Dear Dr. Fox:
Our 4-year-old schnauzer has had dry eye KCS diagnosed. It came on suddenly, and after three weeks of erythromycin, with no results, she was switched to cyclosporine.
I have been applying it twice a day. After three weeks, I can see no difference. I have heard surgery is sometimes necessary for this.
G.B., Arlington County
DF: There are many causes, such as being spayed, that can contribute to dogs developing this distressing and potentially blinding condition of keratoconjunctivitis sicca, a chronic deficiency of aqueous tear secretion. Certain breeds have a predisposition to the condition.
Drying of the corneas can lead to opacity and ulceration and can be extremely painful. Your dog will need to be on cyclosporine two or three times daily for the rest of her life.
Gradually changing her diet to a whole-food, organic regimen with omega-3 fatty acid supplements might help. Check out my home-prepared diet on my Web site, www.drfoxvet.com, or a commercial raw-food diet.
Artificial tears and eye drops containing eyebright might help and can be used once daily as a substitute for one cyclosporine treatment.
Your dog’s eyes must, of course, be constantly monitored. Any rapid blinking (blepharospasm) or rubbing of the eyes calls for a veterinary eye examination for possible corneal ulceration.
runaway cat
Dear Dr. Fox:
Henry, our 8-year-old black cat, might be part Siamese. He’s friendly sporadically but also skittish. He’s not a fighter, so he doesn’t clash with other cats. We’ve never had problems letting him outside for two or three hours at a time. Our older cat died in November, so Henry has been alone since then.
We moved 300 yards across a busy road in May, from a townhouse to a single-family house. We have a nice, open back yard for Henry to explore.
We kept him inside the first couple of weeks, as advised. On three successive outings, he looked around for 15 to 20 minutes (there were two stray cats we haven’t seen for a while now), sniffed a lot and promptly crossed the road to his old house.
I looked into an invisible fence. I tried a harness, and he slipped it off within 15 minutes and went under our deck.
My wife is all for keeping him indoors permanently. We’ve added a scratching post, and he has a few toys.
The problem, to me, is that he sleeps while we’re gone all day and comes to life at night. I’m not the heaviest sleeper, and one to two times a week he decides he’s hungry or needs to go to the loo, causing him to yowl loudly at 3:30 or 4 in the morning.
I’d love to be able to trust him to go out when we’re home late afternoons and evenings. I think he’d be happier, though he’s been pretty good about it.
All I can think of is getting him a better harness and slowly acclimating him. We have a large deck, so that would be a good place to let him explore a bit.
R.B., Columbia
DF: Clearly you are devoted to Henry, and you have some issues not easily resolved. He misses his companion cat and the old home, so he will be “yowly” and unsettled for a while.
I advise never letting a cat roam free. Invisible fences, which I do not endorse, are designed for dogs, not cats.
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