Max is squinting his eye and...
 

Hi! I'm a new Yorkie Mom to my 6 mo. old baby Max. I have had him for 2 weeks today and had him to the vet yesterday because he is always squinting his right eye closed.

It really was bad the other morning when we woke up his eye was completely matted shut so I cleaned it with a warm washcloth and put some Refresh wetting drops in too. He liked the drops and kept the eye open much better. We called the vet right away and the vet checked for a hair or some foreign object in the eye and saw nothing; then he did a dye test with the black light, on him to see if there might be some scratch or trauma to the eye/cornea and said he didn't see anything either. He gave me some antibiotic ointment called Vetropolycin. Which we need to apply every 4-6 hours... The vet then said if the ointment doesn't seem to make it better they may have to anesthetize him so they can look further into the eye and see what is going on.

Needless to say I am worried but, I'm just wondering if this kind of problem is typical for Yorkies? Other than this he is a very healthy little boy.

Anyone with some encouragement or knowledge of eye problems with Yorkies that can pass it along to me would be *greatly appreciated*!

Thanks so much! :) :animal36 (Mom & Max)

Maybe it could be like pink eye for dogs. Sounds like an infection. I'm sure the drops will clear it up.

Awe- your baby is Maxmillion and mine is Maxmillian - thanks for your reply. I hope it is just an infection that is cleared up with the meds

Good morning and welcome to YT.

Vetropolycin is a triple antibiotic ophthalmic ointment used to treat superficial bacterial infections of the eyelid and conjunctiva, the mucous membrane on the inner surface of the eyelid. From what I know, you should make sure to keep the applicator tip from becoming contaminated, maybe clean it off with some alchohol after each use. Also, be careful when you apply the ointment to the cornea, as you don't want to scratch it. Definately a two person job. If you see no improvement within 3-4 days, take your pup back to the vet.

Good luck, and when your baby is feeling better take some pictures to post here and introduce him. We'd love to meet him!

hmm, it could just be conjunctivitis which should clear up with teh meds, but here are some other things it could be as well that are not so common. Next time he is asleep check on him (be sure not to wake him or it will ruin the experiment lol). When he is fully asleep look at his eye. Is it fully closed? sometimes the eye doesn't close all the way and this causes dry eye and a cloudy look on the eye that isn't covered when sleeping. Also, it could be that the eye lashes are inverted into the eye and are poking it and irritating the cornea. when you go for a recheck as the vet to check for this is he can. if the pup is really wiggly then it might be hard for him to see.

I got shampoo in Hannahs eye once and I didn't realize that it happened at first. When I started to dry her I noticed that there was alot of shampoo still around her left eye, so I rinsed the hair around that eye. I always wash her face and head with puppy shampoo so that if it gets in her eyes it wont irritate, but when I flipped the lid to the new shampoo that I bought to wash her body some of the shampoo squirted out and got in her eye. I saw it squirt out but I didn't think it got her eye. That night she was squinting and had drainage so I irrigated her eye with water. The next morning her eye was matted shut and I rinsed it again, then by that evening she was fine. I hope yours get better. I am sure the antibiotics will take care of it.

It could be a clogged tear duct, which the antibiotics should help. I might suggest that you wipe the eye with a clean washcloth wet with warm water before you put the drops in. If there's too much gunk in their eye, the medication kindof rolls off. Hope your babe is better soon.