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Annie, our 15 year old Bichon has just been diagnosed with a corneal ulcer in one eye and conjunctivitis in the other the eye drops seem to cause pain


Annie 2021
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Just now, Annie 2021 said:

Hello and Happy New Year,

 

My bichon Annie was diagnosed yesterday with a Corneal ulcer in one eye   and conjunctivitis in the other  need suggestions please

The drops that the vet gave her are Gentamicin Opth solution for the ulcer and Neo/poly/dex opth drops for the conjunctivitis.  When I put the drops in her eye she crys and trys to wipe the drops from her eyes. I looked up the drops and they and they do seem to cause stinging for a minute or so.  Does anyone have suggestions regarding this?  does it get better as her eyes heal?  

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Where I work, we use Tricin/Opticin cream and/or Atropine drops for corneal ulcers in rabbits and guinea pigs... we've had eyes that look about to rupture heal in about 2-3 weeks.  None of those seem to cause any pain or irritation, and rabbits are renowned for having very sensitive eyes...

 

Maybe speak to your vet and see if another type of drops/ointment would be less painful and give a similar end result.

 

T.

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Poor old girl :(
perhaps ask the vet for alternative treatment if it is too distressing ... ? 
Ulcers can take a long time to treat , too. 
have you tried offering her the BEST treat at the same time ? Like have the treat there as you put in the drops ..and let her eat it immediately ..roast chicken, or some smelly fish ...something very different she can't resist ! That might help a bit :)

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4 hours ago, tdierikx said:

Where I work, we use Tricin/Opticin cream and/or Atropine drops for corneal ulcers in rabbits and guinea pigs... we've had eyes that look about to rupture heal in about 2-3 weeks.  None of those seem to cause any pain or irritation, and rabbits are renowned for having very sensitive eyes...

 

Maybe speak to your vet and see if another type of drops/ointment would be less painful and give a similar end result.

 

T.

Thanks for this suggestion.  I will check with the the first of the week, I'm in the US in Oregon and everyone is on holiday. .  Its day two now and she seems to only cry a short time, so maybe it will go away totally over the weekend.  Interesting that you treat rabbits   and guinea pigs.  Would enjoy hearing more.  thank you Em and Annie.  

 

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I appreciate everyone feedback.  I will check with the Vet monday after the holiday, also giving her excellent treats is a good idea.  Will do and I'm sure she will love it!!  She loves food and treats.  

 

Also re:  Dame Dannys Darlings  thought that there's nothing worse than meds that taste terrible or hurt.  She has to take Gabapentin that is liquid and bitter,  The new compounding pharmacist said he could make it and add some tuna flavor to it.   Was so happy to hear that.

 

Em and Annie

Edited by Annie 2021
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Ulcers are distressing too dogs irrespective,If you feel it’s the drops phone the vet,the dog may also be reacting too you holding the eye area to place the drops or cream in so you need to also consider that .

Tricin is great but no one can tell you what option without knowing what stage the ulcer is at ,your vet is your go to person or a referral to an eye specialist 

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Dogsfevr and other new friends who have responded here.  I really do appreciate all your feedback.  

Annies  situation has become even more worrisome.  I fortunately had a follow up appointment with an Internal Medicine Vet regarding a meds

reaction that Annie had 2 weeks ago.  This woman/vet has  alot of expertise and took a photo of Annies eye and sent it to a vet who is the local animal

eye surgeon/eye specialist.  She said was very concerned (she knows I am as well)  about Annies ulcer...She arranged an appointment to see the

specialist tomorrow which I am grateful for

 

She described Annies eye as 'scary' and explained what typically the various  treatments would be:  1) 4 kinds of drops every 2 hours for 2 weeks, 2) surgery  3) removal of the eye.  Yikes. 

I don't understand how her ulcer could progress so quickly, just a matter of days.    

 

Have others had experience or knowledge of dogs having serious corneal ulcers and recovering?  Any suggestions on what I can anticipate?  The instructions I got today were not to feed Annie after 2am  which indicates she may want to do a procedure tomorrow.  

 

Dogsfevr, how do you put drops in w/o holding the eye area?    

 

Thanks everyone.

 

also, Persephone:  I took your advice and got some chicken breast to give Annie everytime she gets drops  

 

Em & Annie

IMG_2670.jpg

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Nawww... bless... she certainly is a pretty wee girl!

 

I've watched the surgery for eye removal, and it's not as scary as you'd think... if that is the course of action the vet specialist recommends, then maybe that is what needs to happen. Also, dogs learn to cope with only 1 eye REALLY well.

 

It's a pity dogs can't use the same eye ointment we use on our goats at work... I had one fellow that we all thought was going to need his eye removed completely heal in 3 weeks... no scarring or anything, completely back to normal from the original that looked like it was about to explode... ewww! We've had guinea pigs and rabbits heal from really bad ulcers too, with Atropine and Tricin. (all under vet instruction/consultation in case that wasn't clear, OK?)

