I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye : 9 Menacing Facts

It is possible to accidentally poke a dog’s eye while interacting with it. That can in turn lead to a great deal of worry, as you try to figure out what is likely to happen next, what the likely complications are, how long it may take to heal and what you need to do next. This article has the answers.

I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, what is likely to happen? The dog may experience pain, there may be swelling, squinting and perhaps some sort of discharge. In some cases, there may be infection and inflammation. At worst it may lead to loss of eyesight.

Thus the resultant dog eye injury will depend on how badly you poked it. For instance, a dog poked in eye with a blunt object may suffer a different sort of harm from another one that was poked with a sharp object.

Thankfully, eye injuries in dogs tend to heal fast. That is unless there are factors hindering dog eye injury recovery, such as festering infections.

In most cases though, you will normally find the dog poked in eye swollen, squinting, showing signs of pain and perhaps having a discharge.

Where use of medications is necessary, antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs tend to be useful. These work well, alongside pain relieving medications, wherever you have a dog eye poked.

What Happens When A Dog Gets Poked In The Eye?

Upon realizing that I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, one of the key things I would want to know is what usually happens in such cases.

So, in other words, I would be wondering, what happens if I accidentally poked my dog’s eye?

Now at the most basic level, what happens if you poke your dog’s eye is that the eye incurs an injury. The injury may be in the form of an abrasion, a scratch or a cut.

Because of the injury, the dog will typically experience some pain.

And because of the pain, there may be squinting. This happens as the dog reflexively refocuses the eye in question, in a subconscious bid to ‘protect’ it.

Thus if I accidentally poked my dog’s eye and now he’s squinting, that would be the reason for it. Normally, it is a case of the dog squinting one eye.

Besides pain, there may be some swelling.

And the poked eye may have some sort of discharge. Normally, this will be a watery discharge. But if the injury is particularly bad, and an infection takes root, the discharge may become thicker, and with a color such as green or grayish.

Further, there may be some reddening in the eye in question. Again, if the injury is bad, and there is inflammation, the reddening may really become conspicuous.

At best, the dog may experience discomfort for a few days, before reverting to its normal joyful self.

But if you poked dog eye really bad, it may take longer before the dog overcomes the discomfort and reverts to its normal joyful self.

In the worst case scenario, the whole thing can lead to partial or complete loss of eyesight.

Does It Hurt Dogs To Get Poked In The Eye?

Yes, it hurts dogs to get poked in the eye.

In fact, if I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, one of my biggest worries would be about the pain the dog has to endure.

You have to remember that the eye is a very sensitive part of the dog. Even the slightest injury there can cause a great deal of pain.

One may ask, why do dogs not seem to mind an accidental eye poke? And the answer is that they do mind such accidental eye pokes. It is just that they seem to have no proper way of expressing the discomfort.

But you should never intentionally poke your dog in the eye, under the impression that “he doesn’t mind it”.

Even where you accidentally hit dog in eye, you should be mindful of the pain that the dog probably has to endure.

Besides the pain, when you poke a dog in the eye, you put it at risk of infections.

Even where infections don’t actually take place, there may be a lot of general discomfort that the dog has to put up with for a while.

All in all, it does hurt dogs to get poked in the eye.

I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye – What Is Likely To Follow?

If I poked my dog in the eye, my biggest concern would be on the likely consequences.

And that is what would lead to this question: I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, what is likely to follow?

And the answer is that there are 5 things that are likely to follow, if you accidentally poke your dog’s eye.

Firstly, the dog will most likely experience pain. Sometimes, this may be excruciating pain, especially if the eye’s inner parts are hurt.

Secondly, the dog may experience swelling. Such swelling is very common. Very frequently, you hear someone complaining “my dog got hit in the eye and it is swollen”. So this is something that usually happens when there are eye injuries in dogs.

Thirdly, the dog may have some sort of discharge from the eye. This is very common if you accidentally hit dog in eye.

Fourthly, the dog may squint. This would be happening as the dog tries to reflexively ‘protect’ the hurt eye.

And fifthly, the dog may develop an infection. Frankly, if I accidentally poked eye of dog, this would be my biggest worry. Of course, not all cases of dog eye injuries lead to infections.

But some of those that do turn out to be quite nasty. Sometimes the infections may lead to eye loss. Or the bacteria may enter the bloodstream, leading to systemic infections that can actually kill the dog.

In the final analysis, if I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, those would be the possible consequences to watch out for.

Actually even if I accidentally poked cat in eye, those would still be the possible consequences to watch out for.

How Do I Know If My Dog’s Eye Injury Is Serious?

In a case where I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, one of my biggest concerns would be on whether the resultant injury is serious.

And that is what would lead to this question, on how to tell if a dog’s eye injury is serious.

Now there are three ways in which you can tell if the dog’s eye injury is serious.

First is by considering the force and nature of the object of injury infliction. Take, for instance, a case where a dog got hit in eye with tennis ball at full speed. That would surely be more serious than another case where the dog just brushes its eye against an elbow.

Or consider another case where someone says, my husband accidentally poked my dog in the eye with his toe. That would be less serious than a case where the dog’s eye is due to poking with a screwdriver.

The second way to tell if a dog’s eye injury is serious is by looking at the region of the eye it affects. Usually, an injury to the external parts – like the eyelids and the conjunctiva – comes across as less serious than one to the inner parts (like the cornea and sclera).

And the third way to tell if a dog’s eye injury is serious is by looking at its effects. Suppose, for instance, it leads to bleeding, excessive redness, thick discharge or very bad swelling. Then it would be very serious.

To objectively assess eye injury seriousness, vets use objective methods – such as the fluorescein dye test.

