Why does your dog need to wear the ecollar? My pup had an eye problem but it wasn't ulcers. That must be painful. He also had to see an opthamologist and we had to wait a few weeks for an appointment. Where are you located?

The 24/7 ecollar....last thing we want, now that the infection is being controlled with daily antibiotics, is a full blown infection. No touching, rubbing the eye, no rolling in the grass. I find it very difficult but she seems to be adapting very well. How fantastic that our dogs can teach us to be patient and stress less! When we finally get to see the eye specialist at least her eye will be clear. Her CBD and urine test have been sent to the ophtalmologist. It is required before our first visit. Yes it is painful this is why she is on medication and it is working. They also drew blood from her to prepare a serum, this way my dog's own antibodies could better heal her indolent ulcers. Still hoping it will...

one of my past danes developed glaucoma in one eye that we controlled with a couple of different eye drops for 18 months. eventually she had a spike in pressure that was causing a lot of pain so i scheduled enucleation immediately.

instead of the cone, which she absolutely HATED, i went with this for her post-op recovery. it was so much better since is provides a full field of vision, unlike the cone. also, the dog's ears are on the outside so sound isn't distorted as it can be with a cone. this visor can be trimmed to fit so the dog can eat/drink unencumbered.

i hope you can get an appointment with the ophthalmologist soon and s/he can give you answers. wishing you luck!

https://protectivepetsolutions.com/products/optivizor-regular-snout-dark-uv-tint?currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&srsltid=ASuE1wQYO3ONxJtzGXLkvshUcuGsiU9heCWVgIdxPnF0J-Ejv4s2ZfcrPW4&variant=31842697478259

I had a dog with corneal dystrophy, which includes ulcers. The following is the write-up I did for her breed’s health site:

”One day I noticed a greater than normal discharge from one of my dogs' eyes. Her vet examined her eyes and saw some cloudiness in the corneas which he diagnosed as corneal dystrophy. He did a fluorescein dye test of the eye with the discharge, but found no ulcer. He prescribed eyedrops to reduce the inflammation which was causing the discharge.

Sometime later I again saw greater than normal discharge. This time there was an ulcer, so our vet stopped the anti-inflammatory eyedrops and gave her antibiotic eyedrops instead. That turned out not to be enough. The ulcer was so severe that it required surgery; her eyelid was sewn shut to promote healing. During healing, without the anti-inflammatory drops, there was excessive growth of blood vessels that could be seen on the cornea when her eye was exposed again (vascularization). As soon as the ulcer was healed we had to go back to the anti-inflammatory drops. Our vet sent us to a veterinary ophthalmologist who confirmed his diagnosis of corneal dystrophy. We could see the cloudiness in her corneas.

This became a chronic condition requiring daily eyedrops and frequent trips to the vet any time we saw the slightest abnormal discharge so that he could do the fluorescein test and determine if there was an ulcer this time or not. We were able to manage it with eyedrops of one sort or another as long as we were very observant and went to the vet immediately when there was any change.”

Thank you all for sharing! I got a call this morning from the specialist's office and I have an appointment tomorrow morning. They have a ``closed hospital protocol`` so I will not be able to be with my dog.

Ninapearl: I really appreciate the link to Optivizor. Will have to get one. My dog is a BichonX, surely they have one for her snout.

Millworkman: This is comforting to read. 6 weeks must have felt like an eternity before your dog got the treatment/surgery. Very happy for you and your dog. Hope for the same outcome for mine.

socalgal: That is quite something. So many things can go wrong thus the importance on being on top of things as best as we can. Thank you for sharing.

so glad you got a quick appointment! since you can't go in, start making a list of any questions you may need/want to ask. i've found that if i don't write everything down, invariably i will forget something!!

I really appreciate the link to Optivizor. Will have to get one. My dog is a BichonX, surely they have one for her snout.

if you scroll down through the photos, they have lots of pics of small dogs using these. they aren't cheap but they are so worth the extra because they work so much better than a cone.

good luck tomorrow and report back when you can!!

Ninapearl: Yes i was very surprised to get that call this morning. I have had dogs all my life, always more than one af a time, I cannot count the amount of times I have seen vets with them but the older I am getting, the harder it is for me to manage my stress when they get something. You would think I would be wiser and calmer.

Visited Optivizor again and saw the one that would fit her. And yes preparing a list of questions in advance is a great suggestion. Thanks again!

i totally get the stress stuff!! i've been in great danes for 15 years now. my first 8 danes were rescues, my last 3 including my current 2, came from show breeders. my rescues all came with various health issues, most of which were pretty well controlled but there were many, many vet visits and they were always so stressful!! and yup, the older i get, the more stressful it seems to be.

glad you found the eye protection that will fit your pup. i really think that you (and she) will be much happier since i found that using it prevented my girl from bumping into things and being generally frustrated. eden could even go in and out the dog door with it, which she could not have done wearing a cone!

good luck at the specialist today!!!

