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Originally Posted by momofreese  I took my seven year old baby, reese to the vet today because I was noticing her eyes were very crusted, sticky and red in the mornings. I haven't noticed her scratching them, but I usually have to clean them each morning or otherwise it looks as if she can barely open them. I thought it was an allergy since she is also chomping on her front paws constantly.
Well, look out. I thought I was going as a precaution to hear that she is allergic or just might be dust etc, to hear instead that she has dry eye, after a test was done for it. One eye tested 15 and one eye tested 10. She is now on an ointment twice daily for the rest of her life for dry eye. I was really shocked to hear that she has something that can be very dangerous, often leading to blindness if not treated.
My vet also decided to run a thyroid test (since she is very overweight, and always has been and now has this eye problem) as well as a cbc and gd knows what other tests. All I know is my bill was $408.00 which nearly made me fall over. The eye ointment is $44.00 for a microscopic tube used twice daily.. visit was $55.00 to walk in, and blood tests including a heart worm test were about three hundred dollars!Also, does anyone have a great vet on the south shore of Long Island, in New York. I think it is time for me to look for someone else that might not run to do so many tests.
Thanks to all and have a great night. |
As much as amount of your vet bill hurts, to be honest I applaud your vet for being pro-active! Her weight problem could be lifestyle related, but it could be because of a thyroid problem - and that's really not something you want to go un-noticed. (From a human standpoint - I was literally at death's door before mine was diagnosed.) It seems to me that your vet saw potential red flags for some things and felt that it was better to test then to wait and see if those potential issues became real ones. Unless you have other reasons for wanting to seek a real vet or the desire to test for unwanted things I wouldn't worry about it. Might want to discuss why they want to run the tests first though - this way you and your vet can be on the same page and you can decide if you do or do not want to run the tests. Having a CBC done, as well as a thyroid panel and a heartworm test (which should always be done yearly!) isn't a big deal as long as there were concerns behind it. Actually, the CBC and some of the other tests may have been preformed because your dog does have dry eye - and its often caused by an immune problem.
You might want to talk to your vet about other options for treating the dry eye, as I there are various ways of handling it. I know a product called liquitears is often used on dogs with dry eye, and 1800petmeds shows it at $5 a bottle (its like human eye drops, a lubricant.) Did you get Optimmune? That's a bit more expensive (which makes me think its what you have.) Optimmune is... the dog equivalent of Restasis, they both contain Cyclosporine. Its meant to help the eye create more tears vs just lubricating.