We are having a heck of a time getting conjunctivitis (if that is all it is) out of our house. We have two GSDs, Lefty and Greta. We adopted Greta 11/22. She had some eye discharge at the time and I had the vet take a look on 11/26. They performed an eye stain which showed no damage so we started her on ointment (I don’t have the name of that one on me). Her eyes started to clear up within a couple of days. Of course then Lefty developed goopy red eyes. To be safe, we brought him in on 12/5 for an exam. His eye stain showed no issues and he was prescribed a different ointment (NeoPolyDex). The vet said we could cease using it after a few days if it seemed to clear up. We kept up with Greta’s ointment while treating Lefty, just to be safe.
Lefty’s eyes appeared to clear up and we ceased the ointment. They got goopy again and we restarted again for a few days. It did not seem to be working so I called and asked to put him on the ointment Greta was prescribed as that seemed to work better. We did that for a full 10 days (or really close) and all seemed well with both pups. We did not retreat Greta at that time, which I’m kicking myself for. Both pups eyes looked great, so we thought we were free of the problem.
Now weeks later, we are seeing both pups with the same discharge and red eyes again. Greta’s eyes started to show some discharge first (just a few days ago), then Lefty followed soon after. I have a call into my vet to see what we should do. I assume we should restart ointment on both pups and continue for an extended period, or at least 10 days. I assume we messed up by not having them both on the ointment at the same time for the full 10 days. Is conjunctivitis this difficult to get rid of?
The other thing is that Greta has dry skin (lots of dandruff comes off during brushing) and has been itchy. I’ve started her on salmon oil and coconut oil and am making sure all her training treats are grain free and transitioning off a chicken based food, just in case. I started her on digestive enzymes with prebiotics and probiotics included. I’m also trying to remove the dead/dry fur by grooming. I have not had the vet examine her for the dry skin yet as there are so many environmental factors (dry in the house, diet, stress of recent adoption, etc.) and the itching is not incessant. I don’t see anything that looks like fleas, infection, or irritation on her skin, but could it be that she has something else going on that is causing her to have more trouble kicking the conjunctivitis? The dandruff does appear to be getting worse, not better, but we only started the oils and diet transition a couple of weeks ago. We are finishing up the chicken based food (NV Instinct) going to LID lamb and doing a slow switch to Earthborn as I’m no longer impressed by the NVI, but that is another story.
Lefty does not appear to have any dandruff issues and did not have eye irritation prior to Greta. His coat is soft and beautiful and he is not itchy. Greta’s coat is very shiny, but dry feeling and the flakes are becoming more obvious (she is black, Lefty is a black and tan). She was very thin when rescued and is just getting up to weight now (her hips are still bony, but she's within a couple of pounds of perfect and slim).
If anyone has experience with one or both issues, I would love to get your thoughts and input! Thank you in advance for any help.
Lefty’s eyes appeared to clear up and we ceased the ointment. They got goopy again and we restarted again for a few days. It did not seem to be working so I called and asked to put him on the ointment Greta was prescribed as that seemed to work better. We did that for a full 10 days (or really close) and all seemed well with both pups. We did not retreat Greta at that time, which I’m kicking myself for. Both pups eyes looked great, so we thought we were free of the problem.
Now weeks later, we are seeing both pups with the same discharge and red eyes again. Greta’s eyes started to show some discharge first (just a few days ago), then Lefty followed soon after. I have a call into my vet to see what we should do. I assume we should restart ointment on both pups and continue for an extended period, or at least 10 days. I assume we messed up by not having them both on the ointment at the same time for the full 10 days. Is conjunctivitis this difficult to get rid of?
The other thing is that Greta has dry skin (lots of dandruff comes off during brushing) and has been itchy. I’ve started her on salmon oil and coconut oil and am making sure all her training treats are grain free and transitioning off a chicken based food, just in case. I started her on digestive enzymes with prebiotics and probiotics included. I’m also trying to remove the dead/dry fur by grooming. I have not had the vet examine her for the dry skin yet as there are so many environmental factors (dry in the house, diet, stress of recent adoption, etc.) and the itching is not incessant. I don’t see anything that looks like fleas, infection, or irritation on her skin, but could it be that she has something else going on that is causing her to have more trouble kicking the conjunctivitis? The dandruff does appear to be getting worse, not better, but we only started the oils and diet transition a couple of weeks ago. We are finishing up the chicken based food (NV Instinct) going to LID lamb and doing a slow switch to Earthborn as I’m no longer impressed by the NVI, but that is another story.
Lefty does not appear to have any dandruff issues and did not have eye irritation prior to Greta. His coat is soft and beautiful and he is not itchy. Greta’s coat is very shiny, but dry feeling and the flakes are becoming more obvious (she is black, Lefty is a black and tan). She was very thin when rescued and is just getting up to weight now (her hips are still bony, but she's within a couple of pounds of perfect and slim).
If anyone has experience with one or both issues, I would love to get your thoughts and input! Thank you in advance for any help.