Dry eye in dogs

hethmar

My poor Ralph on top of his other problems developed dry eye about 18 months ago. Its strange as it comes and goes and we can have no probs for 4 months or more then he is squinting and rubbing his eye. The vet put him on maxitrol and natural tears. We also tried the very expensive gel - Optimmune I think it was and that made it worse! This week he has been on maxitrol - tiny little bottle which has now been used up and the vet gave us some I-lube but tonight his eyes seem worse.

I have trawled and trawled for any help on this - anyone know of anything I could do for him please.

I shall ring the vet tomorrow for more maxitrol and some natural tears but poor little devil I wish I could help him more.

foreign_correspondent

I have no idea Hethmar - I dont suppose bathing them in a bit of tepid salty water would help at all?

hethmar

No FC - its a real problem for him. Seems to get worse in different seasons. We got an air conditioner thing in the main room for him in case it was dust or pollen.

Its so strange as last night I was feeling so worried, one eye was opened to just a slit poor boy and the drops made him worse. This morning, eyes wide open again. Doesnt make sense at all. Im concerned as the vet said it can lead to blindness if the eyes ulcerate so Im constantly looking for more help for him.

Im going back to his RC vet skin support food. I got a big bag of the Origen one - its probably a coincidence but his eyes have got bad over the couple of weeks Ive been feeding that, it may be the skin support food was helping him more than I realised.

pmsl, I only just realised who Ted Hutchinson is

sadie11

What breed of dog is he?
Did the vet do a tear test?
I have a westie with dry eye problem, your vet is correct in the information given it can lead to blindness and most certainly will if not treated. My dogs are fed on Orijen 6 fish and have never looked back since. I have been feeding this for about 1 year now. Which variety of Orijen was you feeding?

foreign_correspondent

its a wierd one isnt it - I did a quick google and it seems to have a whole variety of causes...

Glad his eyes seem better today, it must be a worry for you!

Do ya like the new sig? I think it was intended a a put down, but I thought I would take it as a compliment:D

Much as Ted bangs on (and I think it is fair to say that he does, a fair bit) some new research re: MS suggests he may well be right about the links to vit D deficiency being a causal factor in that disease at least... personally, I think we need people to bang on sometimes!

hethmar

Well fc, Im on the D3 now, so it worked on me Making OH take it too.

Hi sadie, I got the origen only a couple of weeks back and its the fish one too. The Royal Canine skin support is supposed to help as Ralph had skin allergies too- itching a lot, but that did clear up. He had skin tests which showed the only high allergy result was to yeast on his own skin! He is a Parson Russell.

Diggs, my other boy had mange and exzema when we got him 18 months back, plus bald spots from hot spot problems. Even our vet said he didnt think the hair would grow back on some of the bald spots - he is a chunky fur ball now. Took 30 minutes to groom him at the groomers when we first got him, now it takes them 1 hour 40 minutes. Not one bald patch but he still gets a prob with one ear and exzema.

They normally have the Vet skin support, plus a squirt of Kronch oil on their food and Ive recently started adding plaque off as Ralph came from a breeder where I know there were teeth probs (he was due to be pts as he was disabled at birth - adding that, as dont want anyone to think I would buy puppies from breeders )and I notice two upper canines have yellow/brown already and he isnt 4 yet.