How to Treat Dry Eye in Dogs
As your dog ages, you want to make sure that you can keep him in the peak of health. You know that this means monitoring his diet and keeping an eye on how easily he moves and his energy levels, but did you know that you should also take a look at his eyes? Dry eye is essentially a condition where your dog’s tear glands stop working properly and it is something that is fairly common among older dogs. The issue that arises is that when your dog has dry eye, he is going to prone to chronic and painful eye infections. If the irritation gets bad enough, the cornea can become severely scratched and this in turn can lead to ulceration of the wound and blindness.
How can you spot dry eye in your dog? This is a fairly common issue and happily enough, it can be treated fairly quickly. Dry eye will first make itself known through a thick yellowish discharge instead of the clear or cloudy tears that your dog might shed to get rid of debris. The lack of useful tears can mean that bacterial organisms are going to overgrow on the eye and in many cases, you will find that they are around your dog’s eyes might look crusty or dusty. Do you notice that your dog is “wiping” his eyes on his foreleg or have you noticed that his sight seems to be worse? He might even be blundering into doorways that he was once able to navigate quite easily.
