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Advice About Pannus


Guest sophiesmum

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Guest sophiesmum

Hi,

 

Im new here, so I hope you dont mind me starting a topic. Ive found the info I have read here while lurking so helpful!

 

We adopted beautiful Sophie about 2 months ago and she came to us with pannus and an instruction to apply her Preniferin Forte drops every 2nd to 3rd day (as its winter here now). I did notice however that on day two the whites of her eyes appeared quite red so I started applying every day and got an appointment with a "Greyhound specific" vet.

 

This vet told me that it "might" be a good idea to apply Prediferin Forte daily but was non specific about the length of time to do this and made no follow up.

 

We ran out of eye drops today and took her to our usual vet (who cares for our cats) who told me that the "Gold Standard" treatment for pannus was Optimmune cyclosporin ointment, initially 3 times a day with a follow up in a week to see if we can start decreasing the dose.

 

She also said that she had seen German Shepards go completely blind from pannus (despite treatment) usually within a "Few years". A FEW YEARS!!!

 

We were under the impression that if we were vigilant with the eye drops and yearly exams and kept her out of direct sunlight (within reason) that we could maintain her sight for the length of her natural life.

 

Im so sad about this news!

 

Does anyone have any experience with this? or stories of hope :(

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Guest TheUnrulyHound

Nelson has pannus and he is 8. his daily routine is one drop in each eye twice daily. He gets his drops before breakfast and before dinner. I have only had him for about two months as well so I am not sure about decreasing the dose but I have been told that he needs to be seen by a specialist about once a year (or more if he has a flareup) When he first came to me his eyes were quite red, now they are much better. the drops he takes are "prednisolone acetate ophthalmic suspension USP 1%"

 

He takes his drops really well :) and I also bought him some doggles® for if we had to be out in the sun for long periods of time :lol

 

They can go blind from it for sure, and their vision gets hazier as it progresses. from what I understand it is blood vessels growing into the cornea either from the outer edges of the iris (the easiest to see just from looking at the eye) or from the back of the eye (not as easily seen)

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Guest BleuDog

I discovered the Pannus in Wendell very shortly after I got him at age 51/2 yrs. His eyes were VERY red and he was pawing at them. Initial vet thought Pannus and we got some drops, they helped, so decided to take him to Doggie Opth. to make sure.

He did drops & Cyclosporin for a month or two...then only the Cyclosporin twice daily......Yearly checks for 4 years held his eyes stable, I slowly cut him back to once a day, and if the eyes get red, back to twice daily for a week or so....He continues to hold STABLE for 6 YEARS now.

 

My understanding is that the Greys can hold stable for YEARS....apparentlty German Shepards do have a tendency to go blind, MUCH MORE frequently than the Greys....even with proper treatment.

 

I hope this puts your mind at rest, to a great extent!!!!

 

Good Luck, and don't be scared for your Babe....just keep treating as your opthamologist recommends.....

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Guest sophiesmum

I discovered the Pannus in Wendell very shortly after I got him at age 51/2 yrs. His eyes were VERY red and he was pawing at them. Initial vet thought Pannus and we got some drops, they helped, so decided to take him to Doggie Opth. to make sure.

He did drops & Cyclosporin for a month or two...then only the Cyclosporin twice daily......Yearly checks for 4 years held his eyes stable, I slowly cut him back to once a day, and if the eyes get red, back to twice daily for a week or so....He continues to hold STABLE for 6 YEARS now.

 

My understanding is that the Greys can hold stable for YEARS....apparentlty German Shepards do have a tendency to go blind, MUCH MORE frequently than the Greys....even with proper treatment.

 

I hope this puts your mind at rest, to a great extent!!!!

 

Good Luck, and don't be scared for your Babe....just keep treating as your opthamologist recommends.....

 

Thanks to both of you.

 

Sophie is only 3 years old and the thought of her being blind by 6 really shocked me!

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Guest vtgreys

Tessa has Pannus, and when I first got her in February, took her to the opthalmologist who gave her an injection in both eyes. This injection is an alternative to applying ointment, which is used when there is a bad flare-up of the Pannus - i.e. red whites, cloudy pupils. In addition, she'll be getting Tacrilimus drops for the rest of her life - right now twice a day, in the future maybe able to reduce to once a day. She is doing great, and her eyes look great. She also has doggles for going out on sunny days, as sunlight can exacerbate the condition. With this treatment regimen. she's not likely to go blind - as another poster said, that is something that primarily happens in German Shepards, who are especially prone to the disease.

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Guest KennelMom

It's been a couple years since our pannus boy went to the Bridge, but his was well controlled with drops. Prednisolone acetate, I believe is what we had good luck with. It may take some trial and error to find the drops that work best for your girl. Our vet advised us to use the drops twice a day until it was under control and then we backed off to "as minimally needed to control symptoms." In the early days that was once every other day...towards the end of his life it was back up to twice a day. But this was over several years. The reasoning behind the 'as needed' protocol was that you didn't want to build resistance to the drug early on. That may just be for prednisolone though, I'm not sure.

