Calcium Deposits in Eye

[westielover]

My 17 year old west highland terrier has just had a diagnosis of calcium deposits in his eyes. One of his eyes currently has an ulcer in it. The opthamologist has suggested a corneal graft because there is damage to the stroma and graft may help prevent the eyes rupturing? His blood results indicate that everything is within normal levels - so nothing stands out as to what could be causing these deposits except for the ageing process. 

 

I'm not keen to have my little old dog undergo such a big operation on both eyes at his age. :-(

 

Has anyone been through this with their dog and are there any less invasive options/natural remedies? 

 

 

 

[Dogsfevr]

Can he see out of either eye .
Did you have a chat to the specialist about other options given his age & what did they suggest

[westielover]

30 minutes ago, Dogsfevr said:

Can he see out of either eye .
Did you have a chat to the specialist about other options given his age & what did they suggest

Yes he can see out of both eyes and currently has no cataracts but he has lost depth perception and hoes have greyness in his eyes.

 

I have put a call into the specialist and waiting for a call back. I was just interest to see if anyone else has has this experience with any fo their dogs and what path was taken.

[Rappie]

I have treated a couple of patients with a similar condition. The calcium deposits can slough to leave the resulting ulcer as the defect. There aren't a lot of alternatives, obviously you will be best guided by the specialist - I've seen some discussion of the use of contact lenses, but other than that the cases that I have seen have been treated conservatively with loads of lubricant eye drops, antibiotics (topical and oral) as required, pain relief as required and crossing fingers. One of the benefits to being aged is that the corneal basement membrane is a little less delicate but rupture is still possible as even once the ulcer heals the defect is not entirely replaced with normal cornea. If the cornea ruptures then enucleation is recommended. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Rappie

[Loving my Oldies]

    Poor doggy and you, @westielover.  Danny ()went through this and now Jeune is too.  Danny had a few sessions of ablations (is that the right word??) and had a contact lens in his eye for protection.  Jeune is now going through the same thing, but has been treated with Viscotears and Opticin three times a day.  She was doing so well that the last time we went for a check up (these were weekly for quite a few weeks) the vet was so excited at the improvement that she dropped the meds to just Viscotears twice a day.  Yesterday she was back to squinting and eye was watering copiously so I think we need up the meds a little bit.   

 

[westielover]

On 07/09/2018 at 6:12 PM, Rappie said:

I have treated a couple of patients with a similar condition. The calcium deposits can slough to leave the resulting ulcer as the defect. There aren't a lot of alternatives, obviously you will be best guided by the specialist - I've seen some discussion of the use of contact lenses, but other than that the cases that I have seen have been treated conservatively with loads of lubricant eye drops, antibiotics (topical and oral) as required, pain relief as required and crossing fingers. One of the benefits to being aged is that the corneal basement membrane is a little less delicate but rupture is still possible as even once the ulcer heals the defect is not entirely replaced with normal cornea. If the cornea ruptures then enucleation is recommended. 

Thanks for the reply Rappie. Turns out my westies is having the corneal graft today. The ulcer is quite deep and the specialist is worried about rupture. His bloods are excellent for a dog of his age so she's she is happy to proceed with the surgery. He's at SASH - so in good hands. Fingers crossed he doesn't get any more ulcers in the future!

[westielover]

On 07/09/2018 at 8:05 PM, Dame Danny's Darling said:

    Poor doggy and you, @westielover.  Danny ()went through this and now Jeune is too.  Danny had a few sessions of ablations (is that the right word??) and had a contact lens in his eye for protection.  Jeune is now going through the same thing, but has been treated with Viscotears and Opticin three times a day.  She was doing so well that the last time we went for a check up (these were weekly for quite a few weeks) the vet was so excited at the improvement that she dropped the meds to just Viscotears twice a day.  Yesterday she was back to squinting and eye was watering copiously so I think we need up the meds a little bit.   

 

Oh no - sorry to hear Danny is no longer with us @Dame Danny's Darling Poor little Jeune! Sounds like she is responding well to the treatment though. Sounds like Jeune might need to stay on the combo of Viscotears and Opticin. 

Riley is having the corneal graft today - so hopefully everything will go well. Fingers crossed!

[Loving my Oldies]

3 hours ago, westielover said:

Oh no - sorry to hear Danny is no longer with us @Dame Danny's Darling Poor little Jeune! Sounds like she is responding well to the treatment though. Sounds like Jeune might need to stay on the combo of Viscotears and Opticin. 

Riley is having the corneal graft today - so hopefully everything will go well. Fingers crossed!

Oh good luck with Riley.  Keep us posted.