Canine Ophthalmologists?

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

A little background: I adopted Jack from the rescue I volunteer with in November 2010. He had been surrendered in April 2010 by a woman who could no longer keep him. At the time of the surrender, he was missing his right eye, and neither I nor the rescue know how it happened. His left eye was a little odd, pigment where there shouldn't be, but he seemed to get around just fine. In the last few months, I've definitely noticed a difference in his vision. He'll randomly balk when on walks, he'll get "stuck" at the top or bottom of the stairs in my house, and he startles much more quickly at night. We had an appointment today with (what will now be) our regular vet, and she did an eye exam, but without the proper equipment and experience, she doesn't feel comfortable making a concrete diagnosis or prognosis. So, she referred us to a canine ophthalmologist. We have an appointment in about a month.

So, my question!

Has anyone ever seen a canine ophthalmologist? Why did you bring your dog to one? What was the eventual diagnosis and/or treatment? I'm basically looking for ANY sort of experience, good or bad.

(I know very little about ophthalmology, having perfect vision myself, and I've only briefly studied the eye and diseases relating to it while in school. So I'm pretty much clueless.)

 

[Keechak]

I bring my dogs to an ophthalmologist every other year (and/or before breeding) to get their CERF eye exams done. They dilated the eyes and then turned the lights off and used a little lighted tool to check for any problems that might be hereditary.

 

[JessLough]

Rosey acts the same way. Getting "stuck" at the top/bottom of the stairs, startles much more quickly at night, etc. My vet actually specialized in ophthamology, but now works as a general vet.

Anyway, we didn't do extensive testing or what not but basically we concluded that she extremely.. near(?) Sighted? I think that was it... basically, she cannot see anything close, can only see distances.
Though she's nearly 16.

Not very helpful I know LOL

 

[sassafras]

I've only personally been to one once, when I had a dog with bad entropion who needed surgery. But I've referred tons of people. Ophthalmology is one of those specialties that is... actually really special. Specialized equipment and skills and experience with things that a GP might see once in a career make a big difference IMO.


Plus, eyes are squishy and gross.

 

[MafiaPrincess]

Smudge rubbed his face into cedar bushes at 6 months. He got cedar oil in his eyes and rubbed at them, we went to the e-vet who dropped the ball and over prescribed meds for him we found out later. After weeks of worry we got a refer to an ophthalmologist. Guy was great.. Dilated his pupils, did a few different tests. His eyes would be fine just discontinue the meds.. His vision was fine later thankfully.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I've only personally been to one once, when I had a dog with bad entropion who needed surgery. But I've referred tons of people. Ophthalmology is one of those specialties that is... actually really special. Specialized equipment and skills and experience with things that a GP might see once in a career make a big difference IMO.


Plus, eyes are squishy and gross.

Could you PM me the names of any ophthalmologists that you refer to? I know there are only a handful of them in MN, so I want to know as much as possible.

 

[sassafras]

Done and done.

 

[MandyPug]

Izzie went to one for her eye surgery. It was an emergency on a sunday and I didn't actually get to meet him until i picked her up on wednesday (the hospital was 2 hours away) but he was great! Any eye issues will be seen by one from now on, they're just so delicate. The on call vet offered to try the surgery to repair her eye for the first time ever for much cheaper but we said no thanks.

 

[Southpaw]

I've never needed to use one but we send our clients to Blue Pearl with good results.

 

[Kat09Tails]

At least here vet ophthalmologists are crazy expensive. About $700 just for a normal appt and "easy" diagnosis. The two appointments I've been to were well worth it though for the relief it brought the dogs.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

At least here vet ophthalmologists are crazy expensive. About $700 just for a normal appt and "easy" diagnosis. The two appointments I've been to were well worth it though for the relief it brought the dogs.

Wow! I called the one I was referred to and two others, and it was around $100-$150 for a consult. I'm not sure what all that includes, on the phone they said that it varies depending on the situation, but estimates will be given in advance of any future costs.

 

[SpringerLover]

Like I said before, I've only gone to a canine opthamologist for CERFs. I keep going to the same one because he amuses me so much. He's adamant that I need to send Bailey's blood back in for PRA testing because she's still not showing signs of being afflicted at 12.5 despite testing genetically affected.

Good luck with Jack.

 

[BlackPuppy]

There is a canine opthamologist near my house I was going to visit. The basic exam fee is $120. I ended up going to a CERF clinic instead for $35.

I was wondering if my girl had eye problems because she could not learn to jump. She usually takes off about 6 feet before the jump even though I have done a lot of jump chute training with her. They CERF guy could tell that there was nothing wrong and she didn't need glasses.

 

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

Like I said before, I've only gone to a canine opthamologist for CERFs. I keep going to the same one because he amuses me so much. He's adamant that I need to send Bailey's blood back in for PRA testing because she's still not showing signs of being afflicted at 12.5 despite testing genetically affected.

Good luck with Jack.

Thanks! That's awesome that Bailey hasn't shown any PRA signs yet - hopefully she never will!

I've asked everyone I know in the veterinary field (which is quite a few), and there seems to be three names that keep popping up - but no one has had anything bad/negative to say about any of them, which is comforting. I suppose I'll start with the one that I actually have a referral to.

 

[momto8]

Our Collie goes every year. After we had her about 6 mnths (she was around a year that that point) we noticed little weird things. She couldn't see wire fencing, she ran off the side of a pool into the water like the water was just more solid ground, running into things in the darker part of the yard at night ect. She was diagnosed with CEA. I love our ophthalmologist, they are pretty awesome And ours is 120.00 a visit, so not bad at all

 

[Doberluv]

I've taken Chulita to a canine ophthalmologist for her cataract that she has. She had pressure too, in that eye. She did some tests and diagnosed her. Now Chuli can see a regular vet just to have the pressure checked every few months and get her Rx for eye drops. I also took Toker, my son's dog when she had a mole thing on the inside of her eye lid. A regular vet did a lousy job and caused some complications. So, I took her to the same ophthalmologist and she fixed it. They're worth their weight in gold....more expensive than a regular vet because it's a specialty. But they really know their business and the eye is nothing to mess with.

As it turned out, Chulita is blind in that one eye and the lack of depth perception has caused some major behavioral changes....fear, shrinking back at shadows and things. And she can't have surgery because her heart murmur is too severe to risk it. So, she's slowly getting more accustomed to the vision problems...not very accustomed, but somewhat better.

I hope everything will be okay with Jack. An ophthalmologist will be the best bet for diagnosis and treatment imo.

 

[SpringerLover]

Thanks! That's awesome that Bailey hasn't shown any PRA signs yet - hopefully she never will!

I've asked everyone I know in the veterinary field (which is quite a few), and there seems to be three names that keep popping up - but no one has had anything bad/negative to say about any of them, which is comforting. I suppose I'll start with the one that I actually have a referral to.

Who is the third?

 

[Keechak]

Wow I'm feeling lucky. The CERF exam visits for my dogs are $50 each at the eye vet. or $25 each if I can get them into a show clinic event.

 

[SpringerLover]

CERFs are $35 each the place I go. Makes it affordable to do every year!

 

[CaliTerp07]

I was wondering if my girl had eye problems because she could not learn to jump. She usually takes off about 6 feet before the jump even though I have done a lot of jump chute training with her. They CERF guy could tell that there was nothing wrong and she didn't need glasses.

Have you researched ETS? As best as I understand, it's nothing that will ever show up on a CERF test, though it is a depth perception issue.

http://www.awesomepaws.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/EarlyTakeoffSyndrome.pdf