:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup: That other thread was extremely bothersome to me. I am SO happy that Max has been properly diagnosed and cared for and will have a furever home that loves him.

Rich, I wish Sheila and you well, but I also wish Maxwell had been taken to an ophthalmologist. You and I exchanged many private messages here and I shared my personal experience with my Max. I pleaded with you to take him to a specialist.

I understand that reputations and feelings are the purpose of this thread, but I also think this is a very important lesson for everyone regarding vet care. I am relieved Max's eyes are taken care of and that he has gone to his forever home.

When the eye is infected, a Schirmer test cannot give reliable results. Specialists know/see a lot more than the average vet when it comes to an issue like this. I would never trust the average vet with this kind of diagnosis. Phone consultations are no substitute for examination in a case like this. Dry eye is no small problem.

The only reason I stayed with my regular vet on my Max's eyes is that he had advanced training and certification in the area. My Max's underlid eyelashes grew because of prolonged irritation and treatment for corneal ulcers -- which were caused initially by injury and were exacerbated by things like me bathing him too soon. I also was not seeing that he was getting hair wrapped under his eyelid. My Max had laser surgery to remove the eyelashes and I waited 6 weeks to bathe him. Finally, his eyes healed.

Even so, my vet and I have agreed that anymore problems with my Max's eyes, we will be going straight to the specialist -- that was about 2 years ago. No problems since.

I want to emphasize -- if my Max had been diagnosed with dry eye, I would not have wasted another minute with our vet, even with his advanced training. I would have gone straight to the specialist, and I know our vet would have sent us.

The lesson of this story