In this post, we will be looking at the most common causes of Rat Terrier eye problems and how we can successfully manage them.
The eye of a dog performs a near-miracle function: it converts reflected light into nerve impulses that the brain utilizes to create pictures of the world.
All the different elements of the eye must be healthy in order to accomplish this successfully, but this isn’t always the case because there are a variety of disorders that can disrupt how a dog’s eye functions regularly.
Rat Terrier Eye Problems
Rat Terrier eye problems in most cases can be caused by eye diseases, or infections such as; Conjunctivitis in dogs, Glaucoma in dogs, entropion in dogs, ulcers in dogs, and Cataracts in dogs. And many more we will discuss as we read further.
Below are the most common causes of Rat Terrier eye problems and their treatments:
1. Your Rat Terrier may have proptosis.
Proptosis and Traumatic proptosis can cause eye issues in Rat Terriers, however, brachycephalic breeds are more susceptible because of their flat faces and wide conspicuous globes.
Following a traumatic occurrence, such as a kick to the head or a bite to the face, the globe might easily burst out and become lodged in front of the eyelids, exposing the cornea to ulcerations, acute discomfort, and finally blindness.
With a proctose globe, the prognosis for regaining vision is typically poor, and it will depend on how much vision is still present in the eye after your veterinarian has completed a set of optical tests.
Treatment options for proptosis in Rat Terrier.
Proptosis in Rat Terrier eye issues can be treated in a number of ways.
The eye is either replaced or removed, depending on how much vision remains in the eye.
An e-coli pain medication and oral antibiotics may be prescribed as part of the post-op therapy.
2. Your Rat Terrier may have a cherry eye.
In your Rat Terrier, there are three eyelets, two that are readily visible, and an extra one called the third eyelet that hides from view below the inner corner of the eye.
The third eyelet contains a tear-producing blonde which is usually invisible and has a congenital weakness of the ligaments that hold it in place, causing the gland to pop out of its normal location.
Almost looking like a little cherry got stuck in the inner corner of the eye.
Treatments option for cherry eye in Rat Terrier.
This condition of your Rat Terrier having a cherry eye can be treated fairly easily by a veterinarian who performs a simple surgery to anchor the gland back to its normal position.
3. Your Rat Terrier may have corneal ulcerations.
Rat Terrier’s eye problems may be due to corneal ulcerations in his eyes.
The surface of your Rat Terrier’s eye is covered with a thin skin-like structure called the cornea.
This surface can easily be injured through lacerations, punctures, and foreign material when your Rat Terrier for example runs through tick vegetation and get poked in the eye.
When your Rat Terrier has a corneal wound will often pour at the affected eye and squint because of pain, and you may also often notice redness and excessive tear production.
Signs that your Rat Terrier has a corneal ulcer include:
- Eye redness
- Excessive tearing
- Pawing at the affected eye
Treatment options for corneal ulcerations in Rat Terrier.
When treating corneal ulcerations in Rat Terrier, your vet will perform a fluorescent stain, which is basically like a dye that coats the eye in order to detect any lesions on the surface of your Rat Terrier’s eye.
Treatment for corneal wounds involves treating infections with antibiotics and eye ointments.
Managing pain and simply giving the cornea enough time to heal. Here surgery might be required in severe cases to repair the cornea.
4. Rat Terrier may be suffering from keratoconjunctivitis sicca or dry eye.
Rat Terrier’s eye problems may be a result of he is suffering from dry eye.
In case your Rat Terrier’s own immune system decides to attack and damage the tissue responsible for forming the watery portion of the tear form.
Thereby resulting in the teglans producing fewer tears than normal.
Tears play a vital role in nourishing corneal tissue and removing potentially dangerous material from the surface of the eye.
And therefore a lack of tears can result in major issues such as corneal ulceration, chronic drainage of mucus, and pain.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from dry eye include:
- Excessive blinking
- Eye redness
- Squinting
- Pawing at the eyes
- Yellow discharge
Treatment options for dry eye in Rat Terrier.