The only good news to start with is that what my vet and I thought was another ulcer (very tiny indent) is a corneal scar. The ophthalmologist diagnosed my dog's ulcer yesterday as a "complex corneal ulcer centrally of the right eye with corneal stromal abscessation." She is now on 2 different antibiotics going from 3 drops a day to 8 a day. I had no idea she had this deeper infection because her eye did not look that bad and there was no discharge. I was at my regular vet last Friday and she did not see it either. The eye doctor examined both eyes and both eyes have "Medioventral entropion" (never noticed that, neither my vet, nor the groomer who sees my dogs every 2-3 months); Qualitative tear film deficiency of both eyes; Tear quantity borderline for both eyes.

On top of everything her left eye suffers from "medial pigmentary keratopathy" (this could lead to blindness but appropriate treatments can slow, halt or reverse the corneal pigment changes, so I hope a treatment will be find in her case).

Next step is to go to my regular vet next Tuesday for my dog's corneal ulcer stained and to have a Schirmer Tear Test repeated. The eye doctor wants the ulcer to be healed at the recheck (next Tuesday) if it is not, have to go back to her and surgery will be required. If it is healed, the total treatment time will be 4-6 weeks and after healing it is anticipated there will be a corneal facet (divet) that will remain, My dog and I can gladly live with that. Thank you for reading!

that all sounds very complicated but if treatment can help, that's great. did the specialist say what caused all of this? how old is your pup?

My dog is 7 yo. She does not know the cause but the dry eye, entropion might be it. Could be genetics. She wants my vet to check for Cushing and other things. I had a dog who had Cushing and I am not a vet but I am certain my dog does not have Cushing. I fostered a lot of dogs over the years, puppies and seniors dogs. I always keep the senior ones. 3 years ago my local shelter called me to ask if I would foster a dog who had socialization "issues" and work with her a bit. I am not a dog trainer but I have immense patience with dogs. I knew with all the dogs available for adoption she did not stand a chance and since I also have socializing issues :-), I decided to keep her. Also I am a big dog person and she is a BichonX. But love is stronger than all they say.

lol! i can so relate to having socializing issues. i'd much rather spend time with my dogs which is pretty much what i do now that i'm retired. ;)

i've had a few different breeds and a few mutts over the years but i, too, am a big dog lover. i've fostered a few danes and with one of them, i was a foster failure. at this point, with a bad back and 2 blown knees, i am limited as to activities i can do so i've limited myself to my 2 current danes. they are both youngish (3 years and 5 years) and are really good at keeping each other entertained so it's working for me.

before i realized a lifelong dream of having danes, i had 2 welsh corgis. big dogs in little dog bodies. they were such a hoot!

@marielle, just wondering how your pupper is doing.

@Ninapearl Thank you for asking. Well I saw my regular vet on August 8, she did not see the ulcer with the fluorescein stain test but was able to see the divot. I can see it too without that test when I put the drops in her eye. She sent her results to the ophthalmologist and she contacted me to confirm, after reading my vet's report. the ulcer was healed but the divot will probably remain, hopefully will shrink. Normally a dog's corneal epithelium grows back and covers the divot but it is not happening in my dog's case. The specialist suspects it is because she has dry eyes, Upon her recommendations my dog is still on 2 different kinds of antibiotics, 1 anti-inflammatory, and Systane Complete. She is getting Systane Compete in both eyes. This regimen will be daily until my next appointment with the specialist on September 5. My dog has been wearing the ecollar 24/7 since July 20 and will have to wear it until the appointment. I already wrote down the questions I have for her. We are not allowed inside the clinic so they come and get the dog in the parking lot, bring back the dog, then you wait for the vet to call you with the results or observations. But so far so good considering but it has been a lot of eye drops 4X a day and up until yesterday there was also the eye serum. By the way I also had a Corgi but it was a Pembroke....great little dog. At the time I had her, I also had a Bouvier des Flandres and a Labrador...and the Corgi was the boss :-).

so glad to hear she is doing well! she must be cooperative girl what with having the multiple eye drops. eden was wonderful about it. when i told her it was "eye time", she would lay her head on the counter top and let me put the drops in.

my corgis were pembrokes, too. such fun little dogs!! my late husband always referred to them as the "lollipop kids". they were my goat herders. i'd let the herd out to graze in the alfalfa field and when it was time for them to go back inside the fence, i'd tell the dogs to "go get your goats". simon would run in front of the herd and maggie would bring up the rear. the only thing they didn't know how to do was lock the gate. lol

hope you continue to get good news at your next appointment!

I hope you have answers by now. The groomer cut my dog's eye and he ended up w ulcers. He needed surgery to have a graft placed in eye. Now, he uses ointment 2x per day that is needed forever. The ulcers are painful. Hopefully your dog is better now.

sm m: Thank you for inquiring and I am sorry this happened to your dog. My dog's ulcer finally healed but left a scar. It was a very long healing process with having to put drops 4 times a day for a bit over 2 months. Now she needs drops 3x a day in each eye forever. Those drops are Systane Complete and it is to help with her dry eye syndrome. But she is a very good dog and I have no problem giving her the drops and because it is only Systane, I can deal with it no problem.
Ninapearl: Thank you for sharing your Corgis pics....they sure were beautiful. My little Pembroke was quite reddish and I had named her Cayenne. What a character she was!