DIS Vets: Keratoconjunctivitis?

[becka]

Saturday night we noticed that our toy poodle left eye had been draining large amounts of a yellow substance and it had had matted and swollen the entire eye shut. We tried to use a warm cotton ball to remove the drainage but it was obviously painful for him and he tried to bite us.

We took Rusty into the emergency vet hospital here at the University of Missouri and they think he has keratoconjunctivitis which if I understand correctly basically means he has dry eyes and does not produce enough tears. They have given us some kind of ointment to put on his eyes 3x/day, oral antibiotics 3x/day and are having us give him baby aspirin for the pain. They have also instructed us that we will need to put him on some special eye drops to help with the tear production 2x/day for the rest of his life and apparently this is pretty expensive stuff.

I don't mind spending the money if it is going to help him because he is our first baby. However, I am concerned about the long term effects. He has been on the meds now for over 24 hours and while it seems to maybe be a little less painful for him with a little less discharge it does not appear to be working as fast as I had hoped. We have a follow-up with our regular vet tomorrow afternoon but I wonder if he should be seen again sooner?

Also I did a quick Internet search and it appears that this is pretty common in poodles. Rusty has always had some gooey discharge build up outside his eyes (although nothing like what we saw this weekend) and I never thought twice about it. We had poodles growing up and I thought it was normal and nothing to be concerned with so I never mentioned it to the vet. I just always tried to keep his eyes cleaned and went on my way. I am concerned that since we have not had him treated for the past 5 years and now he is having serious problems that he may have long term problems (or even current problems) with his vision. Will these special eye drops help him from losing his sight? Is that a really possibility?

I am sorry if I have rambled on but I am really concerned about him and I just want him to start feeling better soon.

Thanks in advance!

 

[WendyZ]

I think this is the same thing my Shih Tzu was just diagnosed with. He had a film over his eyes and green stuff that came out. I didn't think much of it, because these kinds of dogs have yucky eyes. I have to clean then every day. But when the green stuff got really bad over a weekend. I thought it was allergies or a cold. So I took him in on Monday.

The vet said he had KCS or dry eye. Murphy has the worst kind. They gave him an ointment, Cyclosporin (Optimmun Opth Ointment). He has to have this twice a day for 4 weeks. Then he'll go for a recheck. Vet said he will have to be on this for the rest of his life. If he goes off it, it will come right back.

But I did see some results after about 3 days. His eyes seems a little clearer each day. So I guess time will tell. My vet did say it would take between 3 and 8 weeks before you could tell if it's going to work.

Hope your baby is better soon!!!

 

[becka]

Thanks Wendy. I do believe that KCS is the abbreviation and that it must be the same diagnosis. One thing is that I do not notice any kind of film over his eyes...they don't really look cloudy but they are awfully red from what I assume is the infection.

Does anyone else have any info for me?

 

[becka]

bump

Do we even have any DISers who are vets anymore? I thought we have at least 2-3 around here.

 

[RUDisney]

When we got Prancer, she was as wall-eyed as they come. She's a pug and just too cute for words. When she was sleeping next to me one night on the couch, I noticed that her eyes weren't closed all the way. I asked the vet about it and was referred to a veterinary opthomologist. (cha-ching) It turns out that her eyes are too big for her lids. She has pigmentary keratitis (PK.) This is common in pugs and although I use cyclosporine 2X per day, I know that at 4yo, she has lost the better part of her eye sight. She bumps into things more and more. Other than that, and her excessive allergies, she is healthy and a wonderful dog. Puggles was just diagnosed with PK, too. She is 7yo and is just starting to show signs of PK. She only needs the cyclo 1X per day per the vet's instructions.

You can see that the whites of their eyes have changed color and you can see the redness in Prancer's eyes from their dryness.

BTW, Prancer DID grow into her eyes and she now closes them to sleep.

Good luck with your little fur baby, Becka.