Dog eye ulcer not healing with Vetropolycin? Switched to Terramycin.

Poor girl. In uncomplicated cases of an eye ulcer the pet normally starts to improve significantly after 7 days. I would have her seen again my your vet soon. The eye ulcer this time around may be deeper or perhaps even resistant to the antibiotic. Sometimes pets also require surgical procedures on the eye to get the ulcer to heal. I hope that Taurie’s eye ulcer heals up well soon! Best of luck and take care.

Whenever there is an injury to the eye it is very important to have your vet examine the eye to see if there is an abrasion or possibly even a rupture of the cornea. If this is the case, treatment options are very different as is the prognosis of saving the eye. If the Terramycin was from a previous injury it may or may not be appropriate to use this time. Also, if it has been more than 30 days since it was last used it should be discarded. Since the eye is such a delicate structure, I strongly recommend you take Thumper to your veterinarian for an examination.

Unfortunately eye pain can be difficult to treat - oral medications sometimes don’t seem to make much difference. There is some evidence that tramadol is not metabolized well in dogs so I think gabapentin might be a reasonable alternative. Ultimately healing the ulcer will be most important - if it does not seem to be healing well you may need to see a specialist to have a burr procedure or keratotomy in order for it to heal. Topical pain medication might be another option but can sometimes slow the healing process.

Eye ulcers are very complex and there is no one size fits all treatment. There are many options for treating ulcers and this is in part depends on the underlying cause of the ulcer (poor tear production/quality, inturned eyelids/eyelashes, scratches from other dogs/cats etc). The cornerstone of treatments are a lubricant drop plus an antibiotic drop (each applied 15mins apart every 2-6hours depending on severity), in many cases serum drops (prepared from the patients blood) are also used to promote healing and prevent further inflammation. Surgical treatment may also be required to clear damaged tissue from the surface of the ulcer and sometimes to protect the eye with flaps/contact lenses etc. I recommend a check up by your vet to ensure the most appropriate treatment is selected

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If Brian is under Veterinary care and is receiving antibiotic eye drops prescribed by your vet then the ulcer should heal. Most uncomplicated ulcers heal with in 5-7 days. You should recheck with your Vet to be sure it has healed. I do not think cold air caused the ulcer or will make it worse. Dust, running into branches or other plant material may have caused the original injury so I would leash walk him and don't leave him outdoors long unsupervised until the eye has healed. I hope this helps!

Although a picture would be essential to determine clinical development, if you think there is no improvement at all, I would recommend to have it checked again immediately. Certain type of corneal ulcers can actually start melting and get worse very rapidly. Different type of antibiotics or treatment may be needed. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Based on this picture, that looks like a fairly superficial corneal ulceration. Oral antibiotics are not the treatment for this sort of issue, as direct ophthalmic medications will be required. The treatment will be aimed at preventing secondary infection,, reducing inflammation / pain, and mending the corneal surface. Otis will also need to wear a cone to make sure that he doesn't try and scratch at the eye and make matters worse for himself. This issue is not life-threatening, but the ulcer will definitely get worse if it is not treated quickly and properly, particularly if he is the kind of dog that will bother at it. If you've been to the vet already, he may have put a stain in the eye and then looked with a special light to see the actual depth of the ulcer. He will be able to tell you if the ulcer is actually superficial or if goes deeper than it appears in the picture. Hope this all makes sense.