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So here's the thing, my dog, an 11 year old long haired maybe phalene/maybe chihuahua mix keeps getting severe inflammation in her left eye. The condition is called uveitis, which is inflammation of the sclera and cornea accompanied by low intraocular pressure. It can be caused by infection, or about a thousand other things. Right now the vet has her on eyedrops twice a day: neomycin and polymixin B sulfates, which are antibiotics, and dexamethasone, which is a corticosteroid, twice a day in the left eye. She also gets dorzolamide HCl and timolol maleate twice a day in the right eye, which isn't inflamed, but has glaucoma. Here's a picture of it:  I know it looks like a cataract, but it's the cornea that's gone opaque, not the lens. And it happens very fast. Her eye will be perfectly clear, and I can come back after 30 minutes and it will be totally white. When it first happened the vet gave us the drops and said that if it were an infection it would be cleared by the time the drops ran out, and no further treatment would be necessary. It cleared up after about two or three days, but I'm pretty sure she's blind in that eye now. It has a misshapen pupil that doesn't respond to light and there's something white floating around in the bottom of her eye that I can't identify:  Once the drops ran out her eye turned totally white again after about a day, so we put her back on the drops, along with a systemic antibiotic (I think it was clindamycin). After that and another month of drops her eye turned white again and we decided to keep giving her the drops indefinitiely. It's been about four months since then, and it's flared up again twice, despite the drops. It happened a month ago and cleared up again in about a day. It's really bad right now, her eye is swollen shut and oozing green stuff and has been since yesterday evening, she's lethargic, and clearly in a lot of pain. And the stupid vet won't be open until Tuesday. As a side note, she's also had severe bladder stones recently. I had to have her operated on twice in one year (about $600 each time), the first time to remove a struvite stone the size of a bottle cap and the second time, only five months later, to remove three struvite stones the size of peas, which is pretty massive for a 12 pound dog. I'm giving her prescription food for the stones, Royal Canin Urinary SO, which is supposed to prevent/dissolve stones, along with monthly antibiotic shots to keep her from getting another bladder infection (which is what causes stone formation) and deionized water (no magnesium). I also had her tested for tick-borne illnesses like erlichiosis, etc... and she's always current on her shots, Heartguard, and Frontline Gold. I can't help but wonder if the uveitis and stones are connected since they both started happening about a year ago. I've had a lot of dogs over the years but I've never had one get uveitis or bladder stones, so I don't really know what else I can do. I don't think my vet has any ideas either. I was just wondering if anyone else has had something like this happen and what you did about it.
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May 28, 2017 07:45
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 12:06 |
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I'm prefacing this with IANAV. But: It's possible that your little lady is just starting to shut down. At 11 she's getting pretty far up there. So yeah, it may just be that you're seeing problems crop up. When my dane lad got bladder stones, the first thing they assumed was sturvites so I got a big talk about them. I'd be really curious as to why her urine is so incredibly alkaline as to be causing those. Do you have any idea what the PH is or have they told you? Bladder inflammation doesn't help and neither do bladder infections but.. they told you the reason she's getting bladder stones is infections and put her on a prescription diet? Man, everything I'm reading here kinda sounds like a vet who's treating symptoms and not looking for causes. I can fathom why they'd do what they're doing, but again- it seems like they're treating symptoms, not the actual problem. Which is a head scratcher for me. If she's on the dry version of the prescription food, did they at least tell you to soak it in water so she gets more fluids? I'll say that my boy never went on prescription food, but he ended up having freaking cystine stones, not sturvites. They tried to get me to even after Hill's said it'd cause allergic reactions in him, but the big guy was so allergic to wheat and corn he'd have been miserable. When he died earlier this month, he had 0 stones and I all but attached a water hose to his jaw basically. But cystine and sturvite stones are a hell of a different case. Hence why I'm really curious about this pup.
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May 28, 2017 13:26
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They didn't test for a bladder infection, I guess they just assumed that's what caused it. I had the stones analyzed, and both times it turned out to be struvite (magnesium ammonium phosphate) stones. They couldn't find a "nidus" either time, which would be like the bacterial booger thing a stone forms around after an infection, which they said means it may or may not have been caused by an infection. She hasn't had any more trouble with the stones (yet) since I've been giving her the (canned) prescription food, but it's only been about three months. I've been encouraging her to drink a lot of water, but I have the hardest hard water, which is caused by magnesium ions. Lately I've been giving her deionized water, either softened or reverse osmosis. I don't know if that will actually help, but my thinking is less magnesium equals less chance of forming NH4MgPO4, and it couldn't hurt. What's puzzling is that she had four puppies about 9 years ago, two live with me and two with my parents, and even though they've eaten the same food, the same water, the same medications, and have been exposed to the same environment, they've never had eye or bladder problems. In fact, this is the first time she's had any health problems aside from some joint and back related stuff. The eye thing has improved a little bit since last night, but the sclera is still really red and most of the cornea is still white. I live in a small town in the south, and although he's been a vet for about 30 years, but my vet probably doesn't have to deal with stuff like this very often, and there's a waiting list to be accepted to other clinics in the area. I need to prod him into testing for stuff, but on the other hand unnecessary medical procedures would probably do more harm than good; she's a very shy, quiet, and sensitive little dog. I think my greatest fear right now is that she may have some untreated systemic problem like an autoimmune disease or infection that didn't respond to the antibiotics she's been on. I'm going to take her in Tuesday and talk to the doctor about it, but I need to figure out what I should looking for. Here's the eye tonight, you can see the limb of her iris darkening back to normal:  Anyway, I'll post updates on her condition, and let you all know if I find out anything more from the vet. Feel free to offer suggestions.
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May 29, 2017 06:43
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Can't see the pic but I'd like to. Just assuming it's a bladder infection is kinda blowing me away. You stick a needle in, you test the urine, it takes like 6 seconds. Have they ever taken a urine sample from this dog? It's feasible that the hard water is having an effect but I won't say it's the cause. And they're quite a bit younger than her, still. As you said- this didn't start until a year ago. They're a year off from that, themselves. At least the food is canned. Definitely keep up the water purifying thing so long as it's not adding extra mineral load to her. Them not finding a nidus and still assuming it's a bladder infection is kinda making me tense though because drat, twice? And nothing? C'mon. That's a bit much. Seriously, push for diagnostics on your girl. He really is just treating symptoms from the sound of it and opening a dog that elderly -twice- and -still doing the same thing- bothers me. Your profile say WV so I'm assuming WV still: is there any larger (lol, WV, "larger") towns within a not-nightmarish driving distance? I've got family up that way, so I know half the state is banjo pluckin disappearo land.(I love it) E: hell, http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/produ...CFUw8gQodSmUKow will tell you more than it sounds like your vet is telling you =/ Fluffy Bunnies fucked around with this message at 20:08 on May 29, 2017 |
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May 29, 2017 19:58
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