Squinting Eye

Hello,
I have a ruby cavalier named Finley and he's now about 2 and a half years old!
About a month ago his right eye was squinted for about a day. Worried at first, we came to the conclusion that he must've gotten something in it or scratched it.
Just last week, at his check-up vet appointment (amazingly), it happened again. Same right eye, same squint. The vet did a test with some sort of fluorescent dye and a UV light and concluded that his eye is not scratched and his tear ducts are blocked. She said that tear ducts are commonly blocked and are of no cause for alarm. She suggested we schedule an appointment with an ophthalmologist. We now have an appointment for Finley a week from today.

But now today he's got the same squint again, but worse than usual. His third eyelid seems is covering more of his eye than usual. When looking at his eye, his right squinty eye is more twitchy than his left. It also looks like his right eye is not looking in the same direction as his left. I can't tell if that is just an illusion because of his third eyelid or not, though. His right third eyelid is also more of a white color, while his left is a darker brown.

I've searched this forum and that cavalier health website for some information, but I haven't really found much. Reading online about eye problems in dogs, most articles suggest to get them into an ophthalmologist quickly, and now I'm wondering if a week will be too long of a wait.

Has anyone had similar issues? I was thinking it might be the beginning of cherry eye, but it doesn't really look like there is any mass growing on his third eyelid, it's just red.


Thanks for your help!

I am not sure what it could be, I would suggest a scratch but if the vet already did the dye test and checked him out I don't know. I hope it isn't anything serious.

I have experienced cherry eye before with a beagle. To me it does look like a third eyelid thingy going on.Really its not a big big deal but it looks awful. I would call the ophthalmologist and see what they say. The danger here is Finley scratching it so if you own a cone (of shame) I would slip in on (you can buy them at pet stores too). My beagle needed surgery to fix his cherry eye issue. It was a day surgery he didn't need to stay overnight or anything. He came home with nothing more than eye drops and the CONE...I think he was completely back to his normal cone-free self within a week.

Again the biggest danger here is him hurting it farther by scratching at it. I'm sure it is effecting his vision in some way. Poor baby Let us know what you find out. Also Finley is a super cute name and he's one handsome guy:lotsaluv:

Since your vet diagnosed the tear ducts being blocked, Finley probably has "dry eye syndrome", which is a common ailment for cavaliers. He should be examined by an ophthalmologist as soon as possible, because if he has dry eye, Finley will need prescription drops for his eye, daily. Also, a saline solution to clean his eye periodically will not hurt.

Thank you all for your replies! Just to fill everyone in:
We met with the ophthalmologist last night. He was rather sure it is Horner's Syndrome. As we understand it, Horner's Syndrome is more of a symptom than an issue, and the doctor said it was most likely caused by either too much rough housing with his little (but bigger) sister and bumping his head, causing trauma to the nerve connected to his eye, or a possible middle ear infection.
He's on amoxicilin for a possible ear infection and we're going to monitor the play time. We're also going to get him a harness for walks so his collar does not pull at his neck.
He's doing much better since, though!

Thanks again for your suggestions, it helped keep us calm!