 

If you have access to a vet. opthamologist, it may be well worth your while to get a referral from your vet for an appt. We've had dogs with a few eye issues and it's pretty much standard protocol now for us to get a referral just to confirm our vet's diagnosis. Unless your vet sees a lot a lot a lot a lot of eye problems, most just don't have the experience or specialized training/equipment to deal with some eye problems.

 

As posted earlier, it's always been my understanding that pannus can generally be well controlled in greyhounds and not so much in other breeds.

 

I understand being really upset at the thought of having a blind dog...we have some partially sighted hounds and a girl who went blind from Progressive Retinal Atrophy a couple years ago. Blindness is usually much harder on the human than the dog, so if that is something you have to face with her it's a pretty big bump in the road, but it's not the end of the road.

 

:grouphug

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Guest mountain4greys

I just had my Pannus hound at the opthamologist yesterday for a checkup. She was diagnosed last year at the age of 5. We caught it early, as her eyes were just starting to get red. My regular vet gave us the referral.

 

We didn't have to go the steroid route, but as we stand right now, we're giving her flurbiproen once a day in each eye, and twice a day in the right eye. Also giving cyclosporine once a day in each eye.

 

We go back in about 6 to 8 months in the hopes that we can cut down on the medicine some.

 

In our hounds case, she's allowed out in the sun.

 

You do have to be vigilant with the medicine or the Pannus can get worse.

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Slim had pannus and it never caused him any problems and never really progressed significantly either. I believe in greyhounds this is fairly common that it is stable and deosn't cause significant problems. However I have heard that as many as 80% of the diagnosed German Shepherds will go blind. I wouldn't worry about it as long as you put the drops in her eyes. Slim got cyclosporin/steroid drops twice a day. I believe it is important though not to miss putting them in. I was told that once started on the drops it was imperitive that he get them everyday because if he didn't then the disease would really "go wild". But really I don't think its anything to worry about as long as you treat it. It never hurt Slim any. Might consider using doggles if she's out much as the sun's uv rays can make it worse/accellerate it.

Edited by racindog
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Guest jettcricket

My 4 year old baby girl Hollie has pannus as well and we also treat it with prednisolone acetate ophthalmic suspension USP 1% which cleared up the redness and she also had some cloudiness in her left eye which is barley visable.

 

Hopefully this will keep it at bay.....I try not to think of the possibility of her going blind. Right now she only has it in her left eye.

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Gustopher P was diagnosed several years ago. Tacro twice a day for about the first year. He was at his doggie eye doc last week. The overvascularization has receded to almost nothing for the past two years. He stays on Tacro once per day and does his backyard hunting in very early morning and early evening. Loves to cruise the yard at night so I let him. Have never seen the need for eye injections. Too invasive for my taste when your hound can be well controlled on gtts. And if you are compliant with meds and go for check ups as requested, there is no reason for your hound to go blind...

large.rycezmom_Sig.jpg.c7b7915d082b1bb35
The more I see of man, the more I like dogs. ~Mme. de Staël
Missing my Bridge Angels Ryce, Bo, Jim, Miss Millie, Miss Rose, Gustopher P Jones (Pimpmaster G), Miss Isabella and Miss Star

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Guest BlackandBrindle

Sadie was diagnosed in November of last year. We did the ointment three times daily for a week and then she got two drops daily for two months, and now she gets one drop daily.

 

Pannus can cause a dog to go blind if untreated and in some extreme cases even with treatment. However, every dog I know personally has maintained its eyesight with proper treatment.

 

If you are very concerned you might want to go to an Ophthalmologist. When I take Sadie in for other stuff (valley fever, bumps and lumps, etc) I have them check her eyes at her regular vet.

 

We tried going to once every other day with the drops but her eyes got red and the cloudiness came back. Your vet should give you a prescription with refills and do a check every so often.

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Guest GentleHugs

I have a Pannus pup here, too.

 

LuLu was diagnosed with Pannus shortly after I adopted her as well. She had just turned 5 - she's 7 1/2 now.

 

She started out with the pred drops - 2 drops per eye twice a day but within this last year, I finally managed to get her decreased on her drops to 1 drop per eye twice a day. When it's real sunny outside, I do increase her drops a bit but she's doing ok.

 

It really depends on how bad the Pannus is and how diligent you are in making sure she's gets her meds - whichever med she is on. Some pups can be decreased down to 2 or 3 drops a week and some not. After almost 3 years, LuLu still gets her eye drops twice a day. But, like everyone else has said - if left untreated, blindness can happen. It's commonly found in German Shepherds but I've seen/heard about a lot of Greyhounds getting Pannus, too.

 

LuLu has doggles that she wears if we are going to be out in the sun for longer than 5 or 10 minutes and sometimes during the winter, too, because the sunlight can reflect off of the snow. Sometimes she has a bit of problems seeing in the dark if it's really dark outside and there's no light on outside but other than that - you wouldn't know LuLu has vision problems at all. Her hearing and acute sense of smell make up for whatever loss of vision she has.

 

If your baby is on meds, keep her on them and follow your vet's instructions. Ask questions, too, that is - if you have any - like how long should I continue her treatment, etc. and of course, we are all here to help if we can, too.

 

kiss1.gif to Sophie

 

grouphug.gif for you.

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