2158. How to prevent dry eyes in your old dog

A 13-year-old Silkie has sticky right eye discharge everyday for several months.

"Dr E prescribed  eye drops and eye ointment and they were effective for some time," the wife took out the bottles from the plastic bag and put on my consultation table. "After a while, they don't work and I went to the pet shop to buy the eye drops. I don't want the same eye medication from you."
17. How to take care of your old dog's eye  (Video)



Surprisingly, the left eye cornea was as clear as a crystal but the right eye cornea was scarred with brown dots of pigments covering 80% of the surface. The eye white was reddish as compared to the normal white of the left eye.

"Has the dog been rubbing his right eye with his right hind leg daily?" I asked.
"Yes, yes," the husband said.
I applied fluorescein eye drops onto the cornea (video) and there was no ulcerations as there was no green stain.

"The brown pigments on the right eye cornea are caused by long-time scratching and now is scarred," I said. "There is no chance of reverting to the clear cornea. Now, we need to prevent the 20% of the cornea from becoming covered up with brown pigmentation."

"The possible causes could be the right ear pain as the dog wanted to snap at me when I palpated the ear. Another cause could be tooth ache as the roots of the back upper teeth are exposed and the teeth are cemened with thick tartar," I explained to the owners.

Sedation 5 kg, 13-year-old  Silkie: Domitor + Ketamine 0.05 + 0.05 ml IV 
Ear irrigation
Eye irrigation with 3rd eyelid everted to flush out debri
Optomimmune and eye drops. E-collar.
Inj. antibiotic and anti-inflam.
E-collar for 2 months.

To review in 3 weeks and dental scaling.  

CONCLUSION
Allergy to commercial ear drops, vigorous overcleaning of the right ear and periodontal diseases can cause ear scratching with collateral damage to the right eye in this case. Early dental scaling would have been preferred.