i met a old school ,friend this morning with a collie. the story is this. for the last year the vet has being treating him for eye infections that just wont clear up....all the usual creams drops etc,but still eyes are badley infected. now finally the vet has done a tear test & the poor dog has no tears in his eyes,no wonder they are so sore & infected, anyway the owner is now using false tears before & after walks & 8 times a day & its really cleared up well. shes going to a eye specialist next monday.
but the vet has said hes likely to go blind from the condition,is this right?
hes only 4,bless him.
i feel so sorry for this dog,misdianosged for a year.

any comments or help i can pass on much appreciated.
cheers guys!

A friend of mine had a dog with a similar condition. He had an operation where they re-direct saliva to the tear ducts (or something like that). This was about 10 years ago so I don't remember the exact details but it worked a treat for his dog.

oh!!! sounds promising!¬!!!! :)
i just cant believe this poor dog has had a year of unnesscery suffering,poor soul.

He could go blind if not treated My Champion Beardie developed dry eye at 10 & we used artificial tear drops & homoeopathic eye drops & she was fine

It happens a lot in westies I think

well yes thats what the vet said!-same he didnt do the tear test a year ago!

Advise your friend to change vets its the first test our vets do if there is a problem with the eyes dead simple test too

Poor dog what pain did he go through

well shes got a appointment with a eye specialist now so hopefully he will sort him out.
hes such a sweet dog never complained about his eyes either

Twelve years ago I had a dog that was diagnosed with Keratoconjunctivitis  Sicca (Dry Eye) which was operated on to transfer the Parotid Salivery Glands to replace the normal tears.It was the only solution offered then but it was far from ideal as he had a permanently wet face which he would rub on any available surface to try to dry them,it was worse when  he smelled food cooking  his eyes would run like a tap, all around his eyes were badly stained no matter what preparation I bought to clean them with as non of them worked.With hindsight I would have carried on using the Hypromelose Drops (False Tears) as soon after I`m sure they brought out an ointment that gave better results than the false tears (Sorry I can`t remember much about them )Perhaps it works for some breeds better than others I don`t know but I don`t envy anyone having to make the decision whether to have the operation or not.

The ointment you are talking about is optimune.  My SBT was diagnosed with dry eye in one of his eyes and has had very good results with this medication.  He is now down to one application every 2 days from twice daily a few months ago.  Going for another tear test in a couple of days so hopefully should be able to reduce the need for it further.

Hope this helps.

Julie (& Fagin)

Thank you Julie, I have made a note of it, hopefully I won`t need it but you never know do you, I certainly wouldn`t consider the op again though. I hope you get good results from your tear tests.