Eye problems / possible cold?

[kati]

Our greyhound has slightly runny eyes, and his third inner eyelid is showing prominently on both eyes, which look a bit bleary. He was trying to scratch a little but not frequently. He otherwise seems happy in himself and is happily eating, playing, and toileting as normal. His breathing is occasionally slightly louder than usual but not in an 'in pain' way. This began the night before the runny eyes and I wondered if he might have caught a cold?

I phoned the emergency vet last night and after asking lots of questions they suggested bathing his eyes which seemed to help - they said I could bring him in if I wanted to, but as there were fireworks going off and Dom isn't keen on travel by taxi I thought he might be better staying home and keeping an eye on him. They suggested getting a head collar today to prevent him scratching his eyes and making them worse. 

I wondered if anyone else had experience of similar symptoms?

We're still relatively new to greyhound ownership, and not certain whether to take him straight to the emergency vet today or if it is better to avoid a journey which may be stressful for him (either taxi or 2 buses each way) and wait until Monday (2 minutes walk to local vet) - we're inclined to keep him home as he still seems his normal self apart from the eyes, but it'd be good to hear of others experience. Obviously if he seems to get worse he's going straight to the vet.

Thanks X 

[ragsysmum]

Could be he's allergic to something. Bathing the eyes gently with cold tea can be helpful.

[vickyb]

If he seems bright and happy I think I'd wait until monday. If you have any piriton or can get some it's safe to give one see if it helps but I would still go to the vet on mon as eyes can turn nasty quickly. Bathe with cotton wool dipped in cooled boiled water. Hope its nothing much.

[kati]

Thank you - his eyes seem a bit better today. Wish I knew what caused it so we could avoid it happening again! Will see how he is tomorrow but looks as though vet trip may not be needed at all.

[ragsysmum]

If it recurs and you think it might be allergies (or the vet does) make sure you get only Piriton and not one of the other allergy medications with similar names.

[kati]

By the Monday afternoon / evening you'd never think anything had been wrong - completely back to normal. He'd eaten a treat he'd never had before (a pizzle) so avoiding those again just in case, though I don't think that could've caused it as they're all natural.

[vickyb]

Nov 6, 2016 14:43:31 GMT -5 kati said:

By the Monday afternoon / evening you'd never think anything had been wrong - completely back to normal. He'd eaten a treat he'd never had before (a pizzle) so avoiding those again just in case, though I don't think that could've caused it as they're all natural.

Natural doesn't mean they or us can't react to it. Also as they hold things like that with their paws it could be that he then rubbed or scratched his face and eye with it and it would have traces of the pizzle still on it. Hope it doesn't happen again, glad he's ok x