eye problems

[BOOMERS]

Our 5 yr old male suddenly developed problems with both his eyes. This manifested in what seemed to be a few hours. He seems to keep them closed the majority of the time (due to discomfort when they are open?). They also appear swollen but with no apparant discharge. The first vet prescribed steroid drops and advised me to visit a second vet. This vet prescribed an antibiotic creme. I have been giving him the antibiotic creme for two days with no sign of the problem clearing up. He just seems very uncomfortable. Any thoughts? (I was advised to wait until the course of antibiotics are done before using the steriods, which I have done). Could this be related to the muscle atrophy he has been experiencing in his forehead?

[Liz]

Is there a teaching veterinary hospital near you? With the conjunction of the two problems you've described, I'd want to have the dog seen by specialists. The two problems could be related, but both are very worrisome.

I didn't say anything in the muscle atrophy thread because I didn't want to scare anyone, but when a male I owned years ago developed hemangiosarcoma he lost all the muscle tone in his head. We discovered the cancer quite by accident, he had elbow dysplasia and his limping had increased, I was thinking of having surgery done, so we re-x-rayed to see how far the ED had advanced and discovered the cancer. My vet and I had thought that the loss of muscle tone in his topskull and throughout his body was due to a lack of exercise because of pain in movement.

We're very close to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Veterinary School, and I've always been very happy with the amount of care and thoughtfulness they provide - they're very thorough in checking every possibility and have resources that an ordinary vet just doesn't have like CAT scans and MRI's.

I don't know where you're located, but if you are somewhat close to Wisconsin, don't have a teaching hospital in your area, and want to send him up here for treatment, I would be more than happy to help with pick-up, drop-off, monitoring and board him if necessary, I've done this for other friends who needed to send their dogs to UW and couldn't be here with them. We don't have a big house, but there's always room for a dog in need.

Liz

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www.inxpress.net/~harkon/
harkon@inxpress.net

[Maggie]

Hi Boomers,I just had another thought when reading your post. I had a dog who did this and he was allergic to the pollens at certain times of the year. He has lovely eyes and within a matter of hours they were sunken,bloodshot and swollen and extremely painful,it took a while for this to clear up on antibiotic's and eye cream,he still gets an irratation at this particular time of the year,but not as bad as the first bout,although his health was really done when he got it the first time,hope this helps.

[BOOMERS]

We live on a military base ina remote area of northern Japan. There is no real Vet care (only a limited service provided by the military vets) and no vets in the small near where we live. I would be prepared to travel back to the states if I thought that this could be treated. Would travel hinder this?

[Nancy Estes]

Boomer - I made this suggestion to someone else on another list. They are also in Japan & have a Rottweiler. Anyway - why don't you do a search for the Japanese Kennel Club? I have no idea what the quality of vet care in Japan is but I do know that there are quite a few very serious show dog owners/exhibitors/breeders in Japan. I would think they could give you some advice regarding the facilities/vets in Japan. Let us know what you find out if you do this.

Nancy

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von Dorow Rottweilers
doggo@hotbot.com

[Liz]

<a href="http://www.jkc.or.jp/index_e.html">The Japan Kennel Club</a>

Hope this helps!!!!

Liz

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www.inxpress.net/~harkon/
harkon@inxpress.net