Cathryn
Well-known member
Hi All!
As you know Princess has a very nasty looking eye problem right now, I took her back to see Emma yesterday (Friday 13th) and Emma, in her own words, "Wimped Out"
My vets is a big practice, they have 3 surgeries covering some 100 mile radius, at the surgery furthest away, Castle Bromwich, the senior partner is Ian, who's specialist area is Opthalmology, so Emma referred me to Ian. We went to see him this morning and he did a few tests on Princess's eye's, lovely vet with a great rapport with Princess from the start!
So basically the news is that Princess actually has a condition called KERATOCONJUCTIVITIS SICCA or KCS. Which translated into lay mans terms is "Dry eye" :yikes: I have been given a wonderful info sheet and will pass on some of that info further on.
So my darling sweet Princess basically isn't producing enough tears in her eye's, so when her eye got scratched there was nothing there to help it heal, hence the deep abscess we now have. The GOOD news though is that, as you have all seen, her eye is very red looking, this is GOOD as it is the eye's way of healing, basically they have to "grow" a blood supply (the eye has very little) in order to heal itself, that is what all that white misting is on her eye, it is actually doing a very thorough job of healing itself up!! :razz: I have got 3 more lots of medication for her now, so currently Princess is having 2 lots of tablets a day and 4 different lots of topical eye drops/ointments, she will have to have eye drops every 3-4 hours now for the rest of her life poor girl! Also a ointment in every night when we go to bed to keep her eye lubricated! PHEW!!
OK a little bit of info on KCS for you now!
KCS is commonly called Dry Eye. This is a very apt name since the condition results from lack of proper tear production so that the eye has a dry and sore appearance.
How is it caused?
Tears although thought of as purely watery are a complex mixture of mucoid and fatty aqueous fractions as well as the aqueous component. They are saliva in composition.Any problem which affect the ability of the tear glands to produce adequate amounts of the aqueous fraction can result in "Dry Eye" since the quantity of tears produced is insufficient to keep the eye lubricated and free from infection which are two of the important functions of tears.
In Cavalier king Charles Spaniels a congenital form is recognised. This results in lack or poor development of the tear producing glands.
Usually the condition affects middle aged or older dogs although in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels young dogs can sometimes be affected.
The info goes on to discuss medical management of the condition and also discusses how occassionally if the condition is becoming too much to handle there is a surgery available where they redirect the course of the salivary gland so that it discharges into the eye!!
So there you have it folks, that's the real problem for Princess, happily there will be no long term damage to her eye as it was spotted well before there was the chance for it to become very serious, we know about the condition now and I am happy to manage it using the drops and ointments for as long as is necessary, at the end of the day I just want my girl to be comfortable!
Well done if you made it to the bottom of the post!! :lol:
As you know Princess has a very nasty looking eye problem right now, I took her back to see Emma yesterday (Friday 13th) and Emma, in her own words, "Wimped Out"
My vets is a big practice, they have 3 surgeries covering some 100 mile radius, at the surgery furthest away, Castle Bromwich, the senior partner is Ian, who's specialist area is Opthalmology, so Emma referred me to Ian. We went to see him this morning and he did a few tests on Princess's eye's, lovely vet with a great rapport with Princess from the start!
So basically the news is that Princess actually has a condition called KERATOCONJUCTIVITIS SICCA or KCS. Which translated into lay mans terms is "Dry eye" :yikes: I have been given a wonderful info sheet and will pass on some of that info further on.
So my darling sweet Princess basically isn't producing enough tears in her eye's, so when her eye got scratched there was nothing there to help it heal, hence the deep abscess we now have. The GOOD news though is that, as you have all seen, her eye is very red looking, this is GOOD as it is the eye's way of healing, basically they have to "grow" a blood supply (the eye has very little) in order to heal itself, that is what all that white misting is on her eye, it is actually doing a very thorough job of healing itself up!! :razz: I have got 3 more lots of medication for her now, so currently Princess is having 2 lots of tablets a day and 4 different lots of topical eye drops/ointments, she will have to have eye drops every 3-4 hours now for the rest of her life poor girl! Also a ointment in every night when we go to bed to keep her eye lubricated! PHEW!!
OK a little bit of info on KCS for you now!
KCS is commonly called Dry Eye. This is a very apt name since the condition results from lack of proper tear production so that the eye has a dry and sore appearance.
How is it caused?
Tears although thought of as purely watery are a complex mixture of mucoid and fatty aqueous fractions as well as the aqueous component. They are saliva in composition.Any problem which affect the ability of the tear glands to produce adequate amounts of the aqueous fraction can result in "Dry Eye" since the quantity of tears produced is insufficient to keep the eye lubricated and free from infection which are two of the important functions of tears.
In Cavalier king Charles Spaniels a congenital form is recognised. This results in lack or poor development of the tear producing glands.
Usually the condition affects middle aged or older dogs although in Cavalier King Charles Spaniels young dogs can sometimes be affected.
The info goes on to discuss medical management of the condition and also discusses how occassionally if the condition is becoming too much to handle there is a surgery available where they redirect the course of the salivary gland so that it discharges into the eye!!
So there you have it folks, that's the real problem for Princess, happily there will be no long term damage to her eye as it was spotted well before there was the chance for it to become very serious, we know about the condition now and I am happy to manage it using the drops and ointments for as long as is necessary, at the end of the day I just want my girl to be comfortable!
Well done if you made it to the bottom of the post!! :lol:
