Dog Halloween Costume or….?
Check this out!
The ultimate dog Halloween “look.”
No, really. This Chihuahua woke up with red irritation in the whites of his eyes. He was blinking and squinting and tearing and it just wasn’t a good situation.
First, little Romeo had his eye pressures measured. Normal. So, no glaucoma! That’s good news!
Nothing looked wrong with the corneas on the physical examination, but before prescribing any medication which could potentially make a corneal scratch or ulcer worse, a fluorescein dye test was needed. (People get this, too!)
The dye looks orange when you open it up. Then, mixed with sterile saline or tears, it turns a green-yellow color. Turn out the lights, turn on a black-light, and viola! Halloween doggie!
“A normal corneal surface on the eye repels liquids and dust and washes away irritating little what-nots that can damage your eyes. If the dye sticks anywhere on the surface of the eye, then you’ve identified a defect in the surface,” says Doc Truli.
Ever get sand or dust in your eye? Hurts, right? Corneal ulcers and scratches are super painful. People even call in sick to work from a corneal scratch. Ask your veterinarian if any of the medication they’ve prescribed helps with the pain.
Romeo’s flourescein dye washed off the eyeball readily. No ulcers or scratches. A plain old cause of conjunctivitis (usually non-contagious in dogs BTW). Some eye drops and a few days out of the sun and Romeo was as good as ever!
