I could tell that Catcher was not feeling well. With the discharge from his eyes he was becoming more and more lethargic. He didn't want to play. He didn't really want to eat. I was extremely concerned at this point. One other observation was that I no longer needed a muzzle at the vet because he was too sick to be scared. He would just sit there and let them do anything to him.
I took him to see Dr. Marion at Essex County Vet Specialists. She was wonderful. Very pleasant to speak with, and handled Catcher great.
Her findings:
Absolute (that's a scary word in a diagnosis) KCS in both eyes.
Superficial corneal ulceration right eye, central location (told ya)
Medication directions:
Saline irrigation after outdoor activities and prior to applying any ointments
Tacrolimus ophthalmic ointment applied to both eyes three times daily long term
BNP ointment applied to both eyes three times daily until recheck
Recheck with either Dr. Marion or normal vet in 7-14 days.
Bilateral KCS is uncommon. She explained that it would take about 12 weeks to 6 months to see the tacrolimus helping. If this plan did not work the next option would be surgery.
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Regression
I went away for 3 days as we were decreasing his optimmune to once a day. He regressed quite rapidly.
May 19 - noticed squinting again. He was rubbing his eyes after the BNP-Dex was administered. Increased optimmune to twice daily.
May 20 - discontinued BNP-Dex for one day, green mucous returned. Continued with BNP-Dex.
By the 21st of May I was discouraged and seeking a second opinion from a veterinary ophthalmologist. Despite increasing the optimmune his eyes were no longer responding to any treatment. I called my vet in the meantime and requested an ointment without steroids as I felt it was likely that he had formed another ulcer. We decided to wait out the weekend to see if the old protocol returned him to normal. It did not.
He spent the weekend squinting. I used the artificial tears as much as possible. He had lots of white mucous discharge. I kept him indoors as much as possible so he was not getting dirt in them. Switched to the BNP to avoid steroid use due to rubbing. I also started him on Benadryl 25 mg twice daily.
I made an appointment with a specialist for May 29.
May 19 - noticed squinting again. He was rubbing his eyes after the BNP-Dex was administered. Increased optimmune to twice daily.
May 20 - discontinued BNP-Dex for one day, green mucous returned. Continued with BNP-Dex.
By the 21st of May I was discouraged and seeking a second opinion from a veterinary ophthalmologist. Despite increasing the optimmune his eyes were no longer responding to any treatment. I called my vet in the meantime and requested an ointment without steroids as I felt it was likely that he had formed another ulcer. We decided to wait out the weekend to see if the old protocol returned him to normal. It did not.
He spent the weekend squinting. I used the artificial tears as much as possible. He had lots of white mucous discharge. I kept him indoors as much as possible so he was not getting dirt in them. Switched to the BNP to avoid steroid use due to rubbing. I also started him on Benadryl 25 mg twice daily.
I made an appointment with a specialist for May 29.
Thursday, May 01, 2008
16 days later
Follow up. Catcher's eyes were doing better. He had much less discharge, and it was no longer green. His eyes actually had some life back in them. He was getting perkier.
Findings:
weight 42.8# (this will come into play a bit later)
Schirmer tear test: 22 in both eyes! Significant improvement
Treatment plan:
continue plan for 2 weeks. then decrease optimmune to once a day for 2 weeks, if still okay. then discontinue optimmune unless regresses. changed from Dexospore ointment to drops three times daily.
Findings:
weight 42.8# (this will come into play a bit later)
Schirmer tear test: 22 in both eyes! Significant improvement
Treatment plan:
continue plan for 2 weeks. then decrease optimmune to once a day for 2 weeks, if still okay. then discontinue optimmune unless regresses. changed from Dexospore ointment to drops three times daily.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)