Dry Eye ...is she going blind?? HELPPP
Submitted by beth on August 15, 2012 - 12:30pmHi Everyone.. I am new to this forum and im hoping to seek some help. I know us bully parents are very passionate about our "babies" and i know that you will all provide great tips/advice...
Little background: My Roxie girl is turning 6 years old this coming October.. she has been a great addition to our family and overall has been very heathly. She has the occasional irritation in nose wrinkle and does have alopcea on one flank in which we are giving her melatonin. I do feel a bit guilty bc I had twins a year and half ago which consumed so much of my time. I feel i have not paid close attention to roxies needs as i did in the past. Now that the twins are older i am giving my roxie more attention and more love than ever.
Problem: Back in March i noticed her one eye looked like her red veins in eye was covering the actual brown of her eye. I took her straight to vet thinkin she had a cut across eye. Doc did tests and she did not have a cut so doc suspected dry eye.. doc was unable to check for dry eye that day due to moistening the eye for cut tests.. We came back a week later and her eye did show it was dry. We have since been told to give her drops in her eye twice a day.. WELLLLL miss roxie.. DOES NOT like the drops.. we can barely get them in her eye.. each day its a fight.. i then spoke with vet to bring her at least 3 times a week for tech to put in.. it worked for a week but the reality of having twins, working full time, and bringing her to vet each day or a few days a week is just not feasible.
The past few days, Roxie has been walking into things such as parked cars, and even growling out landmarks (mailbox) that she has seen for the past 6 years. I fear she is losing eye site and things are blurry to her. I am sooo sad inside to think how scared she must feel... how nervous she must be...i am tearing up now just thinking about her feelings......:( :( :(
I called vet today to see if a cream is available vs drops (she will let me rub eye so i figured that would help better)... waiting for call back....
So i guess the reason for my post is...
1. are their natural ways to help dry eye?
2. could blindness/blurred vision occur this quickly?
3. has anyone else experienced this?
4. did anyones bully suffer from damaged or eye loss?
5. is cream available.. if so-is it just as effective as the drops?
6. any information regarding this topic... would be helpful
Thank you soooo much for reading my story and for any info you could offer,
Thanks again.....Beth n Roxie xo
smooches.... roxie and beth
Dry Eye
First I would highly recommend you take her to an Opthamologist. I don't understand what you mean by cut tests for dry eye. There is a simple strip that is used to test for dry eye. they jsut hold it in the eye for a minute and it test the level of moisture. Have never had a vet have to reschedule for it.
The red veins are what heals the eye, it is the blood that goes It sounds like she may have ulcers. Did they run the green eye stain test?
You have to get the drops in her eyes or she will not go blind and/or get infections and quite possibly eye removal. Just think how painful this is for her. Do you have an someone who could help you with the drops? Have you had the techs show you how to get drops in easily by yourself? There are techniques you can use to get it done.
Sometimes if you put a dog up on a counter or table (I use my grooming table) they are easier to do stuff like this with, then on the floor.
Dry eye
My ratfat (6 yrs old) has the same problem. His eyelashes curl in when he blinks which causes constant eye irritation on top of having dry eye. because of this, he constabtly has greeen eye boogers that sometimes get so thick that it covers his whole eye and the poor guy cant see anything. he runs to me and doors and the car all the time. My vet has put him on Cyclosprine (i think thats the spelling) which are an oily eye drop that smells like corn oil. She recommended twice a day for him, but we were able to back off to once a day. He does have a mild case of cataracts tho, and his eyes look foggy or clouded. The vet told us thats just becuse he is getting up there in years, and the eyelash thing.
In the beginning it took some assistance to give him the drops. I had to have my room mate itch his back to keep him still while i did the drops. Then i decided the cheese method. I would feed him tiny peices of cheese while i did the drops, then give him the rest of the cheese once it was all over. after some time he warmed up to it. occasionally i have to wrestle him down, but for the most part he does good because he has figured out it feels better afterwards.
our routine in the morning consists of me wiping his eyes out with a warm papertowel, and then one drop in each eye.
sadly for dry eye, drops are really all there is. the good news is, most the the time the cyclosprine drops help to correct the problem over time. ratfat has seen some significant improvement since we started the drops and like i said, we dont have to do them as often anymore because his eyes arent as dry.
Ratliff and his mom Kael
"Rescues are better than children!"
You need to se a different
You need to se a different vet. That is called ENTROPIA and it is correctable. Your dog WILL eventually go blind if you don't have that corrected.
Mike
No you can have dry eye without
having Entropian. It could be caused from Entropian, but dry eye can happen from a possible cherry surgery performed when she was a puppy. If she is not producing tears you can get ulcers without ever having entropian. It is impairative that the drops are put into the eye. So to say it is Entropian is not correct. Thus the reason I suggested she consult an Opthamologist and not just a vet. When you get serious eye issues a specialsist is needed.
Oops Mike...You are right.. I didn't read the post you were
responding to. My bad. Yes this dog should have surgery. That is so painful and the vet is an idiot for not recommending surgery years ago. Alos Cyclosporine if made with vegtable oil can cause worse problems and be painful. They need to make sure it isn't made with a vegtable oil. I personally think Optimune is a much better option especially when this is so serious and the eye is so compromised. Poor guy.