[Dailydrool] dry eye

[Beverly Szaton]

Dry eye (Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca: KCS) is very common among dogs and is
usually something that has to be treated every day, sometimes for the rest
of their lives. The commonest drugs used for this are topical Cyclosporine
(which used to be really expensive. I don't know if it still is, or not.)
Topical "Artificial tears" . Dogs do sometimes begin to produces adequate
tears at some point, altho this has not been my experience, I am told this
is true.

Our first Basset, Warf had Cherry eye, which we fixed surgically. The result
was that he ultimately developed Dry Eye in that eye, which lasted until the
end of his life. We put drops in his eyes every day for about 8 years. We
used artificial tears. I do not believe that at that time they were even
using Cyclosporine, because I have a vague recollection of Doc telling me
about this new drug, and I think it was after Warf had died. But I am not
sure.

Be sure whatever you are using is not a steroid. If the cornea becomes
scratched and you put steroids in the eye it will cause serious damage.
Always check to make sure you are not using steroids unless your Vet has
stained the eye first to be sure there is no scratch or ulcer present.

Good luck. I hope he begins producing tears soon, altho Warf never did.

MomPerson to Nigel,Llewis, Mitchell and Cooper
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.dailydrool.org/pipermail/dailydrool-dailydrool.org/attachments/20081130/b7f63efb/attachment-0002.htm>