PUG EYES

Hi,
I see this thread has lost some of it's categorization, but I thought I'd post this in the original "eye" thread instead of starting a new one.

Wally has always been my dog w/ eye goo. It just seems lately, he has more. I'm guessing it's an indoor allergy thing exacerbated by our extremely cold winter and thus more indoor furnace time--but just thought I'd see if any others' pugs are especially "gooey" when it comes to eyes.

He and Emmet both get Tacrolimus daily for PK; I must admit, I'm less vigilant about the Genteal, and also the NeoPolyDex the doggie eye vet recommends every other day. I have been better about that lately, though, given the additional goo.

Thanks!

Sometimes eye goo can be a symptom of a mild allergy, and if contact causes (dust, dry eye, lashes, skin folds etc) and viral causes (a mild cold can cause extra eye goo as well as extra snot) are ruled out, then chances are very high it is an allergy and it could be a food allergy that may not cause any other symptoms at all.
This becomes fairly obvious if you have changed the diet and the goo increases within a few weeks of that.
From your description, it could be a seasonal thing with Wally and humidity balance due to furnace etc.
Bottom line is if goo production steps up, you probably need to increase the lubrication so I would be a bit more conscientious (doh can't spell today sorry) with the Genteal.

Forgot to add, sometimes they can trick you - I know of one puglady that wipes her own face on her bedding when she wakes up - unless it is the wrong fabric!!. For instance only pure cotton wipes for Madam LOL so when given polyester (shudder) bedding she will make her mum panic and assume she suddenly has heaps of overnight goop - every day until laundry day, when she got to wipe her own face on the big bed sheets awaiting their turn on the laundry floor! Luckily the daughter in that family was a vet nurse and did the detective work on that one!

Thanks, Angela. I think an allergy makes sense--likely a seasonal one since it's gotten worse since it got so cold here...he's always been my gooey boy. I have made a commitment to be better w/ the Genteal, too.

The compounding pharmacy in North Carolina we came upon is FAR cheaper than any online source for Optimmune. Our veterinary ophthalmologist recommended it and not only is the price lower, the tube is BIGGER than that supplied in the Schering - Plough (now Merck) formulation.

I found it because Schering decided to shut down the plant that manufactures the Optimmune without starting another plant first, resulting in a HUGE shortage of the stuff. Starting a pharma manufacturing line is a LONG process as it has to comply with quality control, FDA inspecitons, etc. It takes MONTHS.

So I called my ophthalmologist and she suggested the compounding pharmacy - and they were WONDERFUL. They filled the prescription promptly and have been very responsive for refills.