Here your veterinarian should perform a Sherman tear test which basically measures if there’s a normal amount of tear production and treatment options usually include both medications that can stimulate tear productions cyclosporines, tacrolimus, and pilocarpine, and the application of an artificial tear solution.
And in severe cases, a surgery that redirects a duck carrying saliva so that it can moisten the eye can even be considered.
5. Rat Terrier may have a conjunctivitis or pink eye.
Rat Terrier eye problems may be due he is suffering from a conjunctivitis known as pink eye.
The conjunctiva is the mucous membrane that covers the inside of your Rat Terrier’s eyelids, both sides of the third eyelid, and even some parts of the eyeball.
Now with conjunctivitis, there usually is some degree of information going on which results in reddened and swollen conjunctiva eye discomfort and even eye drainage.
Now the most common causes of conjunctivitis includes physical irritation due to dust, and inward growing of eyelashes, eye infections, and allergic reactions.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from pink eye include:
- Green or yellow discharge from the eye
- Squinting or holding the eye closed
- Rubbing the eye because it is painful or itchy
- The whites of the eye will be red or bloodshot, but the cornea will typically be clear
- Red eyes
- Inflammation
- Gooey discharge
Treatment options for conjunctivitis or pink eye in Rat Terrier.
The treatment options for pink eye in Rat Terrier should depend on the underlying cause and can include sterile saline, eye washes that flush away the irritants from the eye, and prescription antibiotic eye drops or ointments that will be necessary to resolve bacteria infections.
In the case of allergic conjunctivitis, your vet might prescribe eye drops containing steroids.
But it is really important to understand that steroid-based eye drops can be very harmful to your Rat Terrier with other similar conditions of the eye.
So, you should never ever start treatment with steroids without consulting your vet first.
6. Rat Terrier may be suffering from a glaucoma.
Rat Terrier eye problems may be due he is suffering from a glaucoma.
Within their eye, the production and the drainage of fluid is precisely balanced in order to maintain a constant pressure.
Now glaucoma occurs when this balance is disrupted and the pressure within the eye increases.
This often results in pain, redness, a visible third eyelid, corneal opacity, and overall enlarged eyeball.
Now, this increase in pressure can easily result in blindness due to the compression of the optic nerve behind.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from glaucoma include:
- Pain
- Eye redness
- Increased tear production
- A visible third eyelid
- Corneal cloudiness
- Dilated pupils
- Obviously enlarged eye, in advanced cases
Treatment options for glaucoma in Rat Terrier.
So it’s important to take your Rat Terrier to the vet as soon as possible when you noticed any sign of glaucoma in your Rat Terrier.
Treatment usually include a combination of oral and topical medication in order to decrease the inflammation.
Absorb the fluid from the eye to promote the drainage of fluid from the eye and to decrease the production of fluid from the eye.
7. Rat Terrier may have cataracts.
The cause of Rat Terrier eye problems may be due to cataracts in their eye.
The lens sits in the middle of your Rat Terrier’s eye and is usually clear, but sometimes it does happen that part or all of the lens develops a cloudy, opaque cataract.
Cataracts block lights from reaching the back of the eye, resulting in poor vision and even blindness depending on the severity.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from cataracts include:
- Cloudy eyes
- Eye inflammation
- Irritation in and around the eyes
- Adopting new habits due to sight loss
Treatment options for cataracts in Rat Terrier eye.
So it’s important to take your Rat Terrier to the vet as soon as possible when you noticed any sign of cataract in your Rat Terrier.
Now cataract surgery is available to dogs who have severely compromised vision.
But if that is not an option it’s important to realize that there’s no pain associated with this condition. And your Rat Terrier may tend to adapt well to having poor vision.
8. Rat Terrier may have entropion in the eye.
The cause of Rat Terrier’s eye problems may be due to entropion in their eyes.
Entropion in your Rat Terrier’s eye is when their eyelids roll inwards, which causes the air to rub on the surface of the eye.
Causing pain, increase ear protection, and a passive discharge that can eventually cause damage to the cornea in the form of ulceration and even perforations.
Entropion is usually caused by a genetic predisposition and therefore can not really be prevented in some breeds.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from entropion include:
- Squinting
- Watery eyes and
- Keeping eyes closed
Treatment options for entropion in Rat Terrier eye.