All in all, even if I accidentally poked my cat in the eye, and I was trying to assess how serious the injury is, this is the approach I would use.

I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye – What Would Be The Possible Complications?

One of the worst complications may be loss of eyesight. This may be partial or complete loss of eyesight. Sometimes, this may be directly attributable to the trauma. Thus injury to the components of the eye can cause loss of eyesight.

Looking through typical dog eye injury pictures, you see that some of the injuries are really bad. They are bad enough to directly result in loss of eyesight.

Alternatively, the loss of eyesight can be due to inflammation or injury that is as a result of the injury.

If I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, this would be one of the worst fears.

Another complication that may arise due to the dog eye injury is that of systemic infections. So the bacteria that come from the eye injury get into the bloodstream, leading to a body-wide infection.

This is a possibility where there are very bad eye injuries. Even in relatively minor injuries, but in dogs with immunity problems, this can be a possibility.

Another possible complication is psychological in nature: where the dog may become very fearful going forward. Again, if my dog hit his eye very badly while playing, this would be one of my major fears.

All in all, in terms of possible complications, that is what happens if a dog gets hit in the eye.

Will A Dog’s Scratched Eye Heal On Its Own?

It is possible for a dog’s eye that has a scratch to heal on its own. If the scratch is minor and if the dog’s immunity is good, then this is a very real possibility.

Indeed, if I accidentally poked my dog’s eye, and the scratch doesn’t look very big, I would at times allow it time to heal naturally.

And when people pose the question, I think my dog’s scratched his eye – what should I do, one of the advices they are sometimes given is to simply wait for natural healing.

But there are cases where it is not ideal to wait for this sort of natural healing. Suppose, for instance, my dog hit his eye and it’s swollen massively. There, I wouldn’t wait for natural healing.

Generally, where the scratch is very nasty, it is best to get the dog some sort of treatment.

Even the most rudimentary dog eye injury home treatment is often better than nothing.

The ability for eyes (and other parts) to heal on their own seems to be better in the younger dogs.

Thus, for instance, if I accidentally poked puppy in eye, I would have more hope on it healing by itself. That is more hope than if it was a senior dog (in age).

I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye – What To Do?

Upon realizing that you have accidentally poked your dog’s eye, the key question at the back of your mind will likely be on what to do next.

So, what do you do if you accidentally poke a dog’s eye?

In practical terms, what to do if you accidentally poke your dog’s eye depends on how bad the injury is.

So the whole thing is similar to asking, my dog has something in his eye what should I do? And the answer is that it will always depend on what the ‘thing’ in question seems to be. And how bad it seems to be.

So that is also the approach we take, in answering the what do you do if your dog gets poked in the eye question.

Ultimately, there are three things you can do.

Firstly, you can opt to just monitor the dog, while waiting for the injury to heal by itself. Such healing does sometimes happen, as per our earlier observations.

(Thus it is similar to if there was turning of tables, and it was a case where dog poked my eye with nose.

Secondly, you can opt to give the dog some home treatment. For instance, you apply (dog) non-steroidal eye-drops that you may have.

Or you apply a cone (e-collar), to keep the dog from scratching the eye and messing it up. Then you wait for healing to take place naturally.

Thirdly, you can opt to take the dog to the vet. If the injury is particularly bad, there is no point in waiting for it to worsen. It is best to take the dog to the vet straightaway. Like if the injury is leading to actual bleeding, it may be best to head to the vet immediately.

Choosing The Best Course Of Action

The best course of action depends on the nature of injury. Suppose, for instance, I accidentally poked my dog in his right eye last night, and the injury was only on the eyelids. In that case, all that may be necessary is to monitor the dog at home.

But suppose the dog is accidentally poked with a screwdriver, leading to a visible hole and lots of bleeding. In the latter case, urgent veterinary treatment would be necessary.

Vets usually treat these sorts of injuries using pain relief medications, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. Where necessary, repair procedures (such as suturing) may be useful. That is for instance in very bad eyelid injuries.

In choosing the best course of action, much also depends on the level of panic you are experiencing, and perhaps even your sense of guilt.

The injury may be relatively minor, in objective terms. But if you are in too much of a panic or if you are feeling too much guilt, you can still talk to your vet about it.

At times, the ‘panic’ or ‘guilt’ may be your instincts alerting you about potentially serious dog eye injuries. Those, for now, may be appearing minor, but with potential to worsen later…

I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye – How Long Will It Take To Heal?

How long the dog eye injury takes to heal depends on several factors.

Firstly, it depends on how bad the injury itself is.

Secondly, it depends on the overall state of the dog’s health: for instance, how good its immunity is.

And thirdly, it depends on any interventions you employ.

All in all, there are some minor dog eye injuries that heal in 2-3 days. Minor abrasions are in that category.

Then there are some big dog eye injuries that can take more than a week to heal. For instance, if a dog is poked in the eye with a very sharp object, to the extent of bleeding profusely, the resultant injury may take more than a week to heal.

Ultimately though, eye injuries tend to heal fast. Most dog eye damage cases are clear in between 2 and 7 days.

Final Verdict – I Accidentally Poked My Dog’s Eye

If you accidentally poked your dog’s eye, there may be pain, swelling, some sort of discharge, squinting and redness. There are cases that can lead to inflammations and infections.

In the worst case scenario, accidentally poking a dog in the eye can lead to partial or complete eyesight loss.

Minor dog eye injuries may heal by themselves. But there are serious ones that require veterinary treatment.

Veterinary treatment may be through medications such as pain relief drugs, anti-inflammatories and antibiotics. There are also cases where the necessary treatment is in the form of procedures, whose aim is that of repairing the injuries directly.

As a pet lover, make sure to learn about pet more and give your pet dog a good and comfortable life!

Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️