Dirty eyes

[marieke]

Guus has very dirty eyes every day, especially in the morning. We've had 2 vets looking at it but they both couldn't find anything. Does anybody know what we could do to keep is eyes clean? Right now we keep removing the goo (spelling????) a couple of times a day with soft tissues and boiled water.

 

[bipa]

If the vets have ruled out any infection or other problem, then perhaps it's environmental. Is the dog subjected to lots of dust, smoke or pollen? It could perhaps be a reaction to something in the air, or even a food allergy.

Also, is the air very dry where the dog sleeps? I've noticed that here in Europe not as many folks humidify the air in their homes in the wintertime, leading to more problems with dryness. Not likely, I know, but faintly possible.

 

[k9player]

I know you say the vets couldn't find anything - Did either of them put Guus on a course of eye drops. Infection is the most common cause if there is not a visble foreign object or ingrown eyelash?

 

[k9player]

Also, is it a new problem, or something he has always had? Oh and bipa is right allergy is another common problem. Does Guus have any skin problems. If it is a new problem, have there been any changes recently? Our dogs had a couple of bouts with a contagious conjunctivitis a couple of years ago, and kept reinfecting each other. We needed to go through about four course of eye cream treating all three dogs (even if one looked OK) before it cleared up.

 

[marieke]

Thanks for your help. He's had dirty eyes since we got him as far as I can remember, I think bipa might be right and it's the environment. I just sold my own house and we're currently living in my boyfriends house. But since he's not the dusing and hoovering kind it's very dusty inside. Since I moved in household hygene has improved massively but I cannot seem to get rid of all that dust that gathered over the years. We're having a a brand new house built so we have to hang on for about one more year...

I'm taking him to the vet again this week for a double check. It's not his eye lashed, he ruled that one out. He put some cream on his eyes that helped a few days so maybe he should check for an infection more closely.

 

[k9player]

If some cream improved it before, it is likely there is a component of infection (or maybe the cream had some steroid or antiinflammatory to help with allergy). If there is an infection, it is possible the bug was resistant to the antibiotic in cream and a different antibiotic cream/drops may be needed. The vet should be ale to ook at some of the "goo" from his eyes under the microscope and get an idea whether infection is a problem and an idea of the type of organism involved, He could also see cell that would indicate whether allergy is a major or minor component of the problem, maybe even send a sample away for culture to find out what antibiotic it is sensitive too.

Just be sure not to clean his eyes too thoroughly a few hours before going to the vet so they can see the extent of the problem and get samples.

 

[marieke]

The vet gave me antibiotic cream for his eyes and they are nice and clean now. Must have been an infection or a virus.

 

[marieke]

The infection kept coming back and he wasn't feeling very well in general so the vet gave us antibiotics for three weeks. Already after two days his condition improved a lot. He's running again, happy and his eyes keep clean. The vet wasn't happy about giving such a young dog (9 months) such a heavy antibiotics treatment but he had no alternative.