We have been on a little roller coaster with our dog’s health these last two weeks, and I was curious if others have dealt with glaucoma in their dogs before, to see if we are thinking in the right direction, and what we are possibly missing.
Our doggy is a very energetic, friendly Westphalian terrier, and he is turning 7 in October. Healthwise, we had an easy ride this far. He has been on a raw diet for most of his life and at roughly 8 kg he has been stable with his weight over the last few years. That just as background on him.
Two weeks ago, he started blinking both his eyes one afternoon, and I thought it was maybe due to the dry and dusty weather, because he was overall the same. The next morning, both his eyes looked inflamed, and he was very low in energy. I immediately went to the vet with him. Turned out, he had little scratches on the cornea of both eyes and the scratches showed bacterial infection. We went home with antibiotic drops, something to help heal the scratches and a moisturizing gel. When I went to his checkup, one eye had cleared up and healed, but his left eye still looked inflamed, and the vet said that the scratches healed but that he developed a new infection at the back of his eye. Back home, we went with a rather lethargic doc and Maxitrol eye drops for his left eye. The next day he had a severe reaction to the new eye drops, and we stopped them, I went back to the vet the next day. At that point and after reading a lot, I was quite worried, because I read that permanent damage to the eyes can happen very fast in dogs. And it wasn’t easy to see him in pain most all the time.
During the first two visits inner eye pressure was around 20, on this third visit, the pressure in both eyes was up to 63, and the vet diagnosed glaucoma in both eyes, she checked to make sure, that the lens in the eyes was still in place, and said the most important thing would now be to reduce the pressure and the resulting pain.
Since then, he has been taking COSOPT three times a day and XALATAN once a day. To reduce the built of liquid in the eyes and reduce the pressure. During yesterday’s checkup, the pressure in his right eye was down to 11, which is really good news, but his left eye was still between 44-49 and the lens seems to have moved, the eye is also slightly opaque. They vet prescribed Cimalgex (8mg per day) to give to him every day until the check-up next week, and she told us to monitor whether the painkiller makes him more comfortable. And we continue with the eye drops to reduce the pressure, of course.
The vet yesterday also recommended to at least meet a surgeon and get an idea whether removing the lens in the left eye could stabilize vision in that eye. He is still fairly young, and we want to preserve his vision as long as possible. And, most importantly, we want to keep him as pain-free as possible. Because these last two weeks were hard to watch, as he is normally full of energy and an anti-depressant on four legs.
Where we are at now and some of the questions we have:
I understand that the glaucoma will cause problems in waves, and it won’t be a steadily progressing illness.
The vet says the eye drops should now be part of his daily routine, as long as they work.
And that we should gather more information on the option of surgery. She will put us in contact with an expert in the region.
We will have the pressure checked regularly, that means for us, being careful to read the signs. Until now, it has been a slight feeling of emergency for the last two weeks because the dog was really not doing well.
With his pressure in the left eye at around 45 at the moment, and the lens displaced, is there even a possibility for the pressure to go down, or will he continue to be in pain unless he has surgery ? I am trying to figure out what the future baseline for his wellbeing is.
@Alana (thank you!) found me a plant-based supplement that I started adding to his meals to improve ocular health. And I was thinking of adding some more magnesium.
Also, we switched from a collar to a harness for his walks, to reduce pressure.
And I thought about trying acupuncture to reduce the pressure.
@Z... I found a post you wrote in 2020 where you had success with TCVM and acupuncture on a dog. Is there anything specific we should look into?
Please excuse the long post, it was also for clearing my head, because I got a bit in a reactive mode. Seeing your furry companions suffer is never easy. Any advice or experience others have made with glaucoma in dogs are very welcome!
Thank you
*edited for typos
Our doggy is a very energetic, friendly Westphalian terrier, and he is turning 7 in October. Healthwise, we had an easy ride this far. He has been on a raw diet for most of his life and at roughly 8 kg he has been stable with his weight over the last few years. That just as background on him.
Two weeks ago, he started blinking both his eyes one afternoon, and I thought it was maybe due to the dry and dusty weather, because he was overall the same. The next morning, both his eyes looked inflamed, and he was very low in energy. I immediately went to the vet with him. Turned out, he had little scratches on the cornea of both eyes and the scratches showed bacterial infection. We went home with antibiotic drops, something to help heal the scratches and a moisturizing gel. When I went to his checkup, one eye had cleared up and healed, but his left eye still looked inflamed, and the vet said that the scratches healed but that he developed a new infection at the back of his eye. Back home, we went with a rather lethargic doc and Maxitrol eye drops for his left eye. The next day he had a severe reaction to the new eye drops, and we stopped them, I went back to the vet the next day. At that point and after reading a lot, I was quite worried, because I read that permanent damage to the eyes can happen very fast in dogs. And it wasn’t easy to see him in pain most all the time.
During the first two visits inner eye pressure was around 20, on this third visit, the pressure in both eyes was up to 63, and the vet diagnosed glaucoma in both eyes, she checked to make sure, that the lens in the eyes was still in place, and said the most important thing would now be to reduce the pressure and the resulting pain.
Since then, he has been taking COSOPT three times a day and XALATAN once a day. To reduce the built of liquid in the eyes and reduce the pressure. During yesterday’s checkup, the pressure in his right eye was down to 11, which is really good news, but his left eye was still between 44-49 and the lens seems to have moved, the eye is also slightly opaque. They vet prescribed Cimalgex (8mg per day) to give to him every day until the check-up next week, and she told us to monitor whether the painkiller makes him more comfortable. And we continue with the eye drops to reduce the pressure, of course.
The vet yesterday also recommended to at least meet a surgeon and get an idea whether removing the lens in the left eye could stabilize vision in that eye. He is still fairly young, and we want to preserve his vision as long as possible. And, most importantly, we want to keep him as pain-free as possible. Because these last two weeks were hard to watch, as he is normally full of energy and an anti-depressant on four legs.
Where we are at now and some of the questions we have:
I understand that the glaucoma will cause problems in waves, and it won’t be a steadily progressing illness.
The vet says the eye drops should now be part of his daily routine, as long as they work.
And that we should gather more information on the option of surgery. She will put us in contact with an expert in the region.
We will have the pressure checked regularly, that means for us, being careful to read the signs. Until now, it has been a slight feeling of emergency for the last two weeks because the dog was really not doing well.
With his pressure in the left eye at around 45 at the moment, and the lens displaced, is there even a possibility for the pressure to go down, or will he continue to be in pain unless he has surgery ? I am trying to figure out what the future baseline for his wellbeing is.
@Alana (thank you!) found me a plant-based supplement that I started adding to his meals to improve ocular health. And I was thinking of adding some more magnesium.
Also, we switched from a collar to a harness for his walks, to reduce pressure.
And I thought about trying acupuncture to reduce the pressure.
@Z... I found a post you wrote in 2020 where you had success with TCVM and acupuncture on a dog. Is there anything specific we should look into?
Please excuse the long post, it was also for clearing my head, because I got a bit in a reactive mode. Seeing your furry companions suffer is never easy. Any advice or experience others have made with glaucoma in dogs are very welcome!
Thank you
*edited for typos
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