Hiya, my Dane has a problem with his right eye. The eyelashes on his lower lid have turned in and this is making his eye very sore. It was worse about November time, and the vet was monitoring it, and treating it with Maxitrol eyedrops. He was pencilled in for surgery to have it cut and lifted, however, it was much better the day the op was to be done. So the vet decided that he would leave and monitor it, and it's been fine until a fortnight ago.
I noticed that the eye again was very watery and he wouldn't leave it alone, so I telephoned the vet and he again put him on the drops for a fortnight and mild salt water cleaning
But the fortnight is almost up and it doesn't look any better, do any of you guys have any experience of this? I'll try anything, the thought of him having surgery freaks me out!
But if there's no alternative....I don't have an option.
Sharon
X

Unfortunately this does happen with GD's.  Have you advised the breeder of the problem as it can be hereditary and the parents shouldn't be bred from again.

Hope it improves but unfortunately I think that the operation will be the way to go.

Hi,
I don't know how it affects Great Danes, but I do know in my breed if the puppy has a watery looking eye at 8 to 10 weeks it will need surgery. If on the other hand the eye lid turns in as the pups growing, usually seen from approximately 6/7 months until maturity at nearly two then it often grows out naturally as the head matures.
A bitch in my breed had inturning eye lashes at one year, by the time she was 20 months they had corrected naturally and she went on to win a lot at champ shows, and she was later bred from. None of her pups to my knowledge had a problem.

I once took a youngster for eye testing and the Opthalmologist said that she may have a problem with her eye lashes but to try and put a bit of weight on her if she did as it would help????  She's never had any problem so I assume whatever he saw has sorted itself out.
I would never rush into any surgey if the dog wasn't distressed.  Many things will sort out if left.

Thanks Guys, See that's the thing, I don't want to rush into surgery
I was so relieved when the vet said he didn't need it last time. I'm just back after having him his walk in the woods, and I do think it looks better this morning - or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part :rolleyes:
I have spoken to his breeder, and none of the other pups have ever had anything like it, she suggested I take the 'wait and see' approach, which did work the last time, and although he does rub at it, it doesn't seem to bother him in any other way.
Do you think it could be an effect of perhaps scratching it in some way, he does run about mad in and around trees and long grass, and when he does rub at it, he infects it again? Would this cause the lashes to turn?

We need to distuingusi here between inturning eyelids (entropion) resulting in the lashes irritating the eye, and disticiasis (where just the lashes are misplaced and turn inwards.

Hi Sharon, my girl had maxitrol drops for two months and there was a slight improvement whilst using the drops but have noticed lately that its started watering again :rolleyes: vet said, hopefully, as she puts weight on and her head 'matures' it should right itself as its only a slight inturn at the moment. Hopefully she won't have to have an op neither.

Dee

How old is your GD? 

Hi, he'll be three in August

If he's three I can't see it correcting itself now.

No, me neither.
As I say I do think it's a little better, so I'll watch it and I'll have a word with the vet.
I'd rather not put him through an op, if it can be managed another way, thank you all
Sharon
X

I know I'm going through the same worry but in a different way.  Don't want to put my boy under a GA if he doesn't need to!!

Sorry´to hear about your boy's  problem. This is a problem we sometimes see in my breed, it's said to be hereditary.
I'm sorry, but if your boy is three years old, his head should be mature by now. I can fully well understand your worries about an op, but think about how annoying it is, when something gets in your eye! A dog will not let any ailments take over it's life, like humans do, but it still suffers. Don't want to make you feel bad, but I know of a young bitch with this problem that had the op and actually became a much happier and easygoing dog, afterwards.
Good luck,
All the best,
Karen

Don't worry Karen, you haven't made me feel bad, because I've been telling myself the very same thing. Although it doesn't appear to bother him that much, I know when I've had something in my eye, it can be very annoying :rolleyes:
Anyway, we're off to the vet tomorrow, so we'll see what he recommends then, but I will do whatever is in his best interests, whether it's what I want or not - that's the whole point of being a responsible owner, don't you think?
Thanks again,
Sharon
X

My young cocker has had several ops for entropian.  One eye was corrected the first time and the other eye was more persistant and has been done three times.  It's a complicated op for the vet, probably easier on a 3yr old GD than an 8wk old cocker pup though!  It didn't worry him at all and he was running around as soon as he came home like nothing had happened.

