Dry Eye in a Young Dog?

[Dr. Jeff]

Hi everyone-

A new member just asked a few questions, the first of which is below:

It relates to a ~4 years young, very active "outdoorsy" and athletic, scared of loud noises and shy with strangers, 50 lb rescue pup from Georgia (puppy vaccines before he came, and none since).

Here's the question:

Follower of Anthony William's pet advise so part raw diet, fruits and vegetables, all homemade food, organic, no eggs no pork, no gluten no grains,(except coconut cruncher dog biscuits) no dairy, i add barely grass juice powder, spirulina, kelp, wild blueberries, vitamin C, zinc, B12, Kale brussel sprouts, carrot, cabbage, dandelion greens, celery, collard greens, pumpkin seeds, cilantro, apples, mango, dates, potatoes, piece of lara bar now and then and nori, raw grass feed beef and marrow bones, organic chicken, turkey...

He ate origin dry food for about 7 months before i knew any better.

ophthalmologist diagnosed with dry eye, his tests were borderline, he gets mucus like goo in eyes in summer and spring, he's doing great now in winter but it may be because we have stopped heart worm meds. or because its winter.
Gentile tears helped his eyes in summer as did caster oil which i read about.

Never used the immune-suppressant medicine ophthalmologist wanted me to use.

Please tell me some products i can try for dry eye, and any other ideas you may have?

Great question!

First of all good work with everything you have done so far!????

Feeding fresh food, avoiding toxins (like in vaccines) and not suppressing symptoms are awesome ways to build and preserve vitality.

You're 100% right that it's impossible to say, for now, if this improvement is because the eye symptoms are associated with a seasonal allergy or because you stopped the heart worm meds.

We'll find out by summer!

The eye support I advise is pretty much what you're already doing.

Lubricating and soothing eyedrops after hot compressing the eyes.

The brand of drop that I use is Remend because it has a good % of hyaluronic acid which makes the drops very effective.

Others that are more widely available at most pharmacies are Gentile (which you use) and Systane.

The warm compress preceding the drops dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow and healing.

This also helps the drops to be more effective.

BTW-Dry eye (which is in essence an immune dis-ease) in such a young dog of mixed breed is not very common. Allergy is common however.

Autoimmunity in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca - PMC

Dry eye is a chronic corneal disease that impacts the quality of life of many older adults. keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), a form of aqueous-deficient dry eye, is frequently associated with Sjögren’s syndrome and mechanisms of autoimmunity. For ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Dr. Sara]

As Dr. Jeff says, your diet and lifestyle sound good, and I echo his suggestions for warm compressing followed by lubricating drops.

The spring / summer timing does strongly point to particulate allergens such as from pollens and molds. You want to decrease the presence of these particulates to decrease the allergic response. As your dog's health improves, the allergies will improve. It is always a good idea to decrease the allergen exposure when you can, because there are so many allergens that we can not control.

Remember to wipe your dog down with a damp cloth after coming in from outside. This will help decrease allergens on the coat and in the house.

If you do not have an air purifier, do consider getting one for the areas of the house in which pup spends most of his time.

Assess your house for sources of allergens: wood or tobacco smoke, VOC from paint, off gassing from new furniture / carpet / rugs, molds in damp areas, strong smelling cleaning products. Try to minimise this pup's exposure to such things, as the effect of allergens is cumulative, and what doesn't bother him in the winter will increase his potential reactivity when other allergens increase.

Hoping for a calm spring and summer for you!
Dr. Sara

 

[Dr. Jeff]

Awe-some post @Dr. Sara!

Do you mind if I email it to some clients?

Also, do you have any particular air purifier that you recommend?

I am looking for ones myself.

The research in Vitality and Pranayama for Pets included lots of evidence for a direct connection between negative ions, electricity and vitality.

This included one group who was improving vitality, negative ions and health benefit from breathing using houseplants!

They even investigated the use of electrical stimulation to increase negative ion production from plants.

This might be one cause for the well-documented phenomenon of health benefits from being out in nature and that fresh air decreases dis-eases and improves quality of life.

Similarly, researchers using Wim Hoff (the "Iceman") breathing practices and exposure to the cold have documented immune system and other improvement.

More later.

 

[Dr. Sara]

Great stuff, Jeff. Absolutely, feel free to share any of my suggestions.
I don't have any particular air purifier that I suggest. There are so many available, I likely would miss 'the best' one!

 

[toryplatt]

As Dr. Jeff says, your diet and lifestyle sound good, and I echo his suggestions for warm compressing followed by lubricating drops.

The spring / summer timing does strongly point to particulate allergens such as from pollens and molds. You want to decrease the presence of these particulates to decrease the allergic response. As your dog's health improves, the allergies will improve. It is always a good idea to decrease the allergen exposure when you can, because there are so many allergens that we can not control.

Remember to wipe your dog down with a damp cloth after coming in from outside. This will help decrease allergens on the coat and in the house.

If you do not have an air purifier, do consider getting one for the areas of the house in which pup spends most of his time.

Assess your house for sources of allergens: wood or tobacco smoke, VOC from paint, off gassing from new furniture / carpet / rugs, molds in damp areas, strong smelling cleaning products. Try to minimise this pup's exposure to such things, as the effect of allergens is cumulative, and what doesn't bother him in the winter will increase his potential reactivity when other allergens increase.

Hoping for a calm spring and summer for you!
Dr. Sara

thank you!

 

[toryplatt]

Hi everyone-

A new member just asked a few questions, the first of which is below:

It relates to a ~4 years young, very active "outdoorsy" and athletic, scared of loud noises and shy with strangers, 50 lb rescue pup from Georgia (puppy vaccines before he came, and none since).

Here's the question:



Great question!

First of all good work with everything you have done so far!????

Feeding fresh food, avoiding toxins (like in vaccines) and not suppressing symptoms are awesome ways to build and preserve vitality.

You're 100% right that it's impossible to say, for now, if this improvement is because the eye symptoms are associated with a seasonal allergy or because you stopped the heart worm meds.

We'll find out by summer!

The eye support I advise is pretty much what you're already doing.

Lubricating and soothing eyedrops after hot compressing the eyes.

The brand of drop that I use is Remend because it has a good % of hyaluronic acid which makes the drops very effective.

Others that are more widely available at most pharmacies are Gentile (which you use) and Systane.

The warm compress preceding the drops dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow and healing.

This also helps the drops to be more effective.

BTW-Dry eye (which is in essence an immune dis-ease) in such a young dog of mixed breed is not very common. Allergy is common however.

Autoimmunity in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca - PMC

Dry eye is a chronic corneal disease that impacts the quality of life of many older adults. keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), a form of aqueous-deficient dry eye, is frequently associated with Sjögren’s syndrome and mechanisms of autoimmunity. For ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

thank you it took me a year to see your reply im so bad with forums