Dry Eye In Dachshund

[izzybee]

My 3 year old dachshund female has been diagnosed with dry eye and treatment called optimmune is the only method to help correct it. Cost is very expensive $97 around every 6 weeks or so, has anyone experienced this problem and what treatment was used.

Edited January 7, 2012 by izzybee

[Vehs]

I used to nanny for a family with a shihtzu who had dry eye - I don't think that was the medication she was on, but even if it was it certainly wasn't that expensive (I was the one taking it to the vet)

It was years ago and I know I posted about it in DOL but can't find the post now.

[westiemum]

Friends of mine with a westie with dry eye uses 'Murine' from the supermarket - cheap effective and with daily use her eyes are really good.

Hope that helps.

Edited January 7, 2012 by westiemum

[Pretty Miss Emma]

I'd check with the vet and see if there is a human equivalent that is safe to use in dogs. When I had my dog with eye problems all her eye drops were human ones as my vet refused to support pharmaceutical companies charging more for the same drug just because it was labelled for dog use. So you may find there is an equivalent you can get from a pharmacy that will cost significantly less.

[Eliza Jane]

Izzybee, my old Kelpie/BC mix had dry eye and used optimmune. After some misstarts, she was put on optimmune at, I think, age three. We finally had to give her her wings when she was 15. I kept the optimmune in the fridge as recommended by the vet and they didn't bother the dog at all going in. I found that adding liver/fish/cod liver oil/cooked orange vegetables to her diet for extra vitamin A also seemed to help her a lot but you have to be careful not to overdose.

I found that after we had used optimmune for some months we could reduce it to once every second or third day in the winter but she needed it almost daily in summer as the sunlight seemed to dry her eyes out a lot. I also used a small dab of gel each time, say about a half of a grain of rice for each eye. This stretched out a tube for some months. When she was older and wasn't as active she ended up having it about twice a week but that was in the last year or so of her life.

I found optimmune worked very well for my dog. Yes it is expensive but if you are careful how you use it you can get away with three or four tubes a year (from memory). Even at the start I don't recall using the whole tube in 6 weeks. Are you using gel in a tube or is it drops? I have used both and the gel is much easier and goes further.

[Gretel]

A girl I look after has Optimmune. Originally she had the drops but last time she came she had gel in a syringe from the vet. Apparently the vet can dispense it that way and save a bit? Lula is 7 now and has been using it since she was a wee puppy.

[hilaryo]

Optimmune is what I used on one of mine when he had dry eye and yes it is expensive but much better than a cheaper product that I was told to use by a different vet.

As Eliza Jane mentioned, you can usually reduce the frequency of apply the gel after a few months - from twice a day to once a day and so on.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I've had more than one dog with dry eye and Optimmune is brilliant - sometimes, after a while of twice daily (depends on how dry the eyes are) and a good regime with drops etc, it can be retested and go down to once a day.

Use only a small amount - the size of a rice grain - per eye.

It is very expensive that's for sure. Try buying Optimmune from overseas, have a look and you will find it much cheaper online in the US for instance.

The in between drops I use are Systane, i've had great results on the Optimmune plus Systane regime.

[becks]

We just used human artificial tears a couple fo times a day for my old mini, that was several years ago now, so things may have improved for treatments.

Vet suggested the human tears.

[karly101]

My previous boss used to make up his own eye drop formula using Atopica gel capsules, apparently there was a time when Optimmune was unavailable which is when he started doing it. A compounding pharmacy may also be able to make cyclosporine drops for you. Not sure if that would be a cheaper option but I do remember the vets drops did work out to be much cheaper and we had many clients who had success with it.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I was told you couldn't get the cyclosporine drops any more due to the risk of infection, not sure if that goes for all places that mix it.

The thing about dry eye is that you need a regime to manage the condition. With my own Malt boy, simply using Optimmune once a day followed by Systane eye drops about 10 mins later is fine.

For two other dogs I've rescued with much more severe cases that regime was not enough. One required daily cleansing with a saline solution and two lots of Optimmune per day. The other needs two lots of Optimmune per day. Both required regular Systane eye drops through the day which is very difficult if you work full time. One dog wasn't going to be suitable in my house long term due to it's needs.

When you've got the cnodition under control, you won't get the green/yellow eye discharge etc and the management varies from dog to dog, depending on the severity of the condition but make no mistake - dry eye is unpleasant and uncomfortable so it does need to be managed properly.

Edited January 10, 2012 by dogmad

[Kirty]

We make up Cyclosporin drops and Tacrolimus drops at work so you can definitely still get them.