Thursday, July 15, 2010

Jake has Horner's Syndrome

On Friday evening, I noticed Jake's left eye was really red and his third eyelid was raised.  Since we went to the prairie earlier in the day, I thought he just irritated it running through the tall prairie grass.  I attempted to flush out Jake's eye using eye wash.  This seemed to make Jake's eye worse.  I noticed that Jake's left side was rather droopy.  I decided that it would be best to take Jake to the emergency vet because he seemed uncomfortable and I thought he scratched his cornea in the grass.  We went to the vet, who stained Jake's eye but there was no scratch.  The vet flushed Jake's eye again and prescribed some eye drops.

Jake's eye wasn't getting any better, so I took him to his regular vet on Tuesday.  She diagnosed Jake with Horner's Syndrome because in addition to the eye looking all ooky, his pupil is small and not responding correctly.  She advised calling the dermatologist who treated Jake's ears to make sure it wasn't a complication from the surgery.  I've spoken with the dermatologist who is believes it is not a complication for surgery.  The dermatologist recommended seeing a neurologist sooner than later.  One course of treatment for Horner's is to wait 6-8 weeks to see if it resolves itself.  However because one of the possible causes of Horner's is cancer in the chest, it might not be prudent to wait.

Jake has a neurology appointment at UM-Columbia Vet School Monday Morning and chest x-rays on Tuesday afternoon.

Jake's Ooky Eye




Links about Horner's Syndrome:
From Mar Vista Vet:  Horner's Syndrome
From Dr. Fosters & Smith:  Horner's Syndrome

2 comments:

Humphreys Garden said...

we have been to the vet today and think Humphrey has the same. I have been reading your blog and it has been nice to know we are not the only ones!

Anonymous said...

Hello,
I've just learned that my basset has the same thing. How did this issue resolve? Did you ever find anything else out?