Help Needed! Tired of paying for medicine that doesn't work........

[stefambrose]

I adopted Pearl back in January and took her to the vet to get fully checked out. She had a bit of an ear infection and her eyes were a mess. The vet fixed the ear problem with some solution, but this eye problem is driving me insane. Prior to my adopting, she apparently had the cherry eye tuck surgery twice which left one of her corneas scarred. Both eye lids are back out, but the vet that I was recommended to said that he did not want to do the surgery again on her because it wouldn't be successful....she doesn't seem to be in pain, so fine I'll let them be, BUT the problem is that the yellow mucus/puss will not go away! He prescribed me literally a cocktail of drugs that I am supposed to give her every day to maintain the mucus, which cost up to $200/month. I can't afford that. I was assuming maybe $1000 in vet bills/year but not up to $3000+ per year. I would maybe consider trying to figure how to afford the drugs, BUT after using them as prescribed for 4 months nothing got better! Why would I waste money on drugs that don't work? ...Problem is no matter how frequently I give her eye drops or medicine, the yellow mucus just won't stop. The ONLY time her eyes cleared up 100% was when she was on this steroid medicine for a staff infection...but shortly after those meds were done, her eyes went right back to being a mess. She doesn't seem unhappy or in pain, but she is much more skiddish with her eyes junked up because she can't see well. You could tell she was really excited the one time they actually did clear up

Any advice? Do you think it's just been really bad because of the season? Should I just keep giving her eye drops and see if it gets better in the fall/winter? ...I tending not to trust this vet anymore and quite honestly I can't afford to take her around to a million vets because they all charge too much to take a guess at a solution.

 

[RiiSi]

Welcome to EBN.
I would suggest another vet and before going in asking them if they no anything about bullies. It surely can't go on like this. Have you tried going even a day without the meds? Do they work at all? Are you really just throwing away your money?
I always think that it would be better to know why this is happening instead of just trying to take care of the symptoms. Food plays a big role in bullies health too, yes even eye health. What are you feeding her?

 

[stefambrose]

Well along w/ the ear and eyes, she also came to me very obese weighing in at over 70lbs...she is down to 60lbs now. I have her on a strict diet of one bowl of either IIAMs or Beneful's Health Control dry food. I'll also give her one small milkbone treat in the morning with her eye drops. This vet is supposed to be known for bulldogs and their eye care but I'm certainly not impressed. I've wen without giving her the meds and her eyes pretty much look the same with all of the yellow mucus. I clean them out pretty much every day but they go right back to it. It does seem like maybe it has been worse since the summer season.

 

[stefambrose]

Oh also, the vet said the yellow mucus is because of the dry eye. Her eye lids are still producing a little bit of nature tears but not much....

 

[RiiSi]

OK, I'm sorry to tell you this but they are not very good. You can find a very good dog food rating list in this link...

http://www.englishbulldognews.com/forums/content.php?r=219-Dog-Food-Ratings

and as you can see both IAMs and Beneful are not rated very high. It can mean a world of difference in your bullies health to feed at least 4 star food and preferably grain free. Both Iams and beneful are mostly corn and other by-products, that is not good.

 

[RiiSi]

Ok, I don't clain to be an ophthalmology specialist, but now I'm not getting it. If she already has a dry eye why isn't the vet removing the gland? One reason for tucking instead of removing is to avoid dry eye...

 

[stefambrose]

I asked the vet the same thing because I thought it would be more comfortable for her to have them removed vs being out like that. He said that since they are producing "some" tears, he'd rather not put the dog in more stress of surgery.

I will try some new food and see if that helps anything.

 

[stefambrose]

Do you have a recommendation for which food would be the best for allergies & the weight control?

 

[GatorRay]

Can you ask this guy if he can recommend a good veterinary ophthalmologist? They are around but you generally need a referral. I don't know where you live or I would pm you some suggestions. Also, Food plays a huge part. It won't clear up dry eye, but there might be something else going on that is allergy related so you might want to try a different food. It might be something in the food that is causing the gunk to be worse. I think that the fact that it cleared with a steroid treatment is a clue to that. The link above should be helpful.

ALSO I have learned (from the veterinary ophthalmologist actually) that lots of eye meds can be bought at a regular people pharmacy! They can give you a prescription and the pharmacy will fill it. I have found that grocery store pharmacies seem to have better prices on these meds or you can call around and ask them their prices. I had one for Gator that one pharmacy in town (grocery store) had on the FREE list so it didn't cost anything and the other was on the $4 list!

