Clear eyes to cloudy eyes within 8 hours

[Therottweilerlady]

I came home to quite a surprise! My 7 year old female Rottie was lying on the floor while I was watching TV. She was watching me and I noticed that her eyes appeared to be glowing. I called her over to me and her eyes were totally covered by a bluish tint. I immediately called the vet and made an appointment right away. The vet said that she has an infection in her eyes and gave me some steroid drops to put in her eye 4 times a day. She said it would probably take about 7 days to clear up. Her heart was checked, her lymph nodes were checked and no other abnormalities could be found. She then said if this didn't work they would do blood work to see what was going on. This could be a symptom of something else happening. I have checked my vet books to see what this could be but I haven't found anything yet. Does anyone know what this could be?
The Rottweilerlady
Buck -Rottie 3 years old
Brandy -Rottie 7 years old
Sheba (Wannabe)
Cody 91-01 Rottie
Elsa 91-97 Rottie
Maggie 94-05 Rottie

[flyballmom]

Charleigh had something called anterior uveitis, which did cause her eyes to quickly appear filmy. It also caused severe photophobia and redness. She was on not only steroid drops, but Atropine ointment to dilate her pupils, and oral steroids too. Hard to say if that's what she has but sounds like it could be. Here's a link for you. http://www.eyevet.info/uveitis.html

[Daisy Duke]

Sounds sorta like something horses get called moon blindness...do dogs get it too?

[frontierrots]

IF it is uveitis (and not saying it is) this is ALWAYS a side effect of some other condition. Most commonly a tick disease but sometimes also of cancer. Both myself and two of my vets have seen this coincidence time and again.

SO if it is uveitis start with a full tick disease panel and work out from there

[flyballmom]

Diane, my vet said that "sometimes" it's idiopathic. (For those who don't know, meaning it comes for no reason that is able to be pinpointed) BUT that most often it was a symptom or precursor of something else. I never went beyond the drops and ointment...the infection resolved. But...I will always wonder if there wasn't something that was missed. Charleigh was dead 8 months later. If I got that diagnosis with a dog now, I would INSIST on blood work for tick borne diseases and a full work up. Not to scare the OP, but IF the dog has anterior uveitis, it's NOT "just" an eye infection (like conjunctivitis, for instance.)

Originally Posted by frontierrots

IF it is uveitis (and not saying it is) this is ALWAYS a side effect of some other condition. Most commonly a tick disease but sometimes also of cancer. Both myself and two of my vets have seen this coincidence time and again.

SO if it is uveitis start with a full tick disease panel and work out from there

[frontierrots]

well. The cases "I" have the most knowledge of (dogs I bred but did not own)

One dog had a tick disease

One dog had the Uveitis for 8 months and was then diagnosed with a tumor behind his eye :(

One dog had it a year or so off and on. It went away a short time and then re flared. Not 3 months later she was diagnosed with osteo of a hind leg. She was dead just 4-5 months later

My Holistic vet said often when this is called idiopathic, it just means the underlying cause was not directly found at that moment but to look 6 months to 2 years ahead and likely the cause would show

[fostermom]

My one dog, who has what was diagnosed as auto-immune or immune-mediated uveitis, showed considerable redness to the eye as well as a whitish appearance to the eyes when reflecting light (this was most evident when he was in a dimly lit area. The OP did not mention redness though. If it is uveitis, it should be treated aggressively...my vets treated conservatively and it progressed from anterior to posterior uveitis. Another concern would be glaucoma which can cause blindness quite quickly. Ocular pressures would need to be checked to rule this out...most vets are not equiped to do this though. An emergency trip to an opthomologist would certainly be wise. (We had a bunny that literally went blind overnight so any eye problem should be considered as an emergency.)

[gail pang]

My Coco was a diabetic and had this problem. She did go blind her last year
and half of life with cataracts. She was a diabetic for six years and live almost 12 years. Same meds where given to her.

[Lola B Marie]

Years ago BR before rotties I had a boxer. I came home from work and he looked like an alien. Bluish glow filmy eyes. He got drops and ointment and was checked every few days. He lived to 15 yrs. Vet never attributed it to anything else but that was many yrs ago. Hope your boy's better soon

[Therottweilerlady]

Update! Her eyes were cleared up by Friday. I also followed a suggestion in an archived post about adding Parsely flakes to the diet. The Vet said it would probably take up 7 days to clear up. I'm taking her back on Monday for a full panel blood and urine work up. I'll let you know what the results are. Nothing else has changed for her, spirits good, eating and drinking as she always has.
Thanks for all the replies,
Therottweilerlady

[Lola B Marie]

EXCELLENT NEWS!!!!!!!pLEASE EXTEND GIANT SLOBBER FROM lOLA

[Lola B Marie]

excellent news!!!!!Please extend giant slobber from Lola

[Therottweilerlady]

UPDATE!! She was diagnosed with Hypothyroidisim. She is on a regimen of thyroid pills 2 times daily and all is back to normal.
Thanks for all the replies,
The Rottweilerlady

[observer]

Good that you got a "free" diagnosis on the thyroid while you were checking out the eye issues, since the two aren't related. I've had two senior female Rotties, both hypothyroid. Those "little blue pills" are an easy cure.

[Karlan]

I wanted to add to this post incase anyone cross references it that my Coco, 2.5 yrs old at the time got this bluish haze in her eyes. She ended up being diagnosed wth Lymphoma and is on chemo at the moment. Her eyes did clear up after a week or so once the chemo started.
The vet thought it was ehrlichia (tick disease affecting the blood) or Lymphoma prior to a diagnosis.