Eye disease

[Lizzy B]

I am so glad I come to this forum when Bailey has problems! He has recently had infected anal glands, and often suffers with wet eczema on his paws. I was researching on this forum to see how others were treating these problems when I came across a post from someone who mentioned their baby was doing lots of eyewashing, and rubbing ears, back etc on the furniture, something Bailey does all the time, but I thought he just enjoyed it. I had to take him back to the vets as his anal glands weren't clearing, and happened to mention to the vet that Bailey had also been washing his eyes a lot lately, much more than normal. My vet then put a little test strip on each of his eyes for a minute, and said he's got auto-immune disease in his eyes! A normal dog's reading is 20 - one of Baileys eyes was 8 and the other 10. She prescribed Optimmune cream for his eyes, and says he will be on it twice a day for the rest of his life!  I'm gutted, but also upset that I didn't realise what was going on earlier, as I looked up the cream online and it says that some breeds of dog are particularly prone to this disease, and the first breed it mentioned was cocker spaniel and that if not treated, the dog can go blind!  My baby's only 4 years old and I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to him.
Bailey is the first dog I've ever insisted on having insured, and I'm so grateful now that I decided to take out cover for life. The tube of cream is only 2 and a half inches long, and by the time I squeezed the air out of it, it was half empty, and at my vets it cost £49!!!!!!!!  I doubt the tube will last more than a couple of weeks! I've gone online to other sources and can get it for half that amount, but have to pay the rip off costs vets charge for prescriptions on top. What with the cream, anti b's for the anal glands, and viacutan for his itchy skin and wet eczema, the one visit to the vets set me back £120. I'm fortunate enough to be able to be able to pay for it, but if I couldn't and didn't have insurance, I would be in a right two and eight now! Afraid I'd have to starve to death for him!
Has anyone else had any experience with this autoimmune disease please? Any words of advice/wisdom/comfort?

[c19unn]

Aww i have not experienced it but i hope that everything works out for you - how devastating but at least you caught it before it made him blind

Lots of positive thoughts and cocker kisses 

[lindseyp]

Hi Lizzy
1st of all.....deep breath & relax (opening a bottle of wine to aid this is optional at this point  )
2ndly - although technically, your vet is right, I think she may of labelled Baileys condition in the extreme & may of panicked you some what    There are many of us on here, with dogs with very similar problems to Bailey, so I'm sure get loads of advice & reassurance 
Personally, I have a bitch (Purdey  ) who's 71/2 years now & has multiple allergies, causing many of the symptoms you describe in Bailey, dry eye being one of them. I would highly recommend you get Bailey referred to an ophthalmologist (& because you're insured it should all be covered  ) to get an expert opinion on his present condition & accurate treatment for now & the future - vets are good at their job but not expert - if you go to a specialist, I'm sure you feel so much more informed & confident in the diagnosis 
There can many reasons for dry eye, anal gland infection, sore skin etc - for Purdey is was numerous allergies that were found when she was tested (again this is covered under insurance  ) & for our girl, the turning point for her, was when we changed her diet & found one that eased the majority of her symptoms to 'almost nonexistent'    For the past 2-3 ears she has been in the best health she's ever been in & it's great to see her so comfortable & happy at last 
Lastly, don't punish yourself in any way - if his eyes were that bad you would of noticed that's for sure - when dry is at it's worse, you cannot mistake there is a problem & his vet would of picked up on this sometime ago, so hopefully it's borderline & something that can be treated quite successfully.
Off out with the girls now but please feel free to ask an further info 
Cuddles for Bailey & his worried mum
Lindsey xx
 

[Poppypuppy09]

  I dont have any experience of "dry eye" or indeed Baileys other ailments so can't offer any helpful advice but really hope Bailey feels better soon 

[Robbie34]

You are not alone.  My dog Charley is now almost fourteen and was diagnosed with "dry eye" when he was six months old.  His insurance company paid the bills for the first year, and then refused any cover whatsoever for his eyes.  Consequently, I have had to pay for his constant eye care.  He did not respond to Optimmune and he has had palliative care since then.  It was costing me an average of sixty pounds per month for his eye condition, which included a vet consultation every three months for continued medication.

