Eye Ulcers - Experience Anyone?

[Guest Fasave]

Oy. My Thunder has been diagnosed with any eye ulcer. The eye looked a little red off and on for few days but of course on the Saturday morning of Labor Day weekend (my vet closed until Tuesday), he woke up with a very red eye. Off to the e-vets we went where he was diagnosed with an eye ulcer and put on a triple antibiotic (neomycin, polymyxin b sulfate and bacitracin zinc) and Optimmune. During the exam it was noted that he has very low tear production which is unclear if this is chronic (most likely) or a side effect of the ulcer. He has now been back to my vet three times. They thought it was stable but at yesterday's visit I thought it had grown. They have added an anti-inflamtory and then yesterday added Ofloxacin. He needs to go back Tuesday and if things haven't improved, they are recommending he see an ophthalmologist.

 

They did say ulcers can take 3-4 weeks to heal and in tough cases 3-4 months. However, if we went past the three to four week mark, they might recommend a procedure which makes small cuts in the cornea which interestingly speeds healing.

 

Just curious if anyone has gone down this path before. Thunder turns 8 tomorrow so clearly the long term health of his eyes in very important.

[rascalsmom]

My bridge boy, Buddy, had a corneal ulcer. It healed up OK, but then he scratched that eye again (shoved his head into a bush while on a walk--I saw it happen )....ended up with chemical debridement, and ultimately got pannus in that eye.

If it were me, I'd take him to an ophthalmologist--Buddy was treated by one.

 

Now I know this is an extreme case, and it was a cat--but I know a girl whose cat was having eye trouble...the vet kept treating it, changing the meds, etc., and the cat wasn't getting better. In fact, she was going blind. She took it to a vet who ONLY treats cats, when the first vet seemed to be floundering as to what was the trouble--and the cat vet knew instantly that the cat had glaucoma. She took the cat to a specialist then, and the cat had both of her eyes removed. Happy ending, though--the cat is no longer in pain, was already blind anyway, and is still living with my friend and having a happy life.

 

Eyes aren't anything to mess with. And I might add, we now take OUR cat to that vet who only treats cats.

[kudzu]

Have had it happen to a dog & to cats. All but one cleared up fairly quickly with treatment. One cat took 6 weeks for his eye to finally heal completely. Would it surprise you if I said cats do not like eye drops & ointments nor do they hesitate to express it.

[GeorgeofNE]

If you can, take him to a specialist before you even consider any sort of procedure.

[Guest Fasave]

Have had it happen to a dog & to cats. All but one cleared up fairly quickly with treatment. One cat took 6 weeks for his eye to finally heal completely. Would it surprise you if I said cats do not like eye drops & ointments nor do they hesitate to express it.

 

LOL. Yes, Thunder nows when I'm coming and has started hiding his head in the couch cushions:-) The Optimunne can't be given within an hour of the other drops. So I'm basically giving him drops every 3-4 hours throughout the day.

[Guest Fasave]

My bridge boy, Buddy, had a corneal ulcer. It healed up OK, but then he scratched that eye again (shoved his head into a bush while on a walk--I saw it happen )....ended up with chemical debridement, and ultimately got pannus in that eye.

If it were me, I'd take him to an ophthalmologist--Buddy was treated by one.

 

Now I know this is an extreme case, and it was a cat--but I know a girl whose cat was having eye trouble...the vet kept treating it, changing the meds, etc., and the cat wasn't getting better. In fact, she was going blind. She took it to a vet who ONLY treats cats, when the first vet seemed to be floundering as to what was the trouble--and the cat vet knew instantly that the cat had glaucoma. She took the cat to a specialist then, and the cat had both of her eyes removed. Happy ending, though--the cat is no longer in pain, was already blind anyway, and is still living with my friend and having a happy life.

 

Eyes aren't anything to mess with. And I might add, we now take OUR cat to that vet who only treats cats.

 

Agreed that eyes aren't worth playing around with. It's frustrating to know when and what to do. Tomorrow will make two weeks and I'm not very patient. Caring for your pet is hard. I have had experiences with vets in the past where I've known something wasn't right but the condition presented in such a subtle way that I didn't get taken seriously and felt like I was being treated as an alarmist. One vet tech at an office came close to accusing me of making things up when one of my greyhounds was having off and on breathing issues and of course they would go away during the visit. Even with the video tape, they weren't convinced. Turns out he had a torn salivary gland on the inside and 1/3 of his airway was blocked. My gut has been right I would say about 95% of the time.

 

Thanks for advice.