 

I wish dogs eyes were as easy to deal with... *sigh*

 

T.

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Bree, the girl in my avatar, had an ulcer we’d been treating for weeks. It was improving but suddenly went very nasty. The specialist suggested surgery but wasn’t very optimistic about the outcome. We ended up having her eye removed and she recovered very well and coped beautifully.

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Hello Gretel and Dogsfevr,

 

That sure is encouraging.  Annies problem is that she has cataracts in both eyes

so likely she couldn't see at all.  A friend suggested putting her down.  I'm hoping

that it won't have to come to that.  We love her and don't want to lose her,  until

now even with her various issues, she seemed to be able to have quality of life.

 

Em and Annie 

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Eye removal removes the PAIN  . Really . The vet I worked for did quite a few - and it was amazing  just how well dogs coped, and how much happier they seemed to feel without that ugly sore eye !  ... . And , as long as her nose works well, and she is 'with it' , being severely vision-impaired is not the worst thing :). She  can find things by scent  Shecan wear a "halo" to help , too :)

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3 hours ago, Annie 2021 said:

Hello Gretel and Dogsfevr,

 

That sure is encouraging.  Annies problem is that she has cataracts in both eyes

so likely she couldn't see at all.  A friend suggested putting her down.  I'm hoping

that it won't have to come to that.  We love her and don't want to lose her,  until

now even with her various issues, she seemed to be able to have quality of life.

 

Em and Annie 

My advice is you do have to make decisions with your head not your heart,your dog deserves that .
The decision either way is the right answer for that dog in question .
The dog we had whose eye was removed & he also had vision issues in the other eye ,he enjoyed 3 more years off quality life .
Do all dogs cope no which is why only you know your dog .
The eye removal will remove the pain that will be affecting the dog more than anything else .
With our boy we opted for the treatment path but in hindsight we should have removed the eye sooner ,we have no regrets in the path we chose BUT have a new thought process if it ever happens again .
He was a different dog withing 24 hrs pain wise .

At present your dog is both eyed vision impaired so this is a trial run ,the difference is the eye at present will be causing discomfort .
So if you opt for eye removal don't under estimate the dogs ability to cope & if you do then you need to put your adult pants on to set the dog up for success ,you cant bring it home & feel guilty & do everything ,this is where making the right decision factors .

Our boy still walked around an acre ,had his wobbles but we allowed him independence,we set up his mud map for water & life must haves.If going out he was  in a puppy pen or his kennel run where we new he was safe from weather issues as our dogs have 24/7 access to the doggy door ,we had to adapt to certain things to ensure his safety but 95% lived a fully functional life until his smell & hearing went then he struggled as he had no senses left to assist in his ability to life happily

Edited by Dogsfevr
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Hello Gretel and Dogsfevr, 

 

I really appreciate your stories and experiences.    I was moved by your story Dogsfevr and the encouragement,  also Gretel your vet experience  removing an eye.

I have never thought of it before the last couple of days, but would never had thought that dogs could be better off without one of their eyes (and the pain!)

 

Things might have turned a corner today. 

Over the weekend Annies internal medicine vet saw Annies eye and sent a picture to the ophthalmologist here in Jackson County, Oregon, who got us  in today.  They are doing a covid protocol so Dr. Bliss  talked with us on the phone after examining Annie.  She said Annie had a melting corneal ulcer and on a scale of 1-10 it was a 10.  She told me there were 3 options 1) new procedure called "Corneal Collagen Crosslinking", 2) surgery and 3) removing Annie's eye.  She suggested that we go with the Corneal Collegen Cross linking. This is a new procedure she  is revolutionizing vet medicine.   I asked her if it was her dog what she would do and she said 'Corneal Collagen Crosslinking'.     The print out the Vet gave us said that the procedure  results in corneal healing in 90% of patients in about 21 days.  Ongoing follow up with the vet is essential.  So that what we decided to do.  

  She did say that if this doesn't work she would need to remove Annies eye.  I asked her about Annies vision in her Left eye related to cataracts and she said Annie

doesn't have cataracts, she has has some calcium thickening which she ordered a 2% EDTA gel for both eyes to help remove these calcium deposits.  

She said Annies vision in her left eye is ok. I hope we would not have to remove her right eye, but I ask Dr. Bliss if Annie could have a good quality of life without

her right eye if it came to that and she said absolutely.   The one thing  This is similar to your experience Dogfevr and Gretel.  I've never thought of it before, but agree that if that had to happen, we'd have to really consider if Annie would be a dog that could live with one eye comfortably.  My sister has a 3 legged greyhound named Jazzy, she does really well and is a happy, delightful girl.   Another friend had a lab who had cancer and the vet encouraged her and her husband to  remove the leg, which they did, but she said Geronimo was demoralized.  They later got another lab who got the same cancer and decided not to have his leg removed after

what they saw happened with Geronimo.  So each family and dog is different in the way they cope, I can see.  

I'll let you know how it goes over the next 2-3 weeks      Em & Annie

 

 

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