ASIAHOMES TIPS FOR YOUR PETS TO
LIVE LONGER
Be Kind To Pets.
A Community Education project using
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The
best Christmas present for the Pekinese
"The vet recommended taking the eyeball out!" shouted an
excited Mrs Hartono in a high pitch voice over the phone, shattering my
ear drums. The left eyeball had prolapsed, and was noticed by the
observant servant who informed her. Mrs Hartona kept beautiful
Pekinese dogs but this was the first to become a one-eyed dog if she
adopted the recommendations of the veterinary surgeon.
It was two days before Christmas and on the eve of her departure
overseas for a ski trip at Vail in Colorado. Would the young
Pekinese lose its eye if it was not operated on?
The corneas of two eyes were damaged and blood was coming out from the
eye tissues. The right eye had a small corneal ulcer earlier but
there was no serious problem till now.
The left eye now has a very big hole in its cornea and this was the
eyeball recommended to be removed.
It is a very emotional issue for owners all over the world.
Removal of the eyeball means that the dog will be one eyed and what
happen if the other eye becomes blinded?
Just being told of the news could evoke so much sorrow for most lady
owners. It is permanent blindness and affects the owner as if she
herself is affected.
"Can
you save the eye?" Mrs Hartono was seeking a second opinion
as her daughter was very upset on hearing the news of the need to remove
the eyeball surgically.
There was no guarantee of success in such a case but if the corneal
injury occurs in less than 24 hours, the chances of success in saving
the eye from being removed surgically are much higher.
The after-operation nursing and the costs of nursing are very important
in determining a successful outcome. The veterinary anaesthesia
and treatment of the eye by stitching up the eye-lids cost S$200, but
the nursing costs can be 3 times and most owners will prefer to bring
the dog home soon but don't know how to care for the eye.
Nobody knew what caused the serious corneal ulceration in the
Pekinese. Could it be the cats as she was fond of barking at them
and maybe one of them took several swipes at the Pekinese eyes?
The left eyeball had
prolapsed (come out from its socket). Red blood bleeding inside
the eye could be seen.
ANAESTHESIA AND SURGERY
 |
 |
|
| The
right eye had a 2 mm wide ulcer. Acute conjunctivitis. The
Pekinese was tranquilised by intramuscular injection and put under
general halothane anaesthesia. |
More
than 8 mm wide corneal ulcer in the left eye.
Red liquid blood swirled around the lower inside
of the eyeball, below the cornea at 4 - 6 o'clock. |
|
 |
 |
|
| Upper
and lower eye-lids stitched up to cover the ulcer and let it
heal. The surgical procedure is called tarsorraphy. |
Antibiotic
injection into the eye conjunctiva after shaving off the hairs
around eye-lids. Pekinese at the end of anaesthesia. |
23
days after surgery. The stitches were removed on day 14. The
right eye ulcer has healed and is a small white spot. The left eye ulcer
is still healing. Small blood vessels migrate to the centre of the
ulcer bringing in the repair cells. There was no infection of the inside of the eyeball.
|
The
Pekinese went home on January 15, 2000.
"It was very thin," said Mrs Derbyshire. The Pekinese
was "blind" for 14 days as it could not see. It was not
interested in the food at the veterinary clinic.
2 days at home, its left eye became redder although its right eye was
normal. The dog had rubbed its left eye although it was wearing
the Elizabeth collar.
Spot lights in the house, wind, air conditioning, dust from the garden
and bright sunlight all irritate deep eye ulcers which are still
healing. Healing takes several weeks of good nursing care.
Pet owners need to be extra vigilant in nursing an eye corneal ulcer in
an animal whether it is a dog, rabbit or race horse.
The continual scratching of the injured eye due to severe itch
aggravates the injury and sometimes lead to the rupture of the cornea,
with the whole liquid contents of the eye ball leaked out. In such
cases, the eyeball collapses and eye-sight is lost. The bacteria
and fungi get inside the eyeball causing pus to be formed, a condition
called hypopyon.
Removal of the septic eyeball will be the only solution in such
cases.
If an eye ulcer injury occurs less than 24 hours,
appropriate veterinary treatment using the method above may save the
eye. Even if the eyeball pops out of the socket, a common
condition of Pekinese, earlier veterinary treatment may save the
eye.
The deep ulcerative keratitis of the left eye of this
Pekinese need prolonged nursing and it will take more than 2 months of
careful nursing before the defect can be covered by scar tissue.
Unfortunately, most owners feel sorry that the dog need to be kept in a
dark place and to wear the Elizabeth collar. Therefore, the owner
will remove the collar for an hour or so. That is when the dog
scratches its itchy eye and the ulcer deepens.
Eventually, its septic eyeball needs to be removed by the vet as the dog
could not tolerate anymore the continual itch and pain. There are
cases where the owner did not seek veterinary treatment and the eyeball
collapsed and degenerated into a shrunken mass.
 Sometimes,
rabbits do get eye ulcers but such cases are rare and
usually due to fighting. This rabbit had a left eye
ulcer 20 days ago.
The ulcer did not heal even though it was treated with
eye drops at home. The rabbit was observed wanting
to hide under the bed. The most likely reason was that
its ulcerated eye was sensitive to bright light and wind
and it was afraid of more eye drops.
It was warded and given an Elizabeth collar to prevent
it from scratching. The ulcer healed and became a
white spot after several days.
See:
The
Fox Terrier with an eye ulcer
Dec
1 2002. Will it be too late for the mobile phone girl to
save her Shih Tzu's eye?
 |
 |
 |
| A deep corneal
ulcer in a 11-month old Shih Tzu just purchased from a pet dealer 5 days
ago. It already had an eye ulcer but no red tissue protruding from the
cornea. |
The red tissue
is the basement membrane of the cornea. Its protrusion means that the ulcer is deep and will perforate
soon if the membrane breaks down. The eyeball cannot be saved
then. |
Yet, there was
no pain, redness or
itchiness or scratching of the eye despite the serious deep corneal ulcer.
This was abnormal behaviour for any dog. I suspected the owner must have
used steroids. |
 |
|
 |
| The dog was
given potent dexamethasone steroid eye drops by the father. This
prevented inflammation but delayed
healing and cause the ulcer to perforate. |
The dog will
then lose its eye as the eyeball collapses.
Eye drops
stopped and the eye lids were stitched up under general anaesthesia. |
Will the ulcer
burst or heal? We need to wait another 14 days. |
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