eye responds to treatment or whether we may have to make the difficult decision to remove it. While dogs do great with one eye, Chloe is a young dog and if we can get that ulcer to respond to meds and save her eye we would be delighted.
While at the vet clinic we also re‑ran her SNAP test and confirmed that Chloe is indeed heartworm positive. However, we also learned she has Ehrlichia, a form of tick fever. The silver lining is that the antibiotic she’s already taking for heartworm has been quietly treating the Ehrlichia as well, so no extra medications are needed.
Chloe has every reason to be withdrawn, grumpy, or fearful. She’s got a sore eye, has heartworm and Erlichia and has substantial hair loss - it’s safe to say she doesn’t feel great and has been let down by people at some point. Instead, Chloe wagged her tail through the entire appointment, soaked up every bit of affection the clinic staff offered, and trotted out of the building as if she’d just been given a clean bill of health. She is a very happy dog.
We don’t know what the next two weeks will bring for Chloe’s eye - the damage is more substantial than we initially thought and we know we’re approaching a point where we have to either see progress in her eye or remove it. Our goal is to ensure that Chloe is out of pain and that this wonderful happy young dog will be able to have a long comfortable life without recurrent ulcers or eye infections.
Please send all your good thoughts her way."
