Does anyone have a dog with dry eyes?

Question

My dog was diagnosed with dry eye. We have an ointment called optimmune that we put in her eyes, along with artificial tears.It seemed to be working. All of a sudden her eyes have become real red and she walks around with her eyes closed. Our vet gave us an antibiotic and we have been using it for 3 days now, but her eyes are no better. I am wondering if she could be having a reaction to the optimmune ointment. Has anyone ever had a dog with dry eye? Any suggestions please!

Answer 1

Have they measured the intraocular pressure with an instrument called a Tonopen? If glaucoma has developed, you don't have long to start treatment before vision is lost permanently. KCS (dry eye) doesn't cause glaucoma...but breeds that are predisposed to KCS are also predisposed to glaucoma.

I've never personally seen an allergic reaction to Optimmune, but it's certainly possible. A dog can become allergic to any medication at any time.

More likely, however, your dog might have developed corneal ulcers, which are common in dogs with KCS and will cause red eyes, held closed. That can easily be detected by your regular DVM doing a simple corneal stain test in the office.

If the eyes stain negative, your DVM doesn't have a Tonopen to check for glaucoma, or if the IOP measures normally, I'd recommend asking for an emergency referral to a board-certified veterinary ophthalmologist.

Answer 2

I have a rat terrier 1 yr old, she has been diagnosed with dry eye since she was 6 months old. she actually doesn't produce any tears at all, we have also tried aptimmune with artificial tears, it seemed to work for a short while also it only has a shelf life of 2 wks, it will loose its effectiveness. The redness is common with dry eyes. I also tried tacrolimus opthalmic 0.0.2 % which she had a bad reaction too and made her eyes even more red. Finally after alot of trial and era the vet per scribed acetylcystein 20% solution 6 cc mixed with over the counter natural tears, Its not a miracle it also looses it effectiveness after2 wks but its less expensive and seems to work the best.
good luck

Answer 3

Sue the vet and find another vet...
If my dog had it I think i'll just use clean water, since the medicine doesn't work.

Recently my dog had lots of tears in his eyes and it was red...The tears made the corners of his eyes bleed...so every morning and night i washed his eyes without going to the vet. And it happened for around 2 weeks without side effects.