My 2 year old girl has had eye problems for the last few months on and off which the vet has treated with eye drops.The problem comes and goes but is never cured for very long before i am back at the vet again.Last night i noticed her right eye is cloudy and almost looks like it has a film over it,am so worried.Im taking her back to the vets this afternoon but would be very interested to hear if anybody else has had this problem or knows what this could be.Her eye problems are usually watery eyes and sometimes they have a green discharge in the corners.so worried so will appreciate ant advice,thanks.

If her eye problems are ongoing, I would ask to see an eye specialist for a second opinion. :)

Hi, amcocker, I have American Cockers too.

As you will no doubt know, there are several eye diseases that are tested for in American Cockers. The main one being Hereditary Cateract, then there is Glaucoma and also PRA (Progressinve Retinal Atrophy), MRD and a condition called Disticiasis, where eyelashes grow at strange angles irritating the eyeball surface,This is not to be confused with Entropion where the eyelid turns inward, also causing irritation

If you send me a Private Message telling me where in the country your are located, I will check my paperwork and let you know where your nearest Eye Clinic is.

What did the Vet have to say this afternoon?

Regards, Dawn R.

Also look on Facebook for BVA/KC/ISDS Canine Health Testing Dates there is a monthly list there of all testing happening in the UK, and has other useful links on the group document page.

I took my girl for a second opinion today and the vet was brilliant and took ages doing tests and explaining everything step by step.She has dry eye in both eyes although one isnt that bad and i have an appointment with an eye specialist tommorrow to see what the cloudy circle could be,vet says it coyuld be a cataract although he says cataracts wouldnt appear that quickly or glaucoma.She is from eye tested parents,can thses conditions still appear even though mum and dad have been tested?Are they hereditary?

Cataracts have many causes, some hereditary and others aren't. A specialist should be able to tell if the cataract is hereditary or not.

Yes you can get problems from health tested parents. One reason might be that they were tested clear of problems but were both carriers of a condition, and some problems are believed to be polygenic, which means we don't know how a problem is inherited, it might need a trigger factor to kick things off and it might be that it can skip several generations. Glaucoma in flatcoats is a typical example, where eye tested parents can produce carriers and if the carrier animal is badly enough affected it can get glaucoma. However this can jump several generations. The sire of a well know FCR went blind with Glaucoma, we all knew about it as the owner told everyone and published it in the breed newsletter. After that it was ten years and many generations before another case cropped up. This was followed over the next 4 or 5 years by a small number of dogs being affected, but due to everyone testing each generation it has once again disappeared, apart from maybe 1 or 2 carriers a year being identified, yet because of our small gene pool it is believed to be behind every flatcoat line, so all the responsible breeders will ask puppy buyers to test their dogs whether or not they intend to breed or show or work their dogs. Any breeder who does not give this advice is not a good breeder and you should walk away as glaucoma is the most painful eye condition a dog can get.

Can Glaucoma affect just one eye?Sorry if this is a silly question but i have no idea,my girl only has a cloudy circle in one eye,] and the white of the eye is very bloodshot.

One of my family's elkhounds was affected by glaucoma many years ago (completely different  lines to what we are working with now).  It started in one eye, but soon affected both.  It is my understanding that primary glaucoma (the inherited type) always does.  The eye takes on a characteristic blueish hue, sort of glassy looking - literally, glaucous.  The whites are typically bloodshot.  As the disease advanced, it appeared at times that Scuti's eyes were enlarged by the pressure.  It is very painful.  My mother saw it in one other dog after that, and recognised it straight away from that glassy appearance.
Scuti's eyes were not removed, but her litter sister, who was also affected, lost hers, and coped rather better.  These days, I'm told treatments are far more effective, and the prognosis is not so bleak.  If it's confirmed as primary glaucoma, treatment started immediately may help preserve the other eye.  The type of glaucoma in elkhounds is not precisely the same as that in American cockers, and the exact cause is unknown, although it is likely to be inherited, probably as Polly says as a polygenic.  Two would be young in elkhounds, as it typically shows up at around five or six years of age, but maybe cockers develop symptoms earlier?
I wouldn't try to second guess a diagnosis, or worry too much right now.  The eye specialist will be able to tell you if that's what it is, as glaucoma will show changes to the eye which can be picked up, for example, in the optic nerve.