[Maddiesmom]

_{Maddie has an eye ulcer now 3 times. She has been to a eye doctor last year for a check on her eyes that Merial company provided for all therapy, service etc dogs. She had an eye ulcer prior to seeing the doggie eye doctor and he stated that everything was clear. Since then she has had her ulcer come back 2 times and the vet has stained the eye to confirm that it was the eye ulcer (it was). Maddie can't open her eye and looks like she is "winking" at me when she has the ulcer. The vet puts her on eye drops and rechecks if needed. Maddie RUNS when she sees the eye drop bottle in my hands but I need to put them in her eye for her to get better. I agree that eyes are not something to mess around with.}

[gryhndsr4us]

My bridge boy Clark had an eye ulcer. My vet referred us to a specialist after we saw no improvement in one week. The specialist diagnosed him with punctate keratitis. When he too a picture of his eye it looked like a star field, not only was there the ulcer we saw but lots of little tiny ulcers!! poor boy! He also had the small ulcers in the other eye. With proper treatment we had him cleared up and feeling better, no loss of sight.

[Guest Jennalynn]

We battled an eye ulcer recently after Quincy was sniffing too entusiastically and smushed his face in a busy (with open eyes...) and when we took him in he failed the tear test as well - she said the lack of tear production was likely trama induced. We were one of the unlucky ones who had a stubborn case and had to do the corneal cuts, as well as a trip to the opthamologist. We did drops 2-3 times daily for almost 4 months, but he's all healed now (thank goodness)!! And tear production went back to normal.

 

Good luck. We also did optimune, and a host of other drops which I can't remember the names of - he was so good to get them though which made our lives much eaiser!! He got a lot of extra treats during treatment

[Guest goofydog]

Not to be an alarmist and this is the extreme. What presented as redness with squinting in his left eye, the regular vet took one look and referred to the ophthamologist. Treatment was started with saline drops(reduced tears) and pred acetate drops. After running a whole battery of tests it was determined that he had toxoplasmosis, a blood disease. The only contributing factor that could explain it was that he had ingested feral kiity poop which is a known vector. Think about the warning that pregnant women not handle kitty litter boxes.

 

He underwent massive doses of abx and increased dose of the pred acetate. Even after the toxo was beaten into remission his left eye was damaged to the point that it had to be removed. His regular vet did the removal, with the specialists blessing. Once removed he was placed on tid pred drops to the right eye for the next 6 months then titre'd to make sure it was still in remission, and it was. The pred drops will continue for the rest of his life with a yearly titre to make sure the toxo hasn't flared. Any exaberation in between and he is whisked off to his eye doctor for a quick check.

 

This all occured in his 8th year and he turned 11 in April. As soon as the eye was out all pain went away and he has been fine ever since. I just make it a point not to move the furniture Also why he has a collection of Pirate collars!

 

As to hating the drops Get Em only gets the BilJac Liver treats when drops are administered. I can say 'eyes" and he will turn his head up because he knows the really tasty treats will follow.

 

I'm hoping Thunder's problem is easily solved and he moves past this bump in the road quickly.

 

Toni and Pirate Boy

Edited September 13, 2013 by goofydog

[tbhounds]

Your hound may have chronic dry eye which can be the cause of the ulcer. They will do what's called a schirmer tear test to see if he's procuring enough tears. Sounds like they are recommending a grid keratotomy-that if the ulcer isn't healing. They score the eye with a fine needle encouraging healing. It really sounds more awful that it really is. We preform this routinely at our clinic and usually only with a sedation. It's a very fast procedure. Fingers crossed it will heal on its own.

[Guest Fasave]

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like it's just one of those things that takes time to heal and sometime requires extra steps to get healing. I will definitely have to up the number of treats. Glad to hear others have come through this okay. Thanks everyone.

[dmswartzfager]

The other thing we use at our hospital with corneal ulcers (and is also used by Animal Eye Care, the local specialist) is opthalmic serum. Basically, you collect some blood and spin it down for serum, and use that as an eye drop. The serum has proteins in it that encourages healing of the ulcers. Blew my mind the first time I saw it, but it seems to work. (Which reminds me, I need to take Wren in to donate some blood to restock our serum supply.)

[Guest BiancasMom]

They should probably check eye pressure if not previously done. My dog had uveitis and an ulcer that wouldn't heal. Had the grid keratotomy and he healed right up!

[Guest Fasave]

The other thing we use at our hospital with corneal ulcers (and is also used by Animal Eye Care, the local specialist) is opthalmic serum. Basically, you collect some blood and spin it down for serum, and use that as an eye drop. The serum has proteins in it that encourages healing of the ulcers. Blew my mind the first time I saw it, but it seems to work. (Which reminds me, I need to take Wren in to donate some blood to restock our serum supply.)