Good luck and I hope this has been helpful! Keep us posted on her progress.

 

[stefambrose]

Thanks...I live in MD (Pikesville)...this vet was a recommended opthamologist ...I guess I'll have to shop around for a better one. I will also try a different food brand

 

[RiiSi]

Do you have a recommendation for which food would be the best for allergies & the weight control?

Only thing I can suggest is that pick one that has no grain and is also glutein free. Maybe try one with a different source of protein. And slow transition is vital too unless you deside to feed raw.

 

[dozersmama]

Tyson has Kcs also known as dry eye the reason the steroids worked is because it suppressed her immune system ,that in turn caused the body to stop attacking the ducts. You need optimune. It's really cheap and several bullies on ebn are on it. It works ok for Ty but I know [MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION] said it works great for hrh. You may also want to find a new vet.

 

[GatorRay]

Since I am not familiar with your area, I can't really recommend anyone but if you do a google search of Maryland Veterinary Ophthalmologist, it should give you some options. I did and came up with several. You may need to call your regular vet and tell him you need a second opinion and have him send a referral. Most good vets will do this without a visit. I cannot give any advice about the cherry eye since I very limited knowledge about that. Does the guy you are using now know that it cleared with steroids? Those aren't for long term use except as a last resort because they are very damaging to the body but it seems that is a clue that an allergy may be making the situation worse.

Oh, I also wanted to say that if the meds (or even some of them) are available at a pharmacy, call around because they can vary WIDELY in price. One big name pharmacy was $40 for the FREE eye meds that I got just up the street.

Food, well, take a look at our food rating system here under "articles" at the top of the page. I would, personally, look for something grain/gluten free and without chicken if possible. Do a slow transition and wait at least 6 weeks on the new food to see if there is any improvement. There are lots of good ones that vary widely in price. Once you have chosen a few options, you can check dogfoodadvisor.com and see an explanation of the ingredients. They will cost more than what you are feeding now, but the portion size is smaller so you end up feeding less AND if it helps, then you will save money on vet visits, etc. An added benefit is usually less POO!! You don't really need a weight control formula. It will be portion control that will keep her weight down, along with a quality food without the added, useless, fatty ingredients.

I hope this helps and I also hope that someone with experience with cherry eye or dry eye will come along and offer better advice on that.

 

[BruceP]

Good Morning.... Im a bit late to your thread as I was having connection problems. I have a couple of suggestions for you. As others have said food is an issue. There are so many that it gets confusing. I'll mention three here in order of MY preference, not that they will work for your baby as they are all different. My favorite and what works best for HRH *Her Royal Highness Princess Gracie* is Fromm Beef Frittata. It is grain/gluten free and contains NO chicken or chicken fat which is a major allergen of bullies. Fromm is about $60 for the largest bag but obviously you dont start with a huge bag in case she doesnt do well on it and you need to switch to something else. Fromm guarantees their food so you are safe that you arent wasting your money to try it. IF, Fromm isnt available in your area it can be purchased online from Petflow. Two other brands that are excellent foods are Earthborn and Nature's Variety. They both have grain and chicken free flavors. Food is a trial and error thing so sometimes it take a couple switched before you hit on the right one... ALWAYS switch VERY slowly. I can give you the process for switching but to save time here I'll leave that out for now. Food mean everything!
Now, about her eyes. HRH's eyes cleared up quite a bit with Fromm but not altogether clear. At first, we got Blink lubricating eye drops from Walgreens. For an OTC drop it worked pretty well. Her vet however warned that it gets washed our of her eyes too quickly with the little tears she was producing. He recommended a prescription gel that not only lubricated but made the tear glands produce more tears call Optimmune. It is about $38 for a tiny tube but it takes so little that it lasts nearly 2 months here. It works GREAT. He tests her tear production and she is producing tears at a level that he no longer recommends eye surgery like he did before trying the Optimmune.
One other thing, Benedryl can be your friend for certain allergies.
Hope this helps.

 

[GatorRay]

[MENTION=1665]dozersmama[/MENTION], thanks so much for that information! It is so interesting that the immune system attacks the gland.

Also [MENTION=1034]BruceP[/MENTION] gave great advice as well.