cavvysavvy Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Good morning all, I have a cav who was diagnosed with dry eye a few months ago. He was prescribed optimmune which seemed to burn his eyes and make them really red, where even the maxidex drops never helped. It was assumed that he was allergic to the cyclosporin. Robin Stanley then put him on the new drug - tacrolimus and I still seem to be having the same problem. I have called him and he would like to leave my dog on the tacrolimus, thinking that it may just be allergies (environmental) His eyes are so red this morning, but he does have a few good days, but seems to be having more bad days than anything. I can see that he is very uncomfortable. Does anybody have any suggestions or tips as to how I can better manage this situation as it is driving us crazy... The poor bugger, as I said, seems to be miserable all the time these days.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I'm not an expert, but the dry eye condition can be caused by some underlying medical condition. Thyroid is the first one that springs to my mind, but not to suggest there are none others. Has your Vet suggested bloods to investigate? If you do go ahead with thyroid tests I would suggest you send them through to Dr Jean Dodds in the USA for testing and analysis. Our tests are not as thorough and a "negative" might not always be a "negative". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 I'm not an expert, but the dry eye condition can be caused by some underlying medical condition. Thyroid is the first one that springs to my mind, but not to suggest there are none others. Has your Vet suggested bloods to investigate? If you do go ahead with thyroid tests I would suggest you send them through to Dr Jean Dodds in the USA for testing and analysis. Our tests are not as thorough and a "negative" might not always be a "negative". Dry eye is known to be an autoimmune problem as far as I knew.... I guess there could be other factors, but cavaliers are very prone to tis condition anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesars mum Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I'm no vet, but when I first got Mega she suffered from dry eye and had drops and creams from the vet. We started her and garlic horse radish and vitamin c tablets and changed over to bathing the eye in cooled black or green tea. Her eyes improved and she had no symptoms from it with this treatment. After a month or so we reduced the bathing down to weekly and she never had a problem. this has just been my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretel Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Oh dear poor fella Are you using some lubricant to ease the dryness as well as the other treatment? I think it was Genteal that I used for my old girl several times a day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Oh dear poor fella Are you using some lubricant to ease the dryness as well as the other treatment? I think it was Genteal that I used for my old girl several times a day. I have some lacrilube and viscotears and was wondering if i should just try these alone for a while to see what happens. I realise that I would have to apply these more often to keep the eyes lubricated but am willing to do so. Only problem is that his opthalmologist wants to stick to the tactolimus and I am almost certain that this is causing the further irritation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretel Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 How often are you applying the Lacrilube and/or Viscotears? The thing is they will be helping soothe his eyes but it's just that. The other treatment is to try to improve the tear production. I'd be talking to the specialist again. My old girl, Gretel, was on Cyclosporine for about 18 months and her tear production improved dramatically and she no longer needed anything. Another girl I had as a baby pup didn't respond quite as well. One eye did and tear production was good but her other eye only improved a bit and she is on treatment and tear replacement for life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 How often are you applying the Lacrilube and/or Viscotears? The thing is they will be helping soothe his eyes but it's just that. The other treatment is to try to improve the tear production. I'd be talking to the specialist again. My old girl, Gretel, was on Cyclosporine for about 18 months and her tear production improved dramatically and she no longer needed anything. Another girl I had as a baby pup didn't respond quite as well. One eye did and tear production was good but her other eye only improved a bit and she is on treatment and tear replacement for life. He was on the cyclosporine for a few months, and while this improved the tear production to around 25, he had very red eyes from using this, hence the reason he was put onto tacrolimus. But I feel I have the same results, his tear production on the new drug is only 15 which is still deemed sufficient.... I know that the others only lubricate, but surely this would also relieve? I dont know.