I have a 12 week old puppy whose eye got scratched by another puppy during play and then the eye became infected. It happened last Saturday, by her evening feeding at 4 pm her eye was very swollen, it was fine at 1:30 when I had last played with her before her nap . I brought her in Saturday at 5 pm to one of my vets. We had to sedate her to look at the eye. All the lid layers were swollen at the time. The swelling has gone down. We are giving gentamycin ointment and Clavamox. The eye was re-evaluated on Tuesday - the swelling went down but the cornea is scratched quite severely. Pup was rechecked today - they were hoping for new capilaries in the area but saw none, so her blood was drawn and spun down and the plasma was pulled off. I now have to give a drop of her own plasma in the eye 4 times a day as that can stimulate capillary growth. Comment was made by the vet to the assistant that they might end up removing the eye!
Has anyone had anything like this? If so, what was done, was it successful? Any helpful advice, comments, etc. appreciated! Right now her eye is cloudy and she cannot see out of it
While I haven't had this happen in puppies (yet!), we did have something similar happen in a yearling thoroughbred. A corneal scratch ulcerated then ended up with a bacterial and fungal infection. Treated with Atropine (as needed) ,Gentamycin, Miconazole and Plasma 4x a day. He also needed to have the cornea debrided on two separate occasions. It was a solid 3 months of round the clock treatment, and a few frank discussions about losing the eye, but he did recover with only a minor scar on the cornea which never bothered his vision.
The early involvement of a specialist was critical and certainly turned the tide in our favor.
You need to get this pup to a canine eye specialist asap. He/she will perform a "corneal grid" to encourage faster and much better healing. I had this done to my older Lab many years ago when he had a non healing ulcer. He got sand whipped in his eye and it cause quite the ulcer. I wasted time on my regular vet going back and forth and doing different antibiotics. The corneal grid saved his eye from becoming scarred and it healed perfectly. Only a canine opthomologist can do this. I am close to Cornell, so I am lucky. You can save this puppy from having a lifelong issue if you head this advice. I will add that my dog's ulcer healed within 2 weeks after the grid was performed and it was a quick procedure.
I have a bitch who injured her eye. her eye was watery and bluish...my vet said eye was dying, and would need to be removed, I took her to opthamologist, he did emergency surgery, removed a piece of grass over an inch long, which penetrated the lens. had her on topical and oral antibiotics, and it healed perfectly...her vision was not altered, she has scarring in her eye , but CERF's every year. so, go to opthamologist!!!
A vet who knows about this can tack the eyelid back so that the cornea can heal. Dr Rubin did it for one of mine years ago. He just sutured it back so that the lid does not touch the eye. The cornea healed very quickly. No need to remove the eye by doing this. See an eye specialist. Or have the vet talk to a specialist on how do do this. best of luck
Eye was "well on the way to being fully healed" per optometrist. We switched off of gentamycin eye ointment because it constricts blood vessels and blood flow. Optometrist put pup on simply neomycin, polysporin drops twice a day and an eye lubricant once a day. Optometrist stopped the plasma drops saying eye was well on the way of healing. The most interesting part to me is that the eye may look cloudier during the healing process and we may visibly see blood vessels appear while it heals.
Glad to hear the eye was healing! I'm thinking because this was a puppy and not an older dog the healing was easier. Yes the eyes will look worse before they get better when healing from an ulcer. I also was instructed to use only an ointment for lubrication and no antibiotic. The antibiotics were making my dog's eye worse. He squinted terribly from them. Once I used only the Puralube after the corneal grid, the eye turned the corner. Let us know when the pup's eye is all back to normal!
