Dogs eyes sensitive to light just happened today

[WendiS]

Hi all, I have a question does anyone know of a reason why our 3 yr old rotts eyes would become sensitive to light all of a sudden. My husband noticed it earlier today but I didn't really pick up on it until later this evening. In a room without bright over head light he seems normal and fine but the more light, the more he squints until he won't open his eyes at all. He appears healthy in every other way. Happy attitude, very playful with new pup -we've had her a month so I doubt that's the problem...although she did go to the vet yesterday and received her 2nd series of puppy shots but I can't imagine that would have anything to do with it. The only other thing that was out of the ordinary was all the dogs got their heart guard yesterday, but he's never reacted to that before.
Anyway I don't know if any of this helps someone with an idea of what's going on but of course it's happening on a long weekend so I can't get any official prognosis until Tuesday at least.
He's never shown any allergy symptoms before and his eyes aren't any runnier or goopier than ever (typical white eye moogs, that's all)
I'd sure appreciate any informed opinion.
Thanks,
Wendi

[targonrotts]

could the puppy playing scratch at his eyes?
could be eye ulcer. it hurts, they squint, the more light, the more they squint.

as soon as you can, take to the vet and check eyes for ulcers and eye pressure. if they can;'t give you a good answer or find what is wrong, i would schedule to see a opthamologist.

[Terri Lambert]

I agree with targonrott that your dog needs to see a vet ASAP as he may have a scratch on his eye or something else eyes are not to mess with.

[WendiS]

I've left a message with my vet. I have her home # but I'm not sure she's available this weekend. I even called the breeder, she has scads of experience and has been an unending source of knowledge in the past, but this is a holiday weekend and I haven't been able to reach anyone and am still waiting for return calls.
I certainly thought about a scratch from playing with the puppy that makes the most sense but it seems to be both eyes and there aren't any overt signs of trauma (swelling, weeping, crust etc) he doesn't seem to have any sensitivity to touch, I can run my hand over his eyes and he's fine. I can open the eye to look in and he's fine. The only apparent discomfort appears to be the light sensitivity. It is the strangest (and most concerning) thing. You are right when you say eyes are nothing to mess with.
I am stumped, very worried, and stumped.

[WendiS]

Is there a safe solution I could use to irrigate the eyes? Or, am I getting ahead of my self without medical advice? I guess I hate feeling like I'm not doing something.

[Nishasmom]

Yes, use a human eye wash and flush the eye well. If there is a scratch, this wont help (wont hurt either), but if he has debris in his eye this will help flush it out. I do this after every dog I groom to remove hair, shampoo, or anything else that could have gotten in their eyes.

To have an ulcer (scratch) there doesn't have to be any signs...swelling, boogers, crust, ect. The vet must 'dye' the eye and look with a special lense or light. I would take him to a emergency vet...if he has an ulcer, he needs eye drops or cream to help it heal and protect it. Is your dog scratching at his eye?

[WendiS]

No, he's not messing with his eyes at all, and he's really a sissy when something is wrong. Not at all a stoic guy. When you say human eye wash I have Bausch&Lomb Eye Relief eye irrigating solution... safe right? This is what you meant?

Something I just thought of, could it be a food reaction? I asked my son to pick up dog food, told him the size and the brand (Chicken Soup Adult...) and he picked up the large breed formula. I didn't think much about it, I just planned to finish out the bag and go back to what we normally feed. The squinting came on so suddenly I hadn't really considered his food, especially since it was nearly a week ago. I thought I'd give him a Benedryl and see if that helped.
Can someone tell me what the dosage should be? And maybe weigh in on whether this seems like a good idea?

[WendiS]

We have an update on Riley, we saw the emergency vet today and Riley was diagnosed with uveitis. We were given meds and told to see our vet mid week. Because Riley is young, other wise healthy and happy the vet was disinclined to assume the inflamation is a sign of an autoimmune disease or cancer and there wasn't any sign of trauma or damage to the cornea. Doing a web search one thing that keeps showing up is a reference to Leptospirosis. I know Riley was not vaccinate for lepto but I don't know about our new puppy (that was vaccinated 2 days ago). What I'm wondering is if he could have picked up strains of the virus from either urine or feces from her. He is always sniffing at her and licking when they play. I remember when my children were young having to be careful with hand washing after changing their diapers after their polio vaccine because it was a live vaccine. Is there any chance something like that might be possible, does anyone have any knowledge about this sort of thing...clearly I do not.

[targonrotts]

i would suggest see your vet, and if possible get a referral to see an opthamologist to reevaluate.

with lepto, you would see vomiting, yellowing of color, flu like symptoms...i would not jump into conclusion just yet, but try to see your vet asap for a follow up.

[Nishasmom]

Oh no...poor Riley. I did a quick search on uveitis...sounds like there are lots of possible causes. Does he have it in both eyes?

I will keep you and Riley in my thoughts, I hope he gets well soon.

[WendiS]

Yeah, he does have it in both eyes. Not too bad. Not as bad as some of the pictures I've seen on the net...thank God.

I'm not so much jumping to conclusions as I am trying to play detective (not that I'm qualified, or even good at it) since I can't see my regular vet until Tuesday and that leaves the wheels in my head spinning non-stop looking for possible causes. Every web search I did mentioned the Lepto virus and I just wondered if he could have been exposed to it by her vaccinations. He doesn't appear in the least bit sick I guess I was just thinking, like when you get a vaccine it's enough of the virus to help your body fight it but not enough to infect you, perhaps he might have been exposed to it by her and his body is doing that now. Like I said too much time on my hands and I hate unsolved puzzles.

[WendiS]

Well so much for playing DR House. No, of course he didn't come in contact with the lepto virus from the puppies vaccine, or so says my slightly amused vet. She thinks it's allergies gone wrong. His eyes are open and he's doing fine with bright daylight today after just a few treatments with an anti inflamatory, and antibiotic eye ointment and benedryl. I'm not sure which part of the treatment is working so quickly (thank goodness) but he is responding and that's what really matters.
Thanks for your help and well wishes
Wendi & Riley

[targonrotts]

glad to hear there is improvement!
i know how you feel. we all worry about our kidz and not having an answer can kill us!

[tla0126]

I moved to Tucson, Arizona in February. The beginning of March, my Beau became very sensitive to light and his eyes were very red. I obviously was VERY concerned and took him to the vet right away.

The vet diagnosed him with Uveitis. He was acting normal except for the issues with his eyes so she prescribed him steroid eye drops and told me to monitor his behavior.

I don't think that Valley Fever is common in Oregon, but it is here, and that was a concern to my vet. She said if his eyes didn't return to normal in 3 days or he had any lethargy or lack of appetite, to bring him in for a blood test. Thankfully, his eyes cleared up right away and he never had any other symptoms. My vet chalked it up to being an allergic reaction (at that time, I remember I put that scented vacuum carpet powder down and of course, he lays right on top of the carpet.)

Glad to hear your Riley is doing better! Guess dogs can have allergies to things worse than us! I never would have thought!!! =)

[WendiS]

tla0126 Your experience is almost exactly like mine. Funny enough I didn't have any allergies until we moved to Phoenix, AZ back in 1992. We lived there for 2 yrs and I was told at the time "if you don't have allergies, you will." I just never imagined my dog could be so affected so suddenly. I'm still not sure if it was the minor (or so I thought) change in food or pollen. This is a bad pollen count year but we've had others as bad that didn't effect him at all. I've got him back on his usual food and he's doing great...he's hating the eye ointment but everything else is great.
I'm just so glad it's as simple as an allergic reaction.
Wendi