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cockerlover Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I have an old cocker who developed dry eye later in life . we also found that optimune cause inflamation , I am now using a dry eye ointment,plus panalog @ nite . finding this to be more affective than the optimmune . Check with yr vet first though pls Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 I have an old cocker who developed dry eye later in life .we also found that optimune cause inflamation , I am now using a dry eye ointment,plus panalog @ nite . finding this to be more affective than the optimmune . Check with yr vet first though pls I have some panalog for another problem. Does this lubricate the eye really well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shortstep Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I have an old cocker who developed dry eye later in life .we also found that optimune cause inflamation , I am now using a dry eye ointment,plus panalog @ nite . finding this to be more affective than the optimmune . Check with yr vet first though pls I have some panalog for another problem. Does this lubricate the eye really well? I don't think you should use medications that were not first OK'd with your vet. If possibel you might want to consider going to an eye specialist. I had a vet look at eye problem my dogs was having, after a week and it seemed liek things were getting worse, I took the dog to a specialist. Different DX and different treatment and all was well very soon. I think if things with eyes are not going well is is worth the money to have an expert take a look. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavvysavvy Posted April 3, 2011 Author Share Posted April 3, 2011 I have an old cocker who developed dry eye later in life .we also found that optimune cause inflamation , I am now using a dry eye ointment,plus panalog @ nite . finding this to be more affective than the optimmune . Check with yr vet first though pls I have some panalog for another problem. Does this lubricate the eye really well? I don't think you should use medications that were not first OK'd with your vet. If possibel you might want to consider going to an eye specialist. I had a vet look at eye problem my dogs was having, after a week and it seemed liek things were getting worse, I took the dog to a specialist. Different DX and different treatment and all was well very soon. I think if things with eyes are not going well is is worth the money to have an expert take a look. I have spent thousands of dollars on his eyes (literally) over the last two years, and all of this was through an eye specialist, not a vet. I would not use anyhting not prescribed for the eye without forst consulting the eye specialist. As I had previously posted, his eye doctor wanted to keep going with the current drug, which i am doing, but I was using more lubricating ointments in between, lacrilube and viscotears... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erny Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I'm not an expert, but the dry eye condition can be caused by some underlying medical condition. Thyroid is the first one that springs to my mind, but not to suggest there are none others. Has your Vet suggested bloods to investigate? If you do go ahead with thyroid tests I would suggest you send them through to Dr Jean Dodds in the USA for testing and analysis. Our tests are not as thorough and a "negative" might not always be a "negative". Dry eye is known to be an autoimmune problem as far as I knew.... I guess there could be other factors, but cavaliers are very prone to tis condition anyway Thyroid can be an autoimmune problem too .... that's why I think there can be a connection. If it were me, I'd be checking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cockerlover Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 I have an old cocker who developed dry eye later in life .we also found that optimune cause inflamation , I am now using a dry eye ointment,plus panalog @ nite . finding this to be more affective than the optimmune . Check with yr vet first though pls I have some panalog for another problem. Does this lubricate the eye really well? not so sure it lubricates ,but certainly helps my girl .*I was not suggesting you use it without vets approval* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elfin Posted April 3, 2011 Share Posted April 3, 2011 (edited) So sorry you are having such trouble with your Cav's dry eye. Dry eye (aka keratoconjunctivitis sicca, or KCS) is as someone already said, an auto-immune disease; the tear glands of the eye are essentially, attacking themselves. Both the cyclosporin and tacrolimus are immune suppressants, that are traditionally used in human organ transplant patients as an "anti-rejection" drug. The use of these drugs topically in an eye affected with KCS is very common. Both drugs slow down or stop the body attacking the tear production, hence the rise in tear reading (Schirmer Tear Test). What must also be remembered is that eyes can still be clinically "dry" even though the Tear Test is "normal", the test only measures the VOLUME of tears, not the QUALITY of the tears. An important component of the tears is a lipid (fat), which also moisturises the eye. If the lipid part of the tears is insufficient, the eyes will still appear dry. If your dog has concurrent conjuctivitis, this could affect (decrease) the lipid level in the tears. Panalog will help with conjunctivitis, as it contains a cortisone BUT (and it's a BIG BUT) if there are any ulcers on the cornea (quite possible in a "dry eye"), the Panalog will make the ulcers worse. Panalog alone will not help your dog's tear film. Very rarely, dogs have an adverse reaction to the CARRIER, or base that the cyclosporin or tacrolimus comes in. Perhaps you could ask you specialist about this, as both drugs are made up "in house". The other option is surgery - a Parotid Duct Transposition. Once upon a time, we would say that this works in 80% of cases. 10% still did not produce enough tears and 10% produces too many. Best wishes for your poor little dog; you are in good hands with the specialist... perhaps her meds will just take some "tweaking". Edited April 3, 2011 by Elfin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now