English Setter with Eye Issue

[Gemma A S]

Hi, I am new to the fourm. I have an English Setter, who is 6 years old, and has had allergies for at least 4 years. He had been on an anti-allergy food, but then when we got out Siberian Husky, we changed to a different food for them both. After over a year, Oliver's allergies returned, and they are both back on the anti-allergy food. After some 6 weeks it seems to doing the job, less scratching and chewing going on.

Over the last few days, I noticed that one eye was weeping, but all I did was wipe it and clear the gunk in the inner corner regularly. However, this evening, while wiping it, I realise that the inner corner is a little puffy, but thought it was due to the eye weeping, but then I also noticed that the white of that eye is totally red, not just blood shot.

Could this be to do with allergies, or could the rough playing with Branwen the siberian have ended up with a scratch in the eye.. or is it some sort of infection.

He is very restful, and isn't acting differently, so trying not to worry.. any ideas?

[Frenchy]

Originally Posted by Gemma A S

Could this be to do with allergies, or could the rough playing with Branwen the siberian have ended up with a scratch in the eye.. or is it some sort of infection.

I'm voting for the rough playing. If it were allergies , both eyes would be runny. One of my dogs got an ulcer from being whipped in the face by my great dane's tail. I took him to the vet and he gave us ointment for his eye.

When it come to eyes injuries , it's best to not wait and go to your vet. It's simple to cure but like I said , better not wait.

welcome to pets.ca and I would love if you could post pictures of your dog , we love english setters you have to post a few times though , before being allowed to post pics.

[Gemma A S]

Do you think washing with saline solution as you would contact lenses would work/help?
I was thinking I would wait a day and see what happens, but tomorrow is Friday, so need to think fast.

[hazelrunpack]

Flushing with sterile saline might help tide him over the weekend (not the solutions with other ingredients for cleaning lenses--just plain sterile saline). However, if it's a scratch or conjunctivitis, this won't help. Best to get a vet's opinion and something to treat the eye with.

Is he squinting the eye at all? Is it reactive to light?

[Gemma A S]

Thank you
I have washed his eye with a water and salt solution, and will see if that helps.

Having said it wasn't problematic for him, he was pawing his eye a little before I did the saline wash.

The outside edge of his eye seems to now be getting redder.. but only one eye still.

[hazelrunpack]

Definitely needs a vet check then before the weekend. We don't mess with eyes--they're too precious a commodity.

Tis the season for eye infections, evidently. Both Cass and Cole have had one in the past month.

[Gemma A S]

Thanks Everyone. My husband took Oliver to the vet this morning, and thinks it is Conjunctivitis.. can they have that just in one eye? She did put a die in it to check for scratches and there were none.

So he will have drops twice a day for 7-10 days.

Is there anything we can do to stop this happening again?

Any advice I would be most grateful.

[hazelrunpack]

Yep, they can get it in only one eye. Not sure how you'd prevent a case of it... Good thing you had it checked, though, since I believe it's like pink eye in kids--contagious. The vet might be able to give you advice on how to prevent a recurrence.

I hope he responds to the meds quickly.

Any chance of getting a picture of your furbabies? We'd love to see them!

[Gemma A S]

I am glad we got it diagnozed right away, don't know what happens if you leave it and don't treat it?

I will most certainly post some photos.. I am new to the forum, so not sure if I am allowed to yet?

[hazelrunpack]

If you upload them as attachments (less than 100 KB in size) I don't think you have to wait to do pics, but I could be wrong... The rules changed after I joined to discourage spammers...

Not sure what the rules are about posting links from a photo-share site...maybe I can find the rules somewhere...

Hmmmm, not the rules, but how to do an attachment: http://www.pets.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=24118

You can also use [img][/img] or url tags if you're posting from a photoshare site.

[hazelrunpack]

Oops...forgot to answer your question about the conjunctivitis. I think if left untreated it can actually scar the cornea.

[Gemma A S]

Thank you for all your help.. I will work on putting some pics on here.. I am at work right now.. so later.

[Gemma A S]

So let's see if this works.. I think I am uploading photos of Oliver who is 6, Branwen and Oliver together.. and Branwen is a Siberian Husky, and is coming up to the terrible 2's in February.. and lastly is Loki and Freya who are sisters and are 10 and a half..

