My dog's eye is red and looks rolled back. What's wrong? How to help?

Related Answers from Veterinarians

• Answered By Rodrigo Roca, DVM

  Veterinarian

  Hello, sorry to hear about Kimbo. I looks like he has a raised/prominent 3rd eye lid also known as a nictitating membrane. This could be secondary to a protrusion of the gland, commonly referred to as a cherry eye, or it could be that Kimbo is having horner's syndrome.
  
  Cherry eye is a non-emergency disease that is intermittent due the gland not being contained within its normal pocket. This can be addressed at a future time.
  
  Horner's syndrome occurs in dogs with some sort of damage along the nerve tract that controls muscles of the face and eye. This damage can be caused by trauma, an ear infection, and sometimes it occurs without a definitive cause. It typically resolves within the following weeks and complications from this disease include dry eye and corneal ulcers (because dogs are unable to blink on that eye), a droopy face, or a head tilt. This is also typically not an emergency unless Kimbo develops an ulcer in his eye or develops a head tilt.
  
  If you happen to have lubricating ophthalmic ointment at home or triple antibiotic ointment without steroids, you can apply a 1/4 inch strip into that eye every 8 hours to lubricate the eye.
  
  Best of luck and hope this helps!

  

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