Goldendoodle eye disease

[Heidi & Bella baby]

I was browsing the web a couple of days ago looking for answers and found this site. Grasping at straws, thought maybe someone here could help us.

A few weeks ago I noticed that Bella's right eye may look red. I checked them both and sure enough. It was definitely red. My husband took her the following Monday/ They gave anti biotic med & eye cream. We took her back in the following (this past Monday, and there was no change. They sent us to a specialist in Madison. Saw her the next day. Gave us some more meds & eye drops. Ran some tests like blood history, urine analysis, serum test ( organ function) blasto ( fungal infection ) they have all come back normal . The blasto has not come back yet. She is talking of losing her eye. We asked isn't there another test? Tomorrow she goes back in for an ocular ultra sound & possible aspiration of tissue from eye. also chest x-ray and a abdominal ultra sound. to see if there is something hiding somewhere. She doesn't seem very optimistic though.

Bella is acting perfectly normal. Eating, playing, except that she is not seeing from that eye. We are so very sick about this. She is only 2.5 yrs. such a loving, smart beauty. She loves everyone.

We lost our last dog, who was a boxer husky mix on 12/26/09.

It seems impossible that this could be happening so soon.

Can anyone help??

Thank you

Heidi

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

No, Gracie is not mine, she belongs to another member here.

What you have to understand is that immune-mediated diseases are not curable; they are never cured and the problems never go away. I know this is a hard thing to accept, believe me. When the disease is active, the immune system is causing an inflammation, basically an attack, on some part of the body or some body system. Which one depends on which disease it is. Steroids and other immunosuppressant drugs are required to "turn off" the immune system and reduce the inflammation. The steroid doses are gradually tapered down to the lowest possible dose that keeps things under control. Once you get everything calmed down and the disease is not causing symptoms, that's a remission. If you're lucky, in some cases, the disease will stay in remission for a period of time without the drugs, but in most cases, they do have to stay on some maintenance dose of medication permanently, or the disease comes roaring back. Again, this depends on a lot of factors, including the particular disease, the severity, and how your individual dog responds to the treatment. Sometimes, the disease does not respond well to the prednisone and other drugs and supplements have to be tried.

Jack was only 18 months old when he was first diagnosed with Atopic Dermatitis, which is a disease of the immune system which can often be treated with desensitization therapy. His treatment was working well and prednisone was not needed for several years. He was just short of his 7th birthday when he was diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, a form of autoimmune disease which attacks the lining of the GI tract. He has been on some dose of steroids along with many other medications, for about a year now, and will probably always have to be on a low dose. It took us about 8 months to get to the lowest dose that would keep the disease from flaring up. When we go lower, he gets sick again. The treatment for the disease that Bella has may be different, but chances are it's some variation of the same thing. Jack's specialist explained to me that out of every ten dogs with IBD, 2 of them will be able to be managed with diet and supplements alone, 6 will always require some type of medication, and 2 won;t ever get stable no matter what the vet does. While I'm very sorry that JD isn't in the 20% that doesn;t need meds, I'm also grateful that he isn't in the 20% that can't be helped even with meds. Try to look at it that way, it helps. It's good that you are working with a specialist.  

The side-effects from the prednisone will go away when the dose is lowered. It's usually at the beginning, when the doses are high to get the disease into remission, that you have the lethargy, etc.

[Heidi & Bella baby]

Oh poor Jack ! Yes this is what I have gathered by what the vets are saying. Its very sad. she was in to see vet today. Eye is looking much better, retina reattached by 20%. three more days of  high dose prednisone before we start a taper. They did mention other immune suppressive med. azathioprine or cyclosporine. the later is very $$$ they did say that both of these can cause live damage and she will have to have regular lab work to monitor this. Not sure what to do?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Research the cyclosporine and the azathioprine very carefully before making a decision, and that doesn't mean people's opinions in forums, it means on independent scientifically based veterinary websites. Prednisone has side effects  inckluding a risk of liver damage when used long term, and JD does have to have periodic bloodwork done, even with the prednisone. But both of the other two drugs carry a significant risk of developing cancer as well. Since Golden Retrievers are already at higher risk of developing cancer than any other breed out there, I would be careful. I personally consider cyclosporine or azathioprine to be options of last resort and will not consider using them unless or until the prednisone is no longer helping or there is some medically sound reason to switch him. This is my own choice and yours may differ, but be sure that you have all of the info before maing that choice. My general practice vet grossly underplayed the risks of the cyclosporine and has been pushing it at me for years.  Of course, the vet would be the one selling me the cyclosporine and making the $$$. And it is horribly expensive. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

That is good news. I hope the steroids set things right.

[Bonnie and Kona]

Heidi, This is such good news! Hooray! I am so glad you are celebrating this step in your journey with Bella. Hoping the next steps are full of celebration too. hugs!

[BG and Gavin]

Glad it is not cancer!  We will continue to keep a good thought for you and pray that the treatment is successful.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

What a relief!!

Hope Bella responds well to the medications, please keep us informed.

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Heidi, welcome. And you have come to the right place for information and support. I have a Bella too, also 2.5 yrs old, so this really hits home. Please keep us posted as we all care about every doodle.

[Heidi & Bella baby]

Bella's eye appears a bit better. Some of the gray film across the eye has left, but still swollen & reddish.

The steroid is making her lethargic though. We called the vet about it today, they said that can be normal. They want to see her next week.

Sad!

[Bonnie and Kona]

It's so hard to see our pups not being themselves. I'm sorry.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I somehow missed the earlier update.  So happy that you are not looking at a cancer diagnosis and hope that the steriods will help get the disease under control.  Keep us posted. 

[Heidi & Bella baby]

I guess this is going to be an on going problem

Eye is looking much better, retina reattached by 20%. three more days of  high dose prednisone before we start a taper.

If the swelling of eye returns they are recommending removal of eye for biopsy. Apparently the vets aren't sold 100% at this being NGE, they don't think that it causes such severe changes within the eye. it is possibly though unlikely that there is another disease process occuring within the eye such as cancer. Tha'ts what they said today.

They did mention other immune suppressive med. azathioprine or cyclosporine. the later is very $$$ they did say that both of these can cause live damage and she will have to have regular lab work to monitor this.

OMG