Poppy's wet eye

[Newt]

Hi guys and gals, I got a problem with my pretty grey girl Poppy.

Her left eye seems to be weeping a little, and she is squinting and pawing at it every so often too.
I took her to the vet two weeks ago, and he said there was no sign of corneal damage, though her eyelid seemed a bit swollen and the white of her eye a little red, so he thought it likely to be a conjunctiva infection and prescribed Conoptal eye drops, three times a day for a 7 days, and no dust baths during treatment....all of which I followed.

Well Poppy seemed to be better, as the swelling appeared to go down and the redness went away, but the wetness has reappeared after only a few days.
Now I know wet eyes can be a sign of URI or malo, but she doesnt seem to have any other symptoms. Her nose is normal, no snots or sneezing, no drooling, no weight loss, plus she's eating, pooping and acting normally.

My question is "what next?"
Obviously we need to go back to the vet, but should I ask for more eye drops, or should I get x-rays of her teeth....or both?
I am afraid to have her anesthetized if its not absolutely necessary, as I know it can be risky.

Any advice on how I should proceed with this is appreciated. Poppy is very precious to me (as are all my babies!!), and I'll do anything necessary to have her well again.

 

[ticklechin]

Sometimes with eye infections the chin will need oral antibiotics in conjuction with occular drops, if the chin has had steady weight, eats normal and does all the normal chin things I would ask for a course of oral antibiotics, (not baytril, something sulfa based), rather than jump into a x-ray first without any other malo symptoms.

 

[tunes]

I agree with tickelchin. If I have a light infection, I just use drops, but if it's one that won't clear, and everything else is normal, I use TMZ in conjunction with the drops for 7 days.

 

[Newt]

thanks so much for the advice. I'll try for oral antibiotics next...Poppy has had Bactrim (tri-sul) before and actually quite liked the taste so we'll give that a go as well as getting more drops.
Thanks again!

 

[Newt]

just an update....
Poppy is on oral antibiotics now (tri-sul) as well as metacam; for it's anti-inflammatory properties as well as to give her a little pain relief (she started pawing at her eye). She just LOVES her meds, and waits at the cage bars with her mouth open when she sees the syringe coming!! I soooo have to get pics of that....
Also Poppy is still getting her eye drops three times daily.
Dust baths have gone on hold until we're done with the eye drops, so the poor wee thing is looking a lil greasy.

She still has no other symptoms that might indicate malo, so I'm cautiously optimistic...


oh and just to clarify, my vet has told me that bactrim and tri-sul are actually two different kinds of antibiotic. Sorry if I caused any confusion there.

 

[mishellyshel]

i hope poppy is on the road to recovery........
i have a chin with malo and you should always be optimistic, even til the end at which time you will need to be realistic. that is what i am learning.

 

[Newt]

so the antibiotics dont seem to have cleared up Poppy's problem
the fur beneath her left eye is still wet, and worse still, her right eye might be having problems too...it was a little wet yesterday, though today it looks a bit better.

I've decided it is time to have her back teeth checked and her skull x-rayed to check for malo. Poppy is booked to have the procedure on Monday morning.

I'm so worried for her....what with the pyometra last year and the emergency spay, poor Poppy has already been through so much, and she's not even five years old yet

 

[Laurie]

Amanda, I will keep you and your dear sweet Poppy in my thoughts and prayers! Much love is being sent to her from my whole crew here in the states!

 

[lauralynne]

Poor Poppy! Thinking about you both!

 

[mishellyshel]

good luck Poppy!!

 

[Sandi]

Poppy will be in my thoughts, please let us know how it went. Good luck to you and your baby.

 

[Newt]

yes Poppy's wet eye is now two wet eyes

we're going to the vet's tomorrow for her x-rays, and I'm so worried I dont know how I'm gonna sleep tonight.
Thanks so much for all the good wishes guys, I'll be sure to post after I've picked her up.

*fingers crossed* for a good result.

 

[Easterpiggy]

poor girl. I hope you find out what this is and nip it in the butt. good luck with the appointment.

 

[mk94]

This might not have anything to do with anything, but my baby had some problems with weepy eyes. It turned out that he was "allergic" to the dust we were using. We switched and his eyes cleared up.

 

[Newt]

Well the good news is that Poppy came through the anesthetic fine, and there is no sign of malo! No root elongation detected, and all tooth surfaces were nice and even. So a big sigh of relief there at least! Phew!!

Now we just need to figure out what else could be causing Poppy's eye issues. The vet took swabs of her eye whilst she was under the gas, and has sent those for culturing, so if there's any lurking pathogen then it should be identified pretty quickly.

If its not an infection, then we'll be looking to the environment for potential causes. She usually has aspen bedding, so I might switch her to carefresh....assuming I can find any, as NZ is way behind the US and UK in terms of pet supplies. And you might be right mk94, the dust we use might be the problem, so I'll try to find an alternate brand of that too.

Thanks for all the well wishes, Poppy and I certainly appreciate them!! I'll update as soon as I have more info on my wee girl's weepy eyes!

 

[Sasha]

Could it be the dust? I know some dusts do irritate the eyes. And maybe the frequency of dusting can affect it too. Have you tried stopping her dust baths and seeing if the problem goes away?

Good to hear its not malo! Hopefully you can find the cause soon.

 

[mk94]

Hmm, maybe I wasn't way off for suggesting the dust.

 

[Newt]

here's Poppy's x-ray. Any comments or feedback would be welcome!

still no news on the cultures though.....

 

[Newt]

I just wanted to post in here again just to see if anyone had any new ideas? I withheld dustbaths for ten days, and she seemed a bit improved. I also changed to a different dust, and last night gave her a bath....but her eyes look bad again today (see pics).
So if it is the dust, what on earth do I do?? Stop baths altogether I suppose, but for how long? oh and the cultures all came back negative for infection.....

 

[Laurie]

My poor sweet Poppy! I'm sorry her eyes aren't better Amanda! I would say yes, stop the dust baths!
Maybe there is a way you can just rub the dust into her so her fur stays healthy, I don't know! As humans, we sometimes are allergic to the dust, maybe she is as well.