One of our dogs has suddenly--I mean, within the last hour--developed an eye
problem. It looks as if the membrane above the lower lid has come up to
cover the lower half of the iris. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but it's
obviously irritating, as her eyelid is more or less shut (just like our eyes
tend to do when we've got something in them) and the eye is red. Naturally
it is Saturday afternoon, and our vet's office--which I called
immediately--is closed until Monday. I don't want to have to take her to the
emergency vet and incur a huge bill if I don't have to. It's not that I'm
being cheap, it's that we really can't afford it. (Obviously we'll do it if
we have to.)

I'm going to try flushing it gently with some water, but in the mean time if
anyone has any experience with this sort of thing, can you comment? I'll be
checking back.

Thanks.

Well, panic over. The conjunctiva, or whatever it is, has subsided back to
its normal place and she's stopped squinting. Bizarre. I will bring it to
the attention of the vet when she seems him next week.

She might have got something in it that just irritated it suddenly, and it
has worked its way out now.
Glad shes ok.
Dollymarie

"Janet Puistonen" wrote in message
newsBUze.207$jh4.166@trndny09...
One of our dogs has suddenly--I mean, within the last hour--developed an
eye problem. It looks as if the membrane above the lower lid has come up
to cover the lower half of the iris. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but
it's obviously irritating, as her eyelid is more or less shut (just like
our eyes tend to do when we've got something in them) and the eye is red.
Naturally it is Saturday afternoon, and our vet's office--which I called
immediately--is closed until Monday. I don't want to have to take her to
the emergency vet and incur a huge bill if I don't have to. It's not that
I'm being cheap, it's that we really can't afford it. (Obviously we'll do
it if we have to.)


My dog had the same thing happen. On a Saturday. We called around and got
her a same day appointment at a regular vet that happened to be open and was
willing to see her (emergency vets *are* way more expensive - we avoid them
if at all possible). We ended up getting some testing to see if she had
scratched her eye (she hadn't), and walked out with a tube of antibiotic
ointment and a minimal bill ($60).

I know you said it already cleared up, but just in case you get another
flare up I thought I'd give you our experience.

--Jodi

Jodi wrote:
"Janet Puistonen" wrote in message
newsBUze.207$jh4.166@trndny09...
One of our dogs has suddenly--I mean, within the last
hour--developed an eye problem. It looks as if the membrane above
the lower lid has come up to cover the lower half of the iris. She
doesn't seem to be in pain, but it's obviously irritating, as her
eyelid is more or less shut (just like our eyes tend to do when
we've got something in them) and the eye is red. Naturally it is
Saturday afternoon, and our vet's office--which I called
immediately--is closed until Monday. I don't want to have to take
her to the emergency vet and incur a huge bill if I don't have to.
It's not that I'm being cheap, it's that we really can't afford it.
(Obviously we'll do it if we have to.)

My dog had the same thing happen. On a Saturday. We called around
and got her a same day appointment at a regular vet that happened to
be open and was willing to see her (emergency vets *are* way more
expensive - we avoid them if at all possible). We ended up getting
some testing to see if she had scratched her eye (she hadn't), and
walked out with a tube of antibiotic ointment and a minimal bill
($60).
I know you said it already cleared up, but just in case you get
another flare up I thought I'd give you our experience.

--Jodi

Thanks--that's very helpful.

"Janet Puistonen" wrote in message
newsBUze.207$jh4.166@trndny09...
One of our dogs has suddenly--I mean, within the last hour--developed an
eye
problem. It looks as if the membrane above the lower lid has come up to
cover the lower half of the iris. She doesn't seem to be in pain, but it's
obviously irritating, as her eyelid is more or less shut

............that's what they call the 3rd eyelid. Could indicate a scratch
on the cornea.

I'm going to try flushing it gently with some water,

........have you ever put tap water in your eye? It hurts. Our eyes are
bathed in saline. In a pinch you can put 1/4 tsp salt in a cup of distilled
water and use that to flush. Sea salt is best, but any salt is better than
no salt.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

buglady wrote:
"Janet Puistonen" wrote in message
newsBUze.207$jh4.166@trndny09...
One of our dogs has suddenly--I mean, within the last
hour--developed an eye problem. It looks as if the membrane above
the lower lid has come up to cover the lower half of the iris. She
doesn't seem to be in pain, but it's obviously irritating, as her
eyelid is more or less shut

...........that's what they call the 3rd eyelid. Could indicate a
scratch on the cornea.

I'm going to try flushing it gently with some water,

.......have you ever put tap water in your eye? It hurts. Our eyes
are bathed in saline. In a pinch you can put 1/4 tsp salt in a cup
of distilled water and use that to flush. Sea salt is best, but any
salt is better than no salt.

buglady
take out the dog before replying

Luckily it resolved itself before I had to try intervening. I was trying to
find a recipe for eye wash, since we didn't have any...I'll remember this.

For anyone else who runs into this problem, a fairly exhaustive canine eye
health site I found said that simple "human" eye wash was fine, but
cautioned never to use things like Visine on your dog.