I changed insurers to Marks and Spencer, but when he was ten the annual premium increased to £599 and I had to pay the first £75 plus 20% of the remainder.  Consequently, he is now uninsured.  Charley also has ear problems and again requires constant medication.  He also had a malignant melanoma that was removed when he was ten.  Charley has cost me a small fortune due to his health problems, but, fortunately, I can afford it and don't begrudge paying out for him.  As the Dog's Trust would say: a dog is for life.

[wendyt]

A few years ago one of my CKCS was diagnosed with dry eye which was caused by his diabetes. He was prescribed Optimmune and Lubrithal on a monthly basis plus insulin and needles so without insurance I would have been bankrupt. I have to say that the insurers were fantastic and in the 3 years he had both conditions paid out every time.

We were at the vets for a regular checkup when the vet noticed his eyes and I felt awful that I hadn't realised he had a problem. In hindsight I think I was so bothered with his diabetes that I hadn't noticed, but with the right medication he was fine.

Your tube of Optimmune should last a month, so I think you might be using too much.

I do hope you get Bailey's problems sorted out, in the meantime sending lots of  to you both

[Snoo]

Hi there! I have Clover who was diagnosed with dry eye (where her own immune system tries to destroy her tear glands) when she was about ten weeks old. She will have to have drops for life and one of those she has, is Optimmune - it definitely should last a month (mine does, when administering a quarter inch twice a day to each eye), and may even last a wee bit longer. It is a large tube for the apparently small amount of cream but I think there is a reason for that and I did read online somewhere that you can expect a tiny amount to fly out (and therefore be wasted!) at the first squeeze! It also recommends not rolling the tube up from the bottom as it may split and then you will lose some of that precious, expensive cream! It is unfortunate that there is nothing else that does what Optimmune does and those of us with dogs who need it have to pay the price! I am thankfully insured but with Clover being diagnosed during the 'free' puppy insurance period I had to pay the excess for that and for the full insurance  that I  had continued on from that - hence a claim for over £200 gave me a pay back of only £57. I was gutted! 

[elaine.e]

My William, who is litter brother to LindseyP's Purdey, was diagnosed with dry eye a couple of years ago when he was 5 years old. He'd had recurrent eye infections and I asked my vet for a referral to an opthalmologist, which was when dry eye was diagnosed and Optimmune prescribed. I agree with Lindsey that you should ask your vet for referral to an opthalmologist as they know so much more about eyes than most "ordinary" vets. There are a few different types of dry eye. William's is the autoimmune type where his immune system is trying to destroy his tear ducts and that sounds like the type that your vet has diagnosed. The good news is that it often responds well to Optimmune.

William was on Optimmune twice a day at first now only needs it once a day as his tear ducts are functioning better than they were. His eyes are checked every 6 months by the opthalmologist and at his most recent check up a few weeks ago the reading for both eyes was 15

William used to be a generally itchy dog, prone to lip fold infections, anal gland problems and scabby/eczema type patches on his tummy if he got wet and muddy. I changed his diet a few times to see if that helped and, same as Lindsey with Purdey, noted a big improvement when I switched him to a raw diet about 18 months ago. I can't say for sure that the raw diet helps William but I reckon it does.

Some general advice about Optimmune, based on my experience -

The info. on the tube says to discard 4 weeks after opening but my opthalmologist reckons it's perfectly safe to use for 6 weeks after opening. After that there may be a risk of eye infections.

You need only use a small amount, about the size of a grain of rice, in each eye. There's no benefit in using more.

There's always a small air space at the top of a new tube, so squeeze very carefully at first and you should manage to get rid of the air without wasting any ointment.

Find out what your vet charges for a prescription and ask for a repeat prescription. The opthalmologist William goes to charges me £12 for a repeat prescription with a 6 month time limit. I can then order Optimmune online as many times as I need to in that 6 month period. I'm currently ordering from Pet Drugs Online and they charge £24.10 per tube.

