Boxer eye question

MatWorrell · #1 25th April 2012, 03:41 PM

Hi everyone,

As posted in my welcome post, I am from uk but moved permenantly to Cyprus 3 months ago. Since being here we have helped, fostered and rehomed many stay dogs, much to the delight of our boxer Belle! She thinks it's great having constantly new 'friends' to play with, although is a little disappointed when it is just her at home with us.

We have recently come across a female boxer in a shelter here that was in such an poor state. She was so thin she could hardly stand and had suffered terrible abuse by her owner. She has been in the shelter for 5 weeks and has put on a healthy amount of weight.

My concern is with her eyes, her right eye is very cloudy and has a blue sheen to the cornea, she was suspected to have an eye infection and was taken to the vets 2 days ago. The vet has said that she has possibly had this from birth but is not sure what it is. He has also said that her pupil does not react to light so has probably got very little to no vision in that eye. Her left eye has a very slight case but nowhere near as severe as her right eye.

So my questions are;
Has any body any experience with this?
Is it an issue that is treatable?
Could it be caused by something that could be contagious? Ie, infection....
Can it or is it likely to get better/worse

Any help would be great...

We are going to see her on sunday and if all goes well with her meeting belle, shall be bringing her home for a 2 week foster period where I shall take her to a vet myself. (I have pictures of her eyes if anybody thinks it would help to see them)

MatWorrell · #2 27th April 2012, 12:26 AM

Not 1 person out of the 43 that have viewed this thread has something helpful to say?!

x19er · #3 27th April 2012, 12:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MatWorrell

Not 1 person out of the 43 that have viewed this thread has something helpful to say?!

I'll try

It could be lipid deposits? There's lots of info on the web, apparently fairly common in dogs. One of our boxers developed a hazy sheen over both eyes, which did eventually go away once we changed her died. Reading up though the deposits can be caused by conditions other than diet which may be what has caused the loss of visions with your shelter girl.

gena03 · #4 3rd May 2012, 06:48 PM

I don't know if this is the case, but I'll tell you my experience with an eye problem. My Zoe had a reaction after anesthesia and got a squinty eye. After drops that didn't work, we went back to the vet and found out she had a corneal ulcer. After a third eyelid flip surgery, the ulcer is healed, but her eye is now somewhat cloudy. I don't know if she can see out of it, but it has a cloudy tint. It could be the result of a past eye injury. But it does not bother her at all any more.
I would think that if it were an infection, the eye would have some discharge or redness to it. Zoe also has cherry eye where her third eyelids are pretty visible and almost always red or pink, but it is only a cosmetic issue.
I don't know if that helps, but that's my input.

Barkley · #5 6th May 2012, 11:06 AM

Hey there...I'm late to the party here, but our girl has a cloudy eye that is the result of of her having had a corneal ulcer on that eye. Two, actually. She had one that eventually healed on its own, then about a year later, it recurred. We were told she would need surgery, and that even then the problem might recur, and she might not have good vision in that eye. My thinking was...who cares if she can't see out of one eye, her other one is still perfectly good and that isn't her primary sense anyway. So, when the pain started to diminish right before the surgery, we chose not to have it and let the eye heal up on its own. Since then, she's had the cloudiness and her vision is definitely compromised, but it doesn't slow her down in the slightest. I think she just can't see things that are far away, basically. We've been super fortunate in that she hasn't had a recurrence since then (over two years ago).

The cloudiness is basically scar tissue, I think, so it makes sense it'd be hard for her to see through it. I guess...long story short...if your rescue pup isn't bothered by it, then you shouldn't be, either. If it was an active ulcer, you would definitely know...they are extremely painful and she wouldn't be able to let it alone.

Hope this is helpful. Bless your heart for taking in these strays, btw...that takes a special breed of person.

I don't think I have the heart for it...I'd have a house full of pups I'd never be able to let go of...they'd call me the 'crazy dog lady.'