If the eyeball looks dull it maybe because the tear glands are not providing enough tears. We call this condition 'dry eye'. This could cause an invasion of bacteria producing a nasty yellow discharge. It can be a serious problem in older dogs.

Treatment

Your vet must be consulted because the dry eye could cause blindness. It usually responds to a course of antibiotics and maybe artificial tears but surgery is sometimes necessary to transfer a saliva duct to the eye.

Inflammation

Allergies and dog conjunctivitis or maybe irritations from shampoo or pollen can cause your dog to have eye inflammation. There are inherited conditions such as ingrown eyelids (distichiasis) or tight or loose eyelids (entropion and ectropion). Inflammation can also be caused by infections or injuries to the third eyelid gland or glaucoma, which is a condition which increases the pressure inside the eye.

Treatment

Inherited conditions usually need surgical treatment but for regular inflammations your vet will give you medications to clear it up quickly. Glaucoma is more serious because although there are anti pressure remedies available for your dog, these would need to be used for the rest of his life. If the pressure is too great and the dog is in pain, the vet may suggest that the eye is removed.

Clouding

If there is damage to the cornea the fluid in the eye is retained and it becomes a cloudy, blue/grey colour (keratitis). Cataracts are similar as the colour changes to a milky white and clouds the eye. Cataracts can cause blindness. Another eye problem is when the lens moves away from it's original position (luxation). Old dogs can have a clouding of the cornea (sclerosis) and the clouding condition known as 'blue eye' is due to inflammation often associated with the infectious hepatitis condition.

Treatment

Consult your vet who will be able to diagnose exactly what the problem is. Immediate surgery has a high success rate but this does depend on the extent of the damage to the dog's eye. Cataracts and luxated lenses are removed only if the vet thinks that by removing them it will improve the dog's vision. Due to improved surgery techniques it is now possible for the vet to use microsurgery to enable him to insert plastic lenses into the affected eye.

Bleeding

Dog fighting and traffic accidents can often cause damage to their eyes causing bleeding and eyelids are the most common places for this type of injury. A prolapsed   eyeball, where the eyeball is pushed out of the eye is more usual in the bulging eye breed of dog.

Treatment

Any wound from trauma should be dealt with by your vet who will clean the wound and stitch, and a prolapsed eye can be pushed back and the eyelids sewn together for a week to keep the eyeball in place.

Failing vision

If your dog is bumping into furniture and becoming confused, it may be because of an inherited problem where the retina deteriorates, called progressive retinol atrophy. Strokes can cause damage to the dogs vision and retinal dysplasia is a defect causing displacement of the retina and can cause blindness.

Treatment

Your vet will have an ophthalmoscope enabling him to see inside the eye as you may need to know whether your dog is suffering from any of the inherited disorders in case you want to breed from him. Some dogs manage to see very well with these eye conditions and others manage to get around safely if the blindness progresses slowly.

Lumps

Tumours on the edge of the eyelid are brown or black, bulging growths, most common in dogs over six years old. If the tumour is rubbing on the eye it could become inflamed and damage the cornea producing a watery discharge. Cysts look like swellings on the lid.

Treatment

Eyelid tumours can be successfully removed because they are nearly always benign. If the tumour is inside the eye, the only answer is to remove the eye completely. Luckily this type of tumour is very rare. It is only necessary to remove cysts if they cause the dog discomfort.