Finally, please don't feel despondent about Bailey's condition. Most dogs with dry eye respond well to Optimmune so hopefully that will be the case with Bailey

[Mel]

My Tali has dry eye in his right eye. It is caused by nerve damage so his tear gland and tear duct are not told by the brain to produce tears or let tears run to the nose, respectively.

He often has a reading of about 5 or 6 in that eye.

He has artificial tears several times a day as Optimmune will not do any good.

He's due a check up with the opthamologist soon to check if his eye is doing well.

I too felt the whole world crash in on me when this happened but now it's part of everyday life.


As long as he gets artificial tears several times a day there is no reason for him to go blind. He's still young too and nerves can heal, though it's unlikely.

I know.it's not.nice to think about but there are.people here with cockers who have lost an eye or have gone blind does to one of many eye diseases, and they will all tell you how their babies adapt well.

So even the worst case scenario isn't as world shattering as it may at first seem

[Lizzy B]

Thank you all so much for the advice and kind wishes etc. It's really good to know you're not alone, and I will certainly ask to be referred to an opthalmologist when I go back next week. I'm a bit confused about my insurance policy at the moment, and until I know they're happy to pay out, I don't want to keep ringing them, but does anyone know about the Tesco Pet Extra insurance, and how long they will pay out for? I thought I was getting life cover, but now I'm not so sure. And what about the cost of allergy testing? My vet charges £14.50 for a prescription and I was hoping they would give out 6 months at a time, but they say it will only be for 3 months.

[elaine.e]

Thank you all so much for the advice and kind wishes etc. It's really good to know you're not alone, and I will certainly ask to be referred to an opthalmologist when I go back next week. I'm a bit confused about my insurance policy at the moment, and until I know they're happy to pay out, I don't want to keep ringing them, but does anyone know about the Tesco Pet Extra insurance, and how long they will pay out for? I thought I was getting life cover, but now I'm not so sure. And what about the cost of allergy testing? My vet charges £14.50 for a prescription and I was hoping they would give out 6 months at a time, but they say it will only be for 3 months.

http://www.tesco-pet-insurance.money.co.uk/
It looks as though extra cover gives you cover for each insured condition up to the financial limit you've chosen, so not time specific but once you've reached the ceiling for that condition, be it over a few weeks or several years, you would no longer be insured for that condition.

Fingers crossed that when you see the opthalmologist (and if dry eye is confirmed and Optimmune is the way forward) that he/she will be more sympathetic than your usual vet with regard to repeat prescriptions. But even at £14.50 for 3 months with say 3 tubes at about £25 each you'll still be making a saving of about £57 each 3 months by ordering online rather than through your vet.

[Lizzy B]

I also forgot to say that Bailey's been on a raw diet for the past year or more,though he does have titbits as well. He's on this raw food called Duck which has no duck in it, but is a prepared raw food. I think the kennels where I get it import it from Belgium, but Jim who owns the kennels swears by it. It's the first time in his life that he's been really keen to eat and always woofs it back, except when as now, it has crushed up anti-b's in it! Maybe I should stop him from his titbits, but I can't resist his soulful eyes, especially if there's icecream about!

[Loudon]

elaine.e  very informative and others spot on too. My two don't have problems but my dog of a life Katie had dry eye due to diabetes.

Opptimune is bril but expensive. Ok if you have insurance. My old vet got Oppimune down to a very small amount  once each day and backup cheapo Lacrilube once a day. But vet was of the old school type and not just out to get money.

[Mel]

My opinion, but if you are feeding raw I would kick out ice cream and salty or sugary treats. Salt and sugar and other carbs really don't do dogs any good and from what I have been told, sugar is far more damaging to a dog's teeth than our own. Just my two penneth.

[Lizzy B]

Just had a thought! The vet gave me viacutan for baileys skin/ paw problems, but surely giving him oil like that is going to make his poo softer and not help his anal glands??? Would he not be better to be doing hard poos to make his anal glands work properly?