Applying eye drops

Hi,

I just found out that my 4 month old puppy Sam will need eye drops a couple of times a day for the rest of his life. He can't close his eyes completely and he sleeps with his eyes open, so they get very dry and sore and he rubs them a lot.

The problem is that when I apply the drops, he squeals and bites and gets very upset. It takes ages to get him to stay still for long enough. I've tried using treats, but so far it hasn't helped. I feel like I'm torturing him, and he is a bit afraid of me now.

I was wondering if anyone who has experience of this has any tips for how to apply them?

He also needs his anal glands emptied regularly, but I really don't want to even think about that battle yet :yikes

Thanks!!
Laura

Oh no. There are several people on the board who have experience with this and I'm sure someone will pop in with some advice.

hi laura

i have to give daisy eye drops twice a day for dry eye and i also have to put a gel into her eyes twice a day. at first it was hard, but she is absolutely fine with it now, she really doesnt mind. hopefully after time yours will be fine too. the thing that i do is hold her head up, and she keeps her eyes slightly open (if she doesnt open them then i gently open them), just enough to get a drop in, i make sure i put the eye drops in from behind, so that she cant really see my hand, this works well. daisy also has her anal glands emptying, which does hurt her but the vet always does this for me.

have they said it is dry eye? what eye drops do you use? daisy used to scratch her eyes a lot and rub them, thats when i found out she has dry eye and she will be on the drops/gel forever.

PM me if you like to chat some more about it.
emma and daisy.

My Robbie has one eye that doesn't produce tears so he is on drops and ointment for life..luckily he is pretty easy to give drops to (he's been doing it since he was 8 weeks old) so I can do it from just about any direction but the easiest way to give him his drops is to have him on his side against my chest with the eye that I'm putting the drops in facing out..I use one hand to cup the head and use the thumb and 1st finger to open the eye..the other hand is coming from the back of the head so he isn't actually seeing the drop bottle coming and put the drop in ... and since he is already in my lap he gets cuddles after the drop..

It takes awhile to get use to doing the drops but it will soon become routine..

has your dog seen an eye vet..with the dry eye they often need drops and an ointment plus they are more prone to infections so we keep antibiotic drops on hand too

Thanks for your replies!

It was just a superficial check-up while he was getting his vaccinations, so I haven't seen an eye vet yet. The vet said that it was dry eye because of his inability to close his eyes properly. It's funny though that his main symptom seems to be excessive tearing and crusting, which contradicts the idea of 'dry eyes'. But I remember that when I was on some medication a while ago that made my eyes very dry, they would actually water like crazy sometimes.

Sam rubs his eyes a lot, especially after waking up, which the vet says is because he sleeps with his eyes open most of the time. The 'whites' of his eyes are also quite pink.

I didn't get more of a diagnosis than that though - just a recommendation that I use eye drops. No explanation for the inability to blink in the first place. But it was quite a packed vet appointment. Within about 5 minutes, she had found four problems: a large overbite, inability to close eyes, impacted anal glands, and undescended testicles. :yikes I really don't know which issue to worry about about first. :?

Poor Sam must be quite uncomfortable with his sore anal glands and itchy eyes and so on. He cried so loud in the vet's office when she tried to empty his glands, that another vet had to come in to help. Poor baby! !

Oh that poor baby!! That's a lot to deal with.

that is a lot to deal with laura, i would certainly call the breeder, you deserve money back seeing as you paid for him in the first place. i didnt contact the breeder for daisy as i didnt pay for her, the breeder told us about daisys problems and we decided to take her and take on the problems, so the breeder gave her to us. but if you paid the money you should call the breeder, as the breeder should have advised you of the problem.
you might have to take him to an eye specialist, thats what we had to do and thats where we got the more specialist eye cream. it might be worth taking him because the eyes are so important. daisys eyes also dont close properly when she is asleep, obviously a symptom of dry eye. daisy cries too when she has her glands emptied, it must be very sore for them. but as for the eye drops that will get easier for you to do and he will realise that it is part of his day to day routine. maybe try giving him a really nice treat after you do his eyes, like sausage! something he doesnt get very often might make him think it is not so bad!

Have a go at doing the drops this way....

Sit Sam on a chair facing away from you. Stand behind him and cup his head in your one hand and gently tilt his head upwards towards you. Pop the drops in with the other hand then close the eye and gently rub around.

I found this way to be the best when I had a dog that required eye drops hourly throughout the day.

Hope this helps,

Alison, Wilts, U.K.

Thanks for the advice, but oh boy what a feisty little man I have! Tried again to give him the drops, with him facing away, lifting his head with one hand, giving him treats and so on as advised. He was definitely not having it! I'm afraid of hurting him, trying to hold him still when he jumps around so much. I'll have to keep trying of course, but it will be a battle of wills :roll: