Keratoconjunctivitis - KVC or Dry Eye in dogs

Kaiser my Rottie developed this in late March 2013. It started suddenly with him closing his right eye. We took him to the Vets and after a thorough examination, he was diagnosed with KVC.

He has been on Optimmune since then with a supplement of antibiotics. We first put Metacam on his food once per day. After a while it never seemed to clear the gunk, so the Vet put him on Maxitrol eye drops twice per day. This is a steroidal antibiotic.

The Maxitrol cleared the gunk, but seemed to make his eyelids sore and he kept his eye shut again. We are now back on Metacam until we see the Vet in a weeks time for a check.

I have surfed the web and read all the information on Dry Eye and we have total confidence in our Vet.

What I would like to hear is how other owners have dealt with this nasty problem. Their successes and failures, treatments, how the dog copes with it and whether any real progress has been made. Owners comments are just as important as having good medical treatment for the overall comfort of the owner in trouble.

Would anybody who has this experience, please post their comments.

Many thanks

My 9 year old shih tzu was born with the condition. Unfortunately went unnoticed Untill March of this year.She took an eye infectionvet did a test to determine the volume of liquid present,her's was zero.Also had a dye test which showed up an ulcer.Vet decided to operate to remove the top layer of the eye,unfortunately after this and 4 days of antibiotics her eye was removed.Now has lubrithal gel put in her remaining eye 5 times a day.Has lost 95% vision in it but needs to be kept moist.Don't panic, in Lacey's case the damage was done due to not knowing,was really too late when it was discovered.

Also,as far as I am aware there is no cure for the condition,but can be successfully controlled with drops or gel( for life) I think your dog is lucky this has been diagnosed early.Does he rub his eye against things, rugs, blankets etc?

I've never even heard of this condition before. How fortunate we have Eileen here to give you her perspective on it. I hope your dog will be OK.

Pat, some breeds are actually predisposed to the condition, pugs,cavillers, shihtzu's, westies too I believe. Due to there eyes being more prominent.Have seen 3 pugs so far with one eye removed because of this condition,2 of the owners weren't aware that their dogs had it,resulting in ulcers.Forearmed is forewarned in this case and it can be controlled successfully

Thank you Eileen for your reply and also the other posters. I hope they keep coming. You cannot really beat the voices of experience.

I had never heard of Dry Eye before March this year when Kaiser was infected and we have had many dogs over the years and cats.

He has rubbed his eye against his sleeping bag and arm chairs at times but very rarely. That was when he had just had the ointment put in.

Otherwise he just plods on normally with no apparent effect except perhaps having his eye closed. He does open it, about 50/50 I suppose. It is me who does the worrying.

I do not know how he got this trouble in his later life, it just happened. Rottweilers are not listed as a breed susceptible to Dry Eye. So I keep saying that oldie "Why Kaiser ?"

I would suggest having a Schirmers test done, simple test,basically checking the volume of tears produced. There is level,think its 15 and below that causes problems.Above that its just a matter of keeping it lubricated.On your visit,ask your vet about it.Hopefully everything will be fine. Keep in touch and let me know yeah?

Eileen,

My Vet did the paper strip test when we first went in March on both eyes. That is how he diagnosed Dry Eye. The reading was zero then for the bad eye. The other eye was normal.

Two weeks ago he tested it again and the reading was 6, still no good but improved.

We see the Vet again on the 12 June and he will test it again, hopefully we will see a better reading.

That's really good news,it's getting better.Had it stayed at zero undetected it could have lead to an ulcer really you should be well pleased with that

My little staffy has dry eye in both eyes that wasn't treated by his previous owners and by the time we brought him home from the rescue shelter his readings were 0 on the test u mentioned. I can't offer advice on the improvement as Jake's eyes we're so bad when we rescued him that this wasn't an option for us but I think eileen has offered great support on that front.

We bathe his eyes with cooled boiled water as often as it needs it to remove the gunk but at least twice a day. He then has Maxitrol drops twice a day and we also put viscotears gel in for him to keep his eyes lubricated during the day (you can get this from a pharmacy). We also tried lacrilube gel but this seemed to make his eye more gunky which he then struggled with seeing where he was going on walks. It doesn't seem to bother him at all but I think that's a breed specific trait that they don't show even when they are in pain so we do our best to keep his eyes moist. We and the vet have noticed a massive improvement in his eyes since we brought him home so we must be doing something right!

I hope u manage to get something that works for you soon as it's always a worry when something's not right.

Jo xox