Any Advice Please? - Blindness

[littlenell]

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register

My friend rang me tonight very upset, one of her border puppies has gone blind in one eye. The puppy was taken to the vets for his second vaccination and had been quiet for a day or so after which sometimes can happen (car journey etc). Then the pup was rubbing one of his eyes and when she checked, the eye had gone cloudy and blue, so she rang the vet who advised she should bring him in as he must have injured himself somehow but it would have to be at tea time. The blue by this time had turned to white and the pup seems unable to see out of that eye now. On examination the vet said she couldnt see any damage caused ulcers or by an injury and that it must either be hereditary, genetic or that he could have had a reaction to the vaccine. My friend has bred Borders for over 20 years, knows her dogs and breeds very carefully. Never before has she had one with any form of health problem, eye or otherwise. Neither of us realised that a puppy could possibly be blinded by a reaction to being vaccinated - Neither of us have ever been told by a vet that this was a possibity either. Has anyone else ever come across anything like this? my friend is gutted that this has happened to her little lad, she had been hoping to show him, she is concerned that he might in pain and is worried that when boosters are due would any further vaccine cause him to go completely blind or might this happen anyway. The vet said there could be a very slim chance his sight in the eye would return but she was doubtful. The pup has an appointment to see an eye specialist tomorrow .

Any information on this would be very welcome, he is such a lovely pup. My friend is so shocked going from having a healthy happy pup to a blind one in a couple of days.

 

[TTT]

That seems bad news. When you say the pup is a border - do you mean border terrier or border collie? I believe that border collies can carry the merle gene and this can cause problems with their eyes, especially the predominantly white ones with blue coloured eyes. Are both eyes affected?

 

[littlenell]

That seems bad news. When you say the pup is a border - do you mean border terrier or border collie? I believe that border collies can carry the merle gene and this can cause problems with their eyes, especially the predominantly white ones with blue coloured eyes. Are both eyes affected?

Sorry, meant to put Border Terrier. Only one eye is affected at the moment. I havent spoken to her yet this morning - she is going to ring me when she comes back from the vets.

 

[~Sarah~]

Is the vet certain that there is no possibility of an injury?

I know one the guinea pigs I used to have had a bad eye on two different occasions caused by a scratch we think. The eye went completely cloudy/white and looked as though it would never see out of the eye again. However, after treatment with eye drops, a week or so later she was absolutely fine.

I do hope it is nothing too serious. :luck: :luck: I have just recently looked after a Border Terrier for a day - they are really gorgeous dogs. :wub: :wub:

 

[littlenell]

Is the vet certain that there is no possibility of an injury?
I know one the guinea pigs I used to have had a bad eye on two different occasions caused by a scratch we think. The eye went completely cloudy/white and looked as though it would never see out of the eye again. However, after treatment with eye drops, a week or so later she was absolutely fine.

I do hope it is nothing too serious. :luck: :luck: I have just recently looked after a Border Terrier for a day - they are really gorgeous dogs. :wub: :wub:

My friend said that the vet had put dye in his eye to see if any scratch or ulcer showed up but it was clear. I had two Border terriers until last year when I lost them both quite close together. Both were bred by my friend and were mother and son. :wub: They were both lovely little dogs, Teazle the mum died suddenly at 11 and Buster died a month or so later of heart failure at the age of 9 - I think he just missed his mum as he had always lived with her. Ive sent my friend a text this morning wishing her luck at the vets, Ive not heard back yet.

 

[littlenell]

My friend has just rung to let me know what the consultant had said. The condition is called "blue eye" and used to be quite common years ago in vaccinated dogs but now is very rare due to the improvement in vaccines. It is a reaction to the hepatitus (sp) part in the vaccine and she said the vet took quite a lot of photos and did lots of tests as he said although they are taught about blue eye at vetinary school, he has never before come across a case. He rang the company who made the vaccine and enquired if this condition did still occur and they confirmed that some dogs did react but this was now extremely rare. The outcome for the puppy regarding his sight returning in the damaged eye is unknown and only time will tell. As for him being vaccinated (boosters) in the future the vet advised that although you can give certain parts of the vaccine individually - lepto parvo and kennel cough, the hepatitus is given in the same vaccine as distemper. I must admit this has woken me up, I have never questioned having my dogs vaccinated, its just something It was best to do, but it makes you wonder doesnt it? Id be heartbroken too if this had happened to one of my dogs. Ill let you know how he goes on in the future. :unsure: I wish him lots of luck :luck: