There are many problems that can occur with your dog's eyes, including eye inflammation. This is when the eye, the eyelid or the area around the eye becomes swollen and irritated.
Symptoms of an Eye Inflammation
Because there are a wide variety of things that can cause eye irritations, it makes sense that a number of symptoms come along with it. This might include redness or watery discharge. Your dog might also be blinking more than usual or perhaps squinting a lot. If they are avoiding areas with bright lights, this might also be a sign one or both of their eyes are causing them discomfort. First and foremost, gently try to get a good look at their eyes to look for any of these symptoms.
Causes of Eye Inflammation
There are countless situations that can cause an inflamed eye, ranging from the easily fixed to the very serious. Some of the more common causes of eye inflammation include:
- Conjunctivitis, an itchy inflammation of the mucus membranes of the eye, and one of the most common eye disease of animals.
- Blepharitis, an eyelid infection where the eyelids become sore and scaly, caused by scratches, flea bites, or allergies.
- Scleritis, inflammation of the outer lining of the eyeball.
- Glaucoma, increased pressure in the eye itself, is a more serious eye inflammation problem that will require immediate veterinary attention to avoid permanent vision loss in your pet.
- Cataracts, opacities in the eyes (cloudiness) that impair vision, and whose only solution is surgery for removal of the cataracts.
- Entropion, when a dog's eyelashes turn inward and cause a great deal of watering. (This can be remedied by gently cleaning the eyes, as mentioned below.)
These are only some of the many problems a veterinarian will look for. On the simpler side of things, you dog may just be suffering from allergies and have itchy, watery eyes as a result. Or, they may have scratched their eye or have a foreign object, even an eyelash, stuck in there.
How to Treat a Inflamed Dog Eye
One of the best things that you can do for inflamed eyes is to clean the area out. You can do this using eye drops or even cleaning around the area with water and a soft cloth. It is important to keep the troubled area from getting worse, so make sure that you keep the area clean and, as much as possible, keep your pet from scratching at the inflamed area. If necessary, you might want to consider placing a medical cone around their necks to keep their delicate eyes protected until the problem is taken care of.
Since eye inflammation can be caused by non-serious things, you should watch your dog carefully for a day or two to see if the inflammation is being caused by something such as a healing scratch. If the condition of the eyes do not change or they get worse after a couple of days, though, it is highly recommended that you take your dog to a veterinarian so that the problem can be taken care of.