First, you notice a little goop hanging out in the corner of your dog’s eye. Then, you see watery discharge. Finally, you peek behind the eye lids and detect some redness. What’s going on, and is it serious? You’ll have to bring your dog to get checked out by your veterinarian to be sure, but odds are, your dog has conjunctivitis.
Pink eye, as conjunctivitis is commonly called, is a condition in which the conjunctiva (moist tissue that covers the eyeball) is inflamed (petmd.com). It is itchy and uncomfortable and needs to be treated right away. If left untreated, the inflammation will get worse and your dog will grow more and more uncomfortable.
There are several things that might cause pink eye: a viral or bacterial infection, an injury, allergies, or other eye diseases (petmd.com). Your veterinarian will do an exam that will determine the cause of your dog’s conjunctivitis. It is important to understand why your dog is suffering with pink eye so that you can treat it appropriately and try to prevent it from coming back in the future. For example, if it is caused by allergies, you’ll want to try to reduce your dog’s exposure to allergens as much as possible. If it is caused by a foreign object in the eye, your dog will need his eye flushed to remove the object. If it is caused by a bacterial infection, you’ll need to give your dog antibiotics.
Whatever the root cause of the conjunctivitis, your dog will need topical anti-inflammatory medication to reduce the inflammation, itching, redness, and discharge. Remember that pink eye is highly contagious, so try to keep your dog away from other animals in the house. But pink eye is not zoonotic, meaning it will not pass from your dog to you, so don’t worry about giving him snuggles. And if your dog does need antibiotics, consider also giving him probiotics to help keep the good and bad bacteria in your dog’s glutin balance.
The good news is that pink eye usually clears up quickly, so your dog should be back to his old self in no time. Just be sure to keep your dog from further damaging his eye by rubbing and scratching at it. And consider providing your dog with daily eye support to help keep his eyes healthy by giving him Earth Animal’s Vital Eye every day.
