My rott boy has always had runny eyes but they always looked ok to me and I could see both sets of lashes ok so didn't think it was entropion.  I had him at the vet as a young pup for connjunctivitis and queried it but they said it was just conjunctivitis.  I had him at the vet today for his booster and the vet queried his eyes and diagnosed mild entropian.

Her advice was not to rush into an operation as he is still growing and it may correct itself as his head changes shape as he gets older  (14 months at present).  I then spoke to his breeder tonight who said that her preferred option for treating entropion involves a stitch in the eye holding the lid in the correct position so it can't roll inwards.  I am going to check what type of op my vet would do but am wondering if people have any experience of the stitch/tack/staple method or of the traditional method.

I am aware of the implications of leaving this untreated but if it is likely that this may resolve itself I would prefer the natural option.

Any views or experiences of this?

Hi Cheekycow,

I have had experience of entropion, in my breed its not uncommon although over the last few years things have improved greatly I am pleased to say. Our first litter had a pup  that was diagnosed as having mild entropion, we are lucky in that we have an eye specialist at our veternairy surgery, he just prescribed 'viscotears' to protect the eye and to keep rolling back the affected eye lid a few times a day this did help correct it and by the time she was 10 weeks old she was fine.  We did have one other incident in a litter a couple of years ago, we had a beautiful little bitch, that I had intended keeping to show, but noticed by the time she was about 6 weeks she had very runny eyes, the vet diagnosed entropion in both eyes which was a real shame, I was gutted. She was quite an over done little bitch though (lots of extra skin) and the vet felt that we should just monitor it for the time being, as she still had a lot of growing to do, he just gave us some ointment and again told us to keep rolling back the eye lids which does help to some degree..her eyes did improve as she got bigger..we found her a nice pet home experienced in the breed so understood her condition. Although her eyes did improve a great deal as she got bigger their vet finally said that he felt it wasnt going to clear up completely on its own, although her actual eyes were fine in that the lashes had not rubbed on her eyes to cause her any problem, they were just very watery.  At around 6 months of age the vet just placed a stitch on both lids, she had those in for a couple of weeks then they were removed and she is 100% fine now, you would never have known she had a problem. I have seen her since and her eyes are beautiful so I think if your boy has been diagnosed with mild entropion having seen the results of the stitch op I think it is well worth doing, if your vet feels its necessary. The fact he is 14 months old now, I think if it was going to resolve itself it would have done so by now, normally with my breed anyway you generally know by the age of around 6 months if its going to get better on its own or not?

In my breed the recommendation is to wait till the dog is at least few years old as many times the problem can correct itself when the head matures.
Obviously if it is really bad it is not fair to wait but for a mild case, if your breed is anything like mine, I would wait for another 6 months at least before operating...
Not sure about stitch method sounds like something that is not as invasive as the operation can be.
If you need to get it operated, it is definitely worth going to a specialist who does the operations regularly for a better chance of success/ outcome.

i know someone who has shar-peis they had their's tacked (i dont know what age) when it was found to be suffering from entropion. i think an eye specialist or someone who is a specialist in a breed "prone" to it such as a shar pei vet would be your best bet

Interesting post noora.  I don't know if eye shape has anything to do with it but as a rott he has very round eyes without much baggy skin - ooh, I'm in a total quandry now!

I've heard of a Mastiff with entropion that out-grew the condition with no need for an operation.

Flatcoats often have loose eyes when young and it is advised not to have corrective surgery until the head has lengthened and filled under the eyes (with fat) this can be up to 18-24 months.   I would advise going to see one of the BVA eye panellists round the country, so that you get the correct information from the beginning.

A bitch I bred was misdiagnosed by a local vet and operated on for the condition - the operation did not correct the problem only made it worse!!   If on leaving their house they had turned right and gone to the eye panellist first they would have had a correct diagnosis, but they didn't they turned left and went to a local vet.   The distance that they had to travel was the same for either.   They also did not approach me about the problem until after the operation which failed!!!

Thanks for all the useful posts and signposting to appropriate places.  On first reading online it seemed like an op was the way to go due to the potential discomfort, ulceration and blindness.  Everyone's experiences are giving me more to think about.  Thanks CD'ers, always reliable in times of confusion.

My 2 chows had this as pups, one grew out of it and the other required 2 surgeries which involved removing a small amount of skin to tighten things up. 

Neither of them ever re-acted to the condition and the one that grew out of it had no damage done to the eyes whilst waiting to grow out of it.

Try piriton for a while and see if it helps, i once took a dog to the vets with runny eyes and they tried to book him in then for an op , i wanted to wait to see how  it might change when the head developed , it turned out to be allergies and once sorted the eye problem left

Could be worth trying you have nothing to lose