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Originally Posted by Justin  Did Lady have this in one eye for a long time before it spread to the other eye? Also does this mean it is contagious? Would my other dog or possibly me start to suffer from dry eye? I talked to my coworkers cousin, and he suffers from dry eye. He says he is completely miserable if he doesn't put drops in his eyes many times a day. I am assuming this would be the same feeling for dogs. I am going to talk to the foster mom today when I get out of work. I want to do what is best for the dog, and it sounds like the dog might need to be in a home where the owners can take care of it throughout the day with drops. If it was me, I wouldn't want to go more than an hour or two without drops.
I did read that there is a surgery for this, how much does the surgery cost and what are the risks? Would this surgery take care of one eye and in turn prevent it from happening to the other eye? |
Lady had it is one eye only for about the first 1.5 years. It is not contagious. It is usually either immune mediated or a result of a congenital deformity such as absent tear producing glands.
I've seen a number of ophthalmologists over the years since I now take Lady to the vet school. Each and every one plus the two I saw in private practice before that said that I needed to apply artificial tears
a minimum of 4-6 times a day. They said if I could do it every hour that would be even better. Not only are they miserable, it makes them more prone to ulcers and scar tissue which causes blindness if you don't.
One of our members, Maddie's Mommy, takes Maddie to U of Tennessee. They are the most reasonable vet school I know of. The ophthalmologist in private practice in Raleigh, North Carolina gave me an estimate of $3,500 several years ago, but Lady was not a candidate because of her age and the length of the surgery (several hours). I can't imagine what it would cost in NYC. It's not without possible complications, though.
There is lots of information in this thread:
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/yor...ns-anyone.html