Sudden Onset Of An Eye Problem

[Guest happygrey]

In the last 24-36 hrs Tatam has had an eye issue crop up out of nowhere. Seriously, on Tuesday he had no discernible symptoms. Yesterday morning he began constantly squinting his eyes, which, when it first appeared, seemed sort of cute; but in fact, it seems he doesn't want to open them up at all! When he does open them a bit they seem very red around the white part. And I'm not quite sure, but they may be a little swollen. I tried to see if they were cloudy, but I can't get him to keep his eyes open long enough to tell. There is not any significant discharge coming from either eye. He also seems a little more lethargic than usual, but his demeanor toward us is still gentle and loving, he's not snappy or short. Yesterday, he seemed to be rubbing his eye a bit on our legs, and on his bed, not excessively, but I'd never seen him do it before so it did seem a bit unusual. But he doesn't seem to be doing that today.

 

We have an appt. to see his vet today at 2pm. Does anyone have any idea what this could be?

 

I'm incredibly nervous that we're going to be told something is very wrong with him.

Edited April 1, 2010 by happygrey

[Guest mountain4greys]

Is there any redness involved?

[Guest Energy11]

Could be Pannus. Could be allergies, especially with the rapid onset of these high temps.

 

Hoping for something minor! Sending good thoughts!.

[Guest happygrey]

Is there any redness involved?

 

Sometimes the inner corner of his eye and the white part of it along the bottom look very red, but honestly, he's not keeping his eyes open very much to even tell. I need to call him or clap to get him to open his eyes. Even standing up he's keeping them closed.

 

And he's started rubbing them on our legs again.

 

I did think of allergies, but we've had a TON of rain here (it just stopped yesterday morning) which I would have thought would have cleared the air of pollen.

 

What's weird is that there is not any real discharge from his eyes.

[sweetdogs]

Could be a number of things, many very treatable. Pannus came to mind as did a scratched cornea. Very painful & would make him not want to open his eye. Good you're going to the vet today. Might be a good idea to look up a veterinary opthamologist in your area just in case.

[Guest mountain4greys]

The opthamologist is a great idea. When my dog started squinting, I first thought I had just woke her up, but later in the day, her eyes just kept getting redder. After my meet and greet, I took her to the emergency vet, who said she had a scratched cornea. But a few weeks later, things weren't better, and by then I was sure it was Pannus, so off to the eye vet we went. Pannus it was.

 

You want to find out as fast as you can, because if it's Pannus, you want to get treatment quickly so it doesn't get worse.

 

Please let us know.

[Guest happygrey]

Could be a number of things, many very treatable. Pannus came to mind as did a scratched cornea. Very painful & would make him not want to open his eye. Good you're going to the vet today. Might be a good idea to look up a veterinary opthamologist in your area just in case.

 

Thanks. Worrywart that I am, I've already done that. If any MA/NH people here know of a good vet ophthalmologist in the Boston area or Seacoast NH, I am all ears.

 

I can't wait for it to be 2:00. I want to get this treated ASAP.

[SPDoggie]

We met an ophthalmologist at the Emergency Referral Vet Hospital in Woburn... am blanking on her name at the moment... Marion something? Your vet should be able to recommend one close to you, as I think they are more prevalent that you might think.

 

Bets of luck to you and Tatam

[Guest MyBoys]

I just went through this with our youngest boy, he was fine one day and got up the next day and would not open his eyes, like you described squinting or just keeping them shut. I called my vet and took him in right away because of course I was in a panic. Turned out to be just an eye infection which she said could have been from allergies, he got 2 different eye drops and some pain meds because she said it was probably causing him discomfort. It took about 3 days of the drops and he was opening his eyes almost normal, I used the drops for a full week as instructed and it cleared up completly. So don't panic but get him to the vet to be looked at, I was so glad I took him right away. My vet did test him for a scratched cornea.

Edited April 1, 2010 by MyBoys

[Guest happygrey]

The vet said that he has uveitis. She tested his cornea with some sort of dye to see if it was scratched and it was fine. However, his pupils were abnormally small (apparently an indicator of pain ) and his intraocular pressure was way below normal. Apparently this indicated a lot inflammation. He's taking prednisolone acetate drops 2x a day and he has to go back next Friday to be rechecked.

[sweetdogs]

I hope the drops help Tatum. I looked it up (uveitis linky). Did the vet suggest an opthalmic consult?

[Guest happygrey]

I hope the drops help Tatum. I looked it up (uveitis linky). Did the vet suggest an opthalmic consult?

 

Thanks, Sweetdogs. No, she didn't suggest it. I've been trying not to second guess her after playing "internet DVM" but I'm not real happy with a couple of things:

 

-she didn't give him any drops for the pain, and they are clearly bothering him, in fact this morning I think they are worse, he's now really bothered by the sun in his eyes -- and from what I can read that's SOP for treating this. This condition is supposed to be quite painful.

 

-she didn't run any blood tests to try and figure out what is the cause, the only thing she immediately thought of, and checked for was lymphoma but she said she didn't feel any enlarged lymph nodes around his neck or chest. I get that many of these cases are idiopathic, but is it a good idea to assume that right from the start? Maybe she's not, and she's planning on putting him through a lot of tests when we go back...but if so, she didn't mention it.

