My little boy went for a long walk on Sunday afternoon (not off lead) he didn't go into any brambles or roll in anything though the ground by the river we were walking was really muddy/boggy - at about 8pm he started trying to rub his beard hair with his paw like it was annoying him - I checked his eye as I know dogs sometimes do that when they think their hair is in their eye when if it feels scratchy.  I couldn't see anything in it or in his beard.  As the night went on he kept doing it. I checked again and it looked ever so slightly like maybe the start of conjunctivitis.  I boiled and cooled water and washed around the eye and checked again - nothing in it that I could see.

The next morning it was all gooed up - I made an appointment at the vet - the earliest appointment they had was 5.30pm. I went to pharmacy and got some Optrex Infected Eye Drops (as I know they use these for dogs) and gave him those at 1100 and 3pm.

Went to vet - she looked at eye - he had a MASSIVE eye ulcer.  It was shallow and there was nothing in the eye and luckily no deep scratch of any sort on the surface of the eye or the cornea.  She prescribed eye drops and gave me painkillers and I had to go back in 48 hours.  (eyedrops were the same identical drops I had started - Optrex Infected Eye Drops in a different box - and yeah, £33 !!)

We went back last night and she was shocked that 95% of the ulcer had completely healed (she had problems finding it and thought she was looking at wrong eye) now I just have to finish the bottle of drops and painkillers and have a final check Monday.

This has all scared the life out of me - I don't understand how an ulcer can develop within 24 hours though the vet didn't seem surprised.  I always thought eye ulcers normally developed if something had been left untreated too long or a more traumatic injury occurred. But as far as I know the only way he could've got grit or anything in his eye is the one occasion on a walk when he moved behind my little girl just as she kicked the ground with her back legs after a wee and I was too slow in stopping her so a few leaves landed on him.

I would like to stock up with some sort of cleaning solution I can keep for after walks so if he gets a face full of leaves or anything I have something to quickly wash out any debris or contaminates. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Also it got me thinking  - with my dogs ears I clean them out regularly with ear cleanser as part of their normal routine - should I be doing something similar with their eyes? If so - any recommendations? How often?

Any help or advice will be really appreciated.

Both eyes AND ears are best left alone unless there is a problem, as regular interference with them will most likely cause problems. If you regularly clean the ears (without there being a problem), you interfere with the normal wax production and so the ear has to start producing more wax to rectify it.

If something gets into the eye during a walk and you want something to rinse with in an emergency, personally I would simply use a bottle of saline solution.

Eye ulcers can appear quickly -wonderful that this one is clearing so quickly. I am currently treating a cat with a nasty one, it's been weeks now (drops six times a day of two different kinds) and she is finally improving -at first we thought she'd lose the eye. Had another one have to have an eye out for the same reason last year. (Large eyes in flatfaced breeds sadly makes them prone to problems.)

On another forum, a vet made a very good post about eye problems in dogs, pointing out that it's not something to leave thinking it might get better with a bit of a wash or something. She said that ulcers can form extremely quickly and that small ones can't be seen by the naked eye and need dye put in to become visable. Made me think and more likely to err on the side of caution.

Definitely, eyes should never be messed about with -and when there is an ulcer present, using the wrong type of drops can cause very serious damage. This is why I said that as a first aid measure simply rinse with saline solution.

I use saline as an emergency eye wash - for the dogs and me!  However I wouldn't regularly use it, nor would I ever self medicate.  Even eye washes that a vet may have previously prescribed can actually do more harm than good if used in the wrong situation.  I would go as far as to say one should NEVER take risks with eyes and should always seek prompt medical advice.  Additionally an eye problem can be extremely painful so keep your dog out of strong sunlight and cold winds until he/she can be seen or until the eye heals.

It's worth mentioning that a healthy eye will cope with a bit of grit or dust and should be 'self cleaning' (!).  You shouldn't have to routinely intervene at all

Thanks all for the advice - saline solution is on the shopping list just to add to my little first aid kit.

Sorry - I should have said - I clean my dogs ears as they have to be once a month with cleanaural wash (not the steroid drops just the wash) as they have skin sensitivity and if there is too much wax they actually get an allergic reaction in the ear to their own wax - I was told to do this by vet so I think they're probably different when it comes to whether or not to clean ears regularly.

Eyes - I know nothing about really - I always just assumed that anything to do with the eye you leave the hell alone and get to the vet as fast as you can and you cant go wrong - I just never expected something so bad so unbelievably quick although I think the fact its also healing quick might be because I got to the vet pretty quick -as well as being lucky I think.  Thanks for the advice not to look for a regular eye wash - I will steer clear.

(I have never self- medicated a dog or used human things on them without vet say so (like Piriton) but it was a veterinary nurse that told me I could use Optrex Infected Eye Drops (and she gave me the name of the active ingredient so I wouldn't get the wrong strength or set of drops) whilst I was waiting for the appointment later the same day - she said they were pretty much the first option for nearly all eye irritations and would keep bacteria out whilst I was waiting for my appointment and only said that after I described discharge and irritation and behaviour of the dog in detail to her - she also told me to put a cone on him to stop rubbing and stuff which I also did - and I told the vet what I had done as soon as I walked in the room so she knew right from the get-go.  She gave me the no self-medicate "naughty naughty tut tut look"  but luckily I know it was okay in the end. I wouldn't like to take things into my own hands like that again though as it still made me nervous. Anyone else reading please don't think I advocate trying to self-medicate, self-diagnose or use human medicines on dogs, especially anything to do with eyes - I will always be the first to say "go to the vet - put your mind at rest if nothing else" - I don't want anything going wrong for someone else being on my conscience!!)

Thanks for all the replies and advice guys. I may be back with more eye questions though as my little girl has been diagnosed (on same day!) with the start of cataracts - so I'm off researching that now too :(

One of our boys has blocked tear ducts (which were flushed when having a G.A for another problem with no benefit), also has auto immune which has resulted in the removal of a cyst 'nodular granulomatous episcleritis' from his right eye. Initially advised that he would have to be on steroids for life as it's often bilateral, but our vet suggested we should consider slowly weaning him off, which we've done.
Eye care has been a daily regime, bathing with Euphrasia diluted with boiled water & wiping the eyes clean, its soothing anti bacterial & anti inflammatory properties have certainly helped and use occasionally with our other dog to wipe away any rheum.