Dog Health & Wellbeing

How do you know if your dog’s vision is ok?

It’s important to do weekly/fortnightly eye checks on your dog. To give them a good eye-balling, face them in a brightly lit area of your home and look directly into their eyes. You may need help with this from someone else, to help keep them still. They should be clear and bright, and the area around the eyeball should be white. The pupils should be the same size, and there shouldn’t be any discharge, tearing or crust in the corners of his or her eyes.
Tip – You may also want to roll back the lower eyelid using your thumb and look at the lining to make sure it’s pink, rather than red or white.

Other things to look out for include a protruding third eyelid, closed eye/s, cloudiness, change of eye colour and tear stains on their fur around the eye.  Just recently, when I had my old girl Whitney at my Vet, Chris used some cotton balls (which she thought were treats in his hand) to get her attention and then dropped them from his hand, in front of her to the floor to see how good her vision response was. Fortunately, she was all over it, so that was a great sign that her vision/eye sight and mental awareness were in good order.

Your Dog & EAR Infections

This is a common problem in some breeds. Certain breeds are predisposed to overgrowth of Malassezia.
Certainly for my boy Beau, who has always suffered from ear infections. Yeast ear infections is type of ear infection involves a yeast called Malassezia. This yeast is part of the normal skin flora, but can under certain conditions, multiply and cause clinical signs of an ear infection – red, itchy ears sometimes with a discharge. Also itching and chewing at the feet. Commonly, bacteria are also involved in causing the clinical signs of an ear infection. If you suspect that your dog has any type of ear infection, you should take your dog to the vet to have it diagnosed and appropriately treated. Your trusted vet will determine the extent of the ear infection, work out what is causing it and prescribe treatments that will specifically and appropriately treat the infection. Some products for ear cleaning are available over the counter, but if used when the dog has an ear infection, especially if it involves a ruptured ear drum, can be dangerous. It’s a good idea to clean your dog’s ears regularly, especially after his doggy day care trips at the beach. Even though the salt is good for their coat and skin, it is a good preventative measure for ear infections.

 

Leah & Angela O’Meara

Hound Dog Day Care (Specialists in Dog Minding Brisbane, Dog Walking Brisbane, Pet Sitting Brisbane & Dog Day care Brisbane).