My concern, and my vets, was how easy it is to damage the eye, causing ulcers, etc and jeopardising sight.  We had drops but they didn't do any good although probably moistened the eye to stop damage.

Hi Bailies mum how is your great dane doing? As Brainless said about dischiatris, have a look along the lids top and bottom and see if you can see any hairs along the rim, these littles buggers can cause your dog loads of trouble:rolleyes: I came across both these conditions and when getting new addition to my family i always look for nice clear eyes, with no watering!

Update!!
Hi all, well we've been at the vet again this afternoon, and he wants to leave him on the drops for another fortnight. Again, I think it's much better today, he put a little dye into his eye again to check for ulcers, and there's nothing at all.
So it's another fortnight on the Maxitrol, he thinks that it's been caused by an infection which has turned the eyelashes in and not a hereditary problem. I wish that I'd read your posts before I went, and I would have appeared a little more knowledgeable :rolleyes:
But it's all good at the moment, the vet doesn't think at the moment, it warrants surgery and it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all today, never seen him rub at it anyway
But I will keep you all informed,
Sharon
X

Hi Sharon glad to hear his is doing okay

Yes infection can cause the lids to swell and spasm so causing temporary entropion.

A bit better again today, thanks guys, it's good to know there's somewhere you can turn, when you need some straight advice.
Many Thanks ;-)
Sharon
X

If you do have to have the eyelid operated on it is really a minor op anyway, so try not to worry. At three I would have expected his head to have matured pretty much. Has he had this as an ongoing condition since much younger or is this a recent development?

Hi Polly, no he hasn't had it for a while.
I would say it started around August time last year, and this is the third flare up he's had.

Hi, i have a 14 week old sbt puppy who last week his eye looked quite sore and the bottom lid looked as if it was rolling in. After a trip to the vets, a course of anti biotics, anti inflammatories, and eye cream were prescribed but a week on and its not really any better. The vet has reccomended surgery, however upon looking into entropion i have discovered that many people reccomend waiting until dog is fully grown, head has matured etc. I am in two minds as to what to do, i do not want to rush into surgery but on the other hand do not want to cause  any damage to his eyes in the mean time.

Any advice appreciated,

Hello, anyone have any advice on this please???

They can put a 'holding' stitch in it to keep the eyelid away from the eye.  Often the scar tissue that is left tightens the skin and keeps it away from the eye.  They do this sometimes in Shar Peis.  I would advise looking into this before the main surgery as it needs very careful surgery to make sure they don't take too much skin and the eyelid droops.

Daisy you will need to take advice from your vet.  After all, he is the one who would do the op, isn't he?  My pup had his first eye done at 8 weeks.  Damage to the eyesight can occur if the lashes are left to rub.

Thanks for your replies, i have taken advice from my vet but i was just asking to see if anyone else has had this dilemma and how it turned out for them. I have done alot of research into entropion and am aware of both side effect from having the op and from putting it off. Think i will get a second opinion from another vet,

Thanks again

Clair

My Irish Setter girl had entropian when she was a pup and not being overly knowledgeable we had the operation done when she was a pup.

She was absolutely fine and we have had no further problems - the vet said she was probably in some pain with constant scratching on the eyelid which is why we did get it done asap.

But it might be different with other breeds?

bailliesmum i would perhaps look into seeing another independant vet,a second opinion is always good whith recurring problems :)

If he is rubbing on it then it must be bothering him,dont you think? Eyes are one part of the body particularly that i will not mess around with,it sounds like this vet keeps sending you off with meds in the hopes it will get better... Is he experienced with entropian,eye operations etc???

Hi Polly, whilst the op may be minor - the GA is not in a Dane - its very worrying and stressful to put a dog that size under.

Balliesmum, hold fire, I think you will find it will turn out fine :)

Surely at the age of nearly 3 you would expect it to stop recurring?  I wouldn't like to have something rubbing my eyes on and off for 3 years!

I would also take him elsewhere, maybe to one of the specialised eye vets to see what they think.

It's not that I'm wanting you to have him operated on or anything but it does seem as though it won't properly rectify itself now after all this time, maybe a specialist can advise more so on it?

But its only been happening since November. Could easily be an eye infection with the swelling causing the lid to go in...  I think the vet knows what he is doing and would have operated by now if he felt a need to?

Balliesmum - how is he now?

I took it from the post that it was quite bad in November, not that it had only just started since then, but that's how when reading someting on the Internet you can't really advise unless you know the full details.