Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 8 year old Cocker was just diagnosed today with Glaucoma in his right eye.
He is on Methazolamide 50mg twice a day and Xalatan one drop every half hour 3 for three times.

We go back in the morning to see if any pressure has been relieved.

His eye is very red and he has a hard time keeping it opened.

Dr. Tobins, is there something else I can be doing to help save his vision?

Thank you.

We went back Saturday morning and the vet put him on an IV. Mannitol. Very little change.

It is now Monday and we just got back from another visit.. chevy is blind in that eye now and I am told the only way to relieve the pressure is to Chemically destroy that eye..

We have an appt tomorrow to do that.

Please give me your thought's Dr Tobin.

Thank you.

PS. is there any preventive I can do to keep his good eye from getting to this point?

Hi.. I know this isn't a Holistic answer to your questions and concerns but there are other choices other than to chemically destroy the eye. Though the eye will be lost anyway, there are a couple of surgical procedures that can be done as well as to have laser surgery to kill the fluid producing glands. I have been battling to keep my Shiba Inu sighted for two years... he lost his right eye in Dec 06 and has had two glaucoma valves inserted in the left eye to help relieve the pressure and is still sighted today. The key to keeping him sighted is to get that pressure under control to alleviate any further damage to the optic nerve. My apologies to the Holistic board but please check out the Shiba forum for my posts regarding Beni and glaucoma.
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Bob

If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.

Alpha lipoic acid has shown some efficacy in reducing intraoccular pressure in glaucoma. I have had good results in a number of cases with homeopathic Comocladia daily in low potencies. There have also been some positive results with acupuncture and chinese herbs.

Thank you Dr.. The eye was destroyed yesterday and it's obvious that chevy feels so much better...

What causes this Dr. Tobin's? I need to save his remaining eye.

Is Comocladia something I should be using now to help his sighted eye? Pressure is normal in that one at the present time.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, we don't know what causes glaucoma, so it is difficult to say what we can do to prevent it. Some things worth considering, since they have no down side, are to supplement the diet with bilberry and the amino acid glycine, reduce glutamine and glutamate, and especially MSG, and to add Vitamin C. I have no knowledge as to the usefulness of Comocladia as a preventative.