We did have a 4 year old French Farm Cat - Frodo - until a month ago, but we lost him with a urinary infection that moved so fast, that we could do nothing for him.

[hazelrunpack]

Oh, your furkids are beeeeyoooootiful! But I must confess that my eyes go right to Oliver and stay there. Yes...hazel is biassed... Bigtime! They're all gorgeous, but Oliver is a cutie, no question, and you just gotta admire a book-lover in this day and age of videogames.

[Gemma A S]

Oliver is a sweetheart for sure (he is French born and he learnt French as a baby) .. My husband and I moved from the UK to France, and that is where we got him, and then brought him to Nova Scotia with us. Now we have had three years trying to teach him English commands, so I think he is now bilingual.

The vet gave us cream to drop into his eye.. but a colleague at work - her daughter had 'pink eye' recently, and the Dr recommended putting the cream in both eyes, as the tendency is that the infection will clear in one eye and then jump to the other, have you heard of that happening with dogs? I am wondering whether we should treat both eyes, or wait and see.

So who do you have in your family Hazel?

[hazelrunpack]

Might not hurt to treat both eyes. It is contagious and it's not unheard of to have it jump to the other eye. Do you have enough meds to treat both eyes for the required amount of time?

We have 8 English setters at home. After we adopted the 7th, we thought we'd try our hand at fostering. Sigh...that's how we got up to 8. We're foster failures...

If you look under my profile albums, you'll be able to see a few pics. Oliver would fit right in!

[Frenchy]

awwww thanks for the pictures ! Your setter likes a bit like Hazel's Grace

[hazelrunpack]

I was thinkin' Oliver looked more like a masculine, blue Macie. They have the same soft, slightly uncertain look in their eyes...

[Gemma A S]

You have a wonderful family there Hazel. And yes Oliver is a very gentle soul, but I think Branwen is bringing him out a little. Oliver gets lots of hugs because he often looks sad, but I think it's just him being himself, and I think the hug is more for me and he doesn't mind.

[hazelrunpack]

It took Cole and Cass two months to get Macie to even try to play with them, but she came around. She's still a bit backward, even after 4 years here, but she's gotten so much better than when she came. It's wonderful to see And she doesn't mind the hugs and lovin', either...although her favorite thing is a belly rub!

[rainbow]

Your fuzzbutts are gorgeous. I do have to say that Branwen is my favourite though since I have a sibe of my own and they are my favourite breed. Have fun with the terrible two's though.

Do you know what Oliver is allergic to? Is it food related or enviromental? Are they on the vet hypoallergenic food? If so, the ingredients are yucky and I would switch them to a grain free kibble as grains do cause a lot of allergies.

[Gemma A S]

Thank you for your feedback Rainbow.. we are feeding them both the same thing for ease.. Hill's Prescription Diet Z/D.. and our pet shop had suggested Grain Free too.. but we felt since this had worked previously we went back to it.

I hadn't heard that the contents are yucky though, the thing I find with what I thought of as 'better quality' food is that less comes out the other end. I had always felt that meant there was less crap in it, more goodness.

We are currently giving them quite expensive organic treats.. and am sure they have grain in them.. so will not be getting them again, but making sure of content before buying.

[rainbow]

Here is the ingredient list for the z/d ....

Dried Potato Product, Hydrolyzed Chicken Liver, Potato Starch, Soybean Oil (preserved with BHA, propyl gallate and citric acid), Hydrolyzed Chicken, Powdered Cellulose, Calcium Sulfate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Glyceryl Monostearate, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid), Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), DL-Methionine, Taurine, preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.

Dried potato product is contains peelings and pieces they cut off not fit for human consumption.

Hydrolized chicken liver and hydrolized chicken are both very cheap sources of protein.

Powdered celluslose is basically sawdust.

It is preserved with BHA which is carcinogenic.

And, why do they use soybean oil when soy is one of the biggest causes of allergies in pets.

I really think you should reconsider changing their diet.

[rainbow]

This is what the dog food analysis website has to say about Hill's z/d ....

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...p/product/1078