Swelling eye...

Eyssa · 10-19-2008, 10:25 PM

Callie, my 14-year-old Sheltie, has had numerous problems with her eye. First, back in August we noticed that she was bumping into things more and tripping down the steps. After a few weeks we saw that her right eye had started to fill with blood, with which was treated with Vetropolycin HC (an antibiotic eye ointment that is applied directly to the eye) and some sort of steroid pill. It seemed to ease up, then started to fill with blood some more (that was treated with the same method). At one point her eye started to look like it was swelling up, but then it appeared to go back to normal... or at least stop. Later on, while we were still administering the eye ointment, she got an eyelid infection which caused the area around her eye to swell horribly. And now we've noticed that the same eye, the eye itself, is a lot more swollen than usual. The vets aren't open until tomorrow, so there's nothing we can do... and I doubt any clinic will call this an emergency.

I'm starting to get very worried. Being an older dog like she is, with kidney failure for two years and a slight heart murmur, I don't know how surgery will affect her if it has to be done. And I really don't want her to loose her eye if it can be saved, but is there any hope? It just seems like one problem mounts upon another, and now I'm wondering if she can see at all, because all she does is lay around all day, and when she's on the leash she lags. She's maintained a healthy weight of 14lbs, which is still pretty thin but it hasn't gone any lower, and she's still eating (although we had to change her diet because she stopped eating her regular kidney function diet)... now she gets homemade food. She also has to take Cosequin once a day for her arthritis...

I just want to know if anyone else has been in this situation, and if there's anything that can be done. The vet just keeps administering medicines that don't seem to do much good in the long run.

salask · 10-20-2008, 03:41 PM

has your dog being seeing by an optomologist? If your dog has an eye problem - it's best if he's seen by a vet who specializes in eyes and not your regular Vet

Eyssa · 10-20-2008, 06:50 PM

No, she's only been to our regular vet. I've searched, but I can't find any ophthalmologists around. If there are any, they'll be hours away

salask · 10-21-2008, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eyssa

No, she's only been to our regular vet. I've searched, but I can't find any ophthalmologists around. If there are any, they'll be hours away

Ask your vet if he can refer you... Where do you live?

Eyssa · 10-21-2008, 12:44 PM

Quick update...

We took Callie into the vet's today and found out that she has glaucoma. =( The vet is going to put her under and give her some sort of a shot in her eye which will kill off the rest of her eye so it doesn't produce any more of that fluid. But I'm terribly nervous... She has kidney failure, and I don't want the anesthesia to have any ill effects on my poor girl.

So now she's stuck at the vet's, and I miss her terribly.

salask · 10-21-2008, 04:08 PM

im sorry to hear it's glaucoma... Let us know when you have her back. Hugs!!

Eyssa · 10-21-2008, 08:02 PM

It's actually glaucoma... did I say cateracts in the last post? I apologize if I did, haha.

We get her back tomorrow morning, so I'm excited. I'm just afraid for her kidneys and for her other eye...

Does anyone know if it is it possible that the glaucoma could spread into her left eye as well? That's what I read, anyway.

spotted nikes · 10-21-2008, 11:15 PM

They can get Glaucoma in both eyes. There is an easy test to ck for built up pressure, so to speak, that will indicate Glaucoma. It can be managed if caught early. Talk to your vet about testing for it every few months, or however often he thinks would be beneficial, to save the sight in her other eye.
It's good that you are taking care of the affected eye. It is a very painful condition if untreated.
If she should eventually lose her sight in both eyes, it's not the end of the world. Dogs eventually figure out how to get around. My Cocker lived for 3 yrs, completely blind. She could find the doggie door and go out and come back in. She was eventually put down for other untreatable issues associated w/old age.

Eyssa · 10-22-2008, 10:22 AM

Thank you so much, I didn't realize there'd be a way to check for that every little bit. We're going to pick up Callie this morning, so I'll talk to the vet about that when we get up there.

As far as managing glaucoma, what exactly is involved? Callie is practically blind anyway, so I'm not so worried about that. It's just the pain that she might experience... And if this treatment doesn't work, she'll have to have her eye removed, and I don't want her to have to go through another bout with anesthesia if she doesn't have to. I'm more worried about the state of her kidneys than anything else.

I'll update on her condition when we get back from the vet's this morning. Thanks for all your help!