Conjunctivitis. Again.

[fessmess]

I have a five month old poodle cross puppy that is now having her second bout of conjunctivitis. Before that she had an ulcer on one eye. Have other people had this with their pups? I would like to hear it's something she'll grow out of. Next bout I'm back to vets.

My dog is now 3 and a half and the first sign that he's under the weather with anything is a gunky eye - doesn't matter what's wrong with him, tummy upset, pulled muscle, infected toenail ... he even got it when he had limber tail last summer.

The first few times he got it we religiously trooped up to the vet and spent a fortune on prescription eye ointment but then a friend who's a veterinary nurse suggested trying golden eye ointment which you can get over the counter from the chemist (as long as you don't say it's for a dog).

Now if he gets conjunctivitis our first line of treatment is golden eye, and so far it's cleared up very quickly. However we only started doing this once he was over 2 and we were adept at spotting the signs. If it didn't start getting better within 24 hours we'd be back to the vet and if it were causing him a lot of discomfort (rubbing or scratching) or if we suspected an injury to his eye then we'd take him in straight away.

I have got more relaxed with him about minor health issues though as he's got older. Now if he's not quite right I ask myself if one of the children had similar symptoms would I be taking them to the GP? If the answer's no then I'll try a wait and see approach or OTC remedies first (I've still ended up spending a fortune on Vet's bills though even with insurance!)

Thank you for your reply, that makes sense with our little one. She is teething at the moment, and was teething 3 weeks ago when she had the last bout. I hope it settles soon!

You can buy chloramphenicol drops or ointment in any pharmacy - intended for humans but perfectly fine for dogs.
The other things I have used on eyes and ears is colloidal silver spray, which works like magic.

Thank you.

The ulcer indicates that something could be rubbing on the front of her eye - with her breed it's important that you ensure her hair doesn't irritate her eyes and also get her checked for distichiasis (ingrowing eyelashes) to prevent future problems.

Thanks Vet that is my fear, that there's an underlying problem that's irritating her eyes but our vet doesn't seem concerned.