Cholesterol Build-up In Dogs Eyes?

sassybird

Hi

We are looking to rescue a GSD !!!!! from a dog rescue centre. She is 2-3 years old. We are going to visit her on Saturday. She looks a cutie and is listed as having a beautiful temperament. She was not well looked after in her previous home, tied up outside and ignored and was fed the human food scraps. She has been in the kennels since Feb 08. We have been told over the phone that she has absolutely no physical problems at all but has got a slight 'cholesterol build-up in her eyes' due to her poor diet when she was younger.

However, when I have done an on-line search on wikipedia it has come up with Corneal Dystrophy for this condition which sounds pretty scary. Apparently it is quite common in some breeds, the German Shepherd being just one of them.

The rescue centre say they have a letter from their vet stating that the problem with her eyes does not cause her any visionary problems and that she will not end up being blind. I am assuming that this would be for insurance purposes.

Does anybody have any experience of this condition? I'm in a quandry with this one as I don't want to get emotionally tied up with a dog who will need vast vet visits and treatment costs which probably won't be covered by any insurance as it will be a 'pre-existing condition'.

Any advice gratefully received.

pamelab21

Hi

I have a 6 year old Lhasa Apso and we noticed on her eyes she had developed what we though was some kind of graze on both her eyeballs. It coincided with her booster so we asked the vet to check it when we were there, she did so and advised it was a fatty deposit, it can be common and advised it was not causing our dog any pain or discomfort and her eyesight was not affected.
She put a green dye into the eye and this helped her ID that this was the issue. Said that they should not get any bigger (they are fairly small)
She has had these for about 3 years now and they have not changed or got any bigger, she has a healthy diet and has plenty of walks etc, not overweight at all.
I cannot help on the insurance factor though as we do not have her insured (we do have saving though that would help us if she needed anything).
Hope this helps a little. Looking at google for Corneal Dystrophy it seems to be what our vet described.

sassybird

Many thanks for your reply. It sounds like the same condition. The rescue centre said it was a build up of fatty deposits etc. I spoke to the rescue center lady again today to clarify this point and she said that the condition that this GSD has will not get any worse and her eyesight will not be affected. She is now on a healthy diet.

It puts my mind at rest a little as to the fact that I won't be living at the vets with her.

We are going to meet her Saturday morning and as long as her temperament is good we will be looking at taking her home the weekend after.

It's a good few years since we had dogs. We are looking forward to giving her a good loving home. I am a little nervous as we have always had dogs from pups before, but thought that rescuing an older dog would be much fairer as there are so many of them out there. We will have to start with the house training first (as she has been an outside dog and has been in kennels for months), I am going to research about clicker training etc to help her along with any training we do.

Many thanks once again for your good advice - it's certainly helped. :T

foreign_correspondent

good on you for considering a rescue dog!!

You say she has been an outdoor dog, so there is a possibility she may not be housetrained (although of course she may well be) - most older dogs can still learn this quickly, if a bit of intensive work is put in for the first few days - but it is worth asking the rescue about, just so you are prepared.

I think older dogs are actually much easier to train in many ways - I think its a bit like negotiating with a sensible adult, rather than trying to communicate with a squirming four year old with the attention span of a gnat!

sassybird

Well, we have now been the owners of Sadie for just over 1 week. She is a dream of a dog. No problem with house training at all - just one accident on the first day, but after that she has been brilliant. Her coat has really improved in just the one week she has been here and I can definitely recommend a kong for keeping dogs occupied whilst they are alone in the house!! Stuff the kong with a bit of her normal food, kong paste, dog bicis and more paste with a bici sticking out of the bottom, freeze it overnight and give to doggie when they are to be left alone. God, it keeps them occupied for hours!!

Sadie is a true softie, but she doesn't have an over-fondness for other pooches. She is fine until they growl and then she can go ballistic (a bit embarrassing in the Park). She actually pulled me over last week and I am no lightweight.

We are starting dog obedience training with her next Monday - so hopefully that will help smooth out any rough experiences she may have had (I think she may have been in a bad fight whilst in the kennels).

Glad we did it - still got concerns for her eyes - but hey, you don't get a guarantee with anything do you? If it comes to the worst we will make sure she has the best life we can give her.

Can't wait to get her down to our caravan next season (March - Oct 2009) for a good run on the beach - happy days.. .. ..

foreign_correspondent

cool - maybe MrsTine could ofer you some advice - she is working on the behaviour around other dogs with her GSD x and might have some good ideas!
She sounds like a lovely dog, can we see piccies??