Thanks for the info,its so hard not to think the worst but at least her appointment is tommorrow and im now changing her vet to the one i saw today.He asked what steps my vet had taken so far ie tests etc and i had to say he hasnt done a thing apart from give her eye drops even though the problem has been going on for a while now,i was starting to feel like an over anxious mum taking her to the vet so much but i knew it wasnt just an eye infection.I will let you know how i get on tommorrow.

just back from seeing the eye specialist.My girls has a cateract in her right eye but because its just that eye thats badly bloodshot and swollen coupled with the fact that she has had so many eye infections she thinks it may not be a hereditary cataract  but she cant be sure so she is going to see yet another specialist next tues who may be able to tell,the specialist i saw tonight suggested getting her dna eye tested.

Hi again, I might be very wrong, but as far as I know there isn't yet a DNA test for Hereditary Cateract in American Cockers. There is one person who will know for sure and that is Gwen Oake. She's a member here, so you could try a search for Gwen, and drop her a private message.

I'm so sorry about the diagnosis though, your own Vet should be ashamed of themselves not realising you girl had a cateract.

Message Gwen, she'll be able to tell you the facts.

Regards Dawn R.

Where do you live? If you are near Haddenham Bucks Professor Peter Bedofrd is doing eye testing there on Thursday this week, also he is at Cayton during the day. Details are on the Facebook group page BVA/KC/ISDS canine health testing dates group.

A couple of days ago I PMd amcocker the details of Mr Davidson, KC/BVA panel vet in her home town of Aberdeen.

Dawn R.

Is that malcolm davidson?

Thanks Dawn... The facebook group is working very now isn't it... I am learning a fair bit from it too!

have you thought about the condition known as Pannus, I have put a topic on asking others about the condition but have researched it myself now as I got no responses.  It supposedly affects certain breeds of those I am not too sure.  It starts with a cloudy patch usually on both eyes sometimes a bit greyish or pinkish and not necessarily in the centre of the eye but if left untreated the dog will go blind the white of the eyes  can look quite vascular with or without the pigmentation.  You never get rid of the condition it will remain with the dog for life and they will need regular eye check ups and remain on cyclosporins for the rest of there lives.  I believe breeding from a affected dog is discouraged too!!  It affects dogs who have high exposure to ultra violet rays and those that live at altitudes above 1500.

Its definately a cataract although i will find out next week whether its hereditary or not.Its only in one eye and appeared very suddenly

I am a bit confused,have a second opinion appointment with another eye specialist next week basically just to tell me if my girls cateract is hereditary type or been caused by something else ie trauma to the eye,infection etc.I have looked into tests for cateracts and there doesnt appear to be a dna test for hereditary cateracts in american cockers so im wondering what could be done at this appoinment that couldnt have been done at the first eye specialist appointment.Both my girls parents were eye tested under the bva scheme and i presumed when the box for HC was ticked unaffected that meant they had been dna tested for it.Can anyone tell me a bit more about this?

HC box (Hereditary Cataract) Unaffected, just means the day they were tested showed no signs of cataracts, not that they were DNA tested.

Sadly we had an English cocker spaniel pup born with a cataract, it wasn't picked up until she was 6 months old.  The eye specialist couldn't tell us if it was inherited or not, said it was impossible to say one way or the other, but did say she should never be bred from, which we wouldn't have done anyway.  We had the cataract removed and new lens put in, obviously not covered by the insurance as it was something she was born with, cost close to £2700 at the end of the treatment, but worth every penny.

Thanks for the info Sharon,can your girl see out of the eye that had the cataract?

Yes she had vision in that eye which she never had before!  Which was wonderful

> she had vision in that eye which she never had before!

That is fantastic!  :-)

Thank you so much youve given me hope,i love my girl so much and have found this all so upsetting so its great to hear a success story like yours