 

My husband and I are watching him closely, and if I don't start to see some improvement SOON we will take him to an ophthalmologist before going back to her.

 

[sweetdogs]

Yep, I'd make an appt at the opthamologist now - there may be a wait for an appt & you can always cancel if things improve. I'm not a specialist-runner-to but I won't fool around with eyes.

 

(I'd call your vet first to mention your concerns - maybe there's a darn good reason & she can ease your mind.)

[TheFullHouse]

Have you tried giving him some Benadryl? If it's allergies, that should help. My Andy had seasonal allergies and his eyes would turn red and he would squint in the sunlight. You could at least rule out allergies by trying the Benadryl.

[Guest happygrey]

Thanks for the suggestion, I haven't tried the Benadryl but I don't really think it's allergies.

 

We were able to see an ophthalmologist earlier today (at the Emergency Referral Vet Hospital in Woburn) and she sent our regular vet a list of tests she thought he should have. She put him through a battery of eye tests and said that his eyes were very inflamed. She told me she thought that the uveitis was being caused by a tick-borne disease or a tumor somewhere in his body. We are now routing for him to have a tick illness. (Never thought I'd hear myself say that!) So tomorrow he'll go back to the regular vet and have a bunch of tests done. Hopefully that will provide us with some answers.

 

She also prescribed us some drops that will help to dilate his pupil and make this less painful for him.

 

The poor guy, I feel absolutely awful for him. After all he's been through and now this. It's clear he's very uncomfortable but he's still as good as gold. He's always been pretty velcro but now he needs to be with one of us at all times. I do think that the pets and attention we are lavishing on him make him feel better.

 

I guess we'll know a little more tomorrow.

[DevilDog]

I had a similar problem with Roscoe recently. Here's a link to my thread

 

Roscoe

 

His eye issue morphed into a severe inflammation in his neck, which possibly causes his uveitis.. at least it should give you a little info as to what course of actions we took, etc.

Edited April 2, 2010 by DevilDog

[Guest MyBoys]

How is Tatam doing???????

[Guest happygrey]

We are awaiting the test results from the tick tests that he had done over the weekend. He also had urinalysis and a lot of other blood work done. I am hopeful that these will reveal something we can treat effectively. Otherwise he will need chest x-rays and possibly an abdominal ultrasound to look for a tumor somewhere.

 

Since seeing the ophthalmologist (who doubled the dose of his pred. acetate and gave us some drops for the pain) his eyes are looking a lot better today. Still not totally normal and his left is worse than his right, but much, much better. His mood seems a bit more peppy, too.

 

It's also likely that I am going to change vets. I'm not happy with this office and they are very, very expensive. They are also not that local and it's a pain to drive 20-30 mins just to get to their office. If I really liked them, I'd be happy to do it. But I have not been impressed so far.

 

Anyway, thanks for asking, Myboys.

 

Devildog, thanks for the link. That was very good info. Glad Roscoe is so much better now.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Weird coincidence, my dad actually has uveitis at the moment. His doctor prescribed eye drops and an eye ointment that contain antibiotics and a steroid (for the inflammation). Possible causes are anything from cancer to infection, but the doctor said they often don't find the cause of the uveitis, despite testing. Dad's eye is doing a lot better. I hope Tatam feels better soon.

 

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

Edited April 5, 2010 by LindsaySF

[Guest happygrey]

Well, we got some good news today. All of the tests were negative. We did ask for her to send us the copies of them so I can look at them myself and maybe cross reference them with Dr. Suzanne Stack's website.

 

The only thing is that he wasn't tested for Babesia. Our regular vet said that if he had Babeiosis his platelets would be low and something else in his bloodwork would be off. Does that make sense to anyone with experience with Babesia? The tick panel she ran was for Lyme, Erlichia and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

 

The regular vet suggested that we hold off on the chest x-rays and ab. ultrasound until she rechecks his eye pressure this Friday. She said that the blood tests she ran definitely would have shown the presence of some cancers. So I am very hopeful that his case is truly "cause unknown" and we won't need to do any other testing.

 

I'm so happy about this news! We were pretty devastated when we learned that this could be a sign of a serious illness or a cancer.

 

Yay!

 

ETA: Lindsay, I sure hope your dad is feeling better very soon!

Edited April 5, 2010 by happygrey

[Guest LindsaySF]

Glad to hear it! I hope they don't find anything, a mystery might be ok this time.

[Guest Gretchen]

Here is a great link for everyone

 

http://www.acvo.com/

 

I work for a veterinary ophthalmologist. People are always calling to find one in there area and this is where I tell them to go.

 

I hope your grey starts to feel better.

[EllenEveBaz]

Keeping paws crossed for your boy.

[Guest sorenkkg]

I found this thread too-- Aleeya just got back from 4hrs at the e-vet... they think it's uveitis, or something-- but her IOP is high, not low. Weird eh? Her overall BP was high, but she and DH went for a walk and it was back to normal.

 

I'm hoping this is random and NOT tick-borne or cancer related-- I'm freaking out now more than when I didn't know what she had at all

 

Anyway, here's the link to Aleeya's thread, and I'm hoping we can all stay updated together on these eye-related, sudden onset mysteries. Aleeya eye

 

Soren