The treatment options for entropion in Rat Terrier eye involve surgery where the eyelids are sutured back into a more normal position which we refer to as eyelid attacking.
9. Rat Terrier may have Progressive retinal atrophy(PRA) in their eye.
With progressive retinal atrophy in Rat Terrier eye, they may gradually become blind.
Even though their eyes looks fairly normal, which makes this disease very difficult to diagnose.
It usually starts off with night blindness, and you may only notice strange behavior once most of the eyesight is almost completely gone.
Signs that your Rat Terrier may be suffering from PRA:
- Night blindness
- Poor overall vision
Treatment options for progressive retinal atrophy.
In the treatment of progressive retinal atrophy, there’s unfortunately no effective treatment for the disease of progressive retinal atrophy.
But once again this condition is painless and your Rat Terrier may seems to adapt extremely well to becoming blind.
10. Rat Terrier may have an Eye worm infection.
The cause of Rat Terrier eye problems may be due to eye worm diseases.
Eye worms can be transmitted to our Rat Terrier through contact with a certain kind of fly, which deposit its eggs on their eyes when they are feeding.
This causes severe itching and can lead to inflammation, tearing, itchiness, swelling, eye squinting and in severe cases it can also lead to corneal ulcerations.
Treatment options for eye worm infections.
The most common way you can treat eye worms in your Rat Terrier is to physically remove them, either with the forceps, or by flushing it out with a sterilized saline wash.
After which a topical anesthetic has been applied to the surface of the eye depending on the severity of the condition, your vet may also prescribe a dewormer, topical or systematic anti-inflammatory drugs and even antibiotics to treat and prevent secondary bacterial infections.
Final Thoughts
Any time your Rat Terrier is showing increase tearing, redness of the eye, goofy discharge in the corners of his eyes, or excessively blinking, have your Rat Terrier to be evaluated by your vet immediately.
The eyes are extraordinarily vital organs, and quick treatment is often necessary in order to avoid further future complications.
Do not try to diagnose and treat the eye condition yourself.
Your veterinarian has both the expertise and the equipment needed to properly examine your Rat Terrier’s eye in order to determine what exactly is causing the disease.
If your vet does prescribe medication make sure that you are confident in administering it to your Rat Terrier’s eye and follow the instructions carefully as some medication maybe detrimental to some conditions if used incorrectly.
FAQs
What could be wrong with my Rat Terriers eye?
Rat Terriers have round eyes that bulge with love and mischief.
Their eyes serve as a window into the world, but when they start to develop glaucoma, entropion, and corneal ulcerations, something is definitely not right.
By the time you see foggy or opaque areas on your Rat Terrier’s lens, something else might be wrong with their eyes as well, including a cataract that can result in blurred vision or blindness.
These white, milky changes to your dog’s lens are the result of abnormal lens metabolism, says AKC.
What are the symptoms of eye disorders in dogs?
The symptoms of eye disorder in dogs are as follows:
- White, bluish-gray, or cloudy appearance to the eye.
- Tearing, redness, squinting, blinking, rubbing at the eye, and possibly blood in the eye.
- Eye redness or sagging skin around the eye.
- Dilated pupils, eye pain, cloudiness, and enlarged, bulging eyes.
- Sticky eye discharge, pink or reddish coloring of the tissues around the eye, swelling, and pain.
When should I worry about my dog’s eyes?
When you should worry about your Rat Terriers eyes is when you start seeing signs like:
- Sticky eye discharge, pink or reddish coloring of the tissues around the eye, swelling, and pain, which is caused by Conjunctivitis in dogs.
- Dilated pupils, eye pain, redness, tearing, cloudiness and enlarged, bulging eyes, which is caused by Glaucoma in dogs.
- Squinting, excessive tearing, eye redness, or sagging skin around the eye, which is caused by entropion in dogs.
- Tearing, redness, squinting, blinking, rubbing at the eye and possibly blood in the eye, which is caused by corneal ulcers in dogs.
- White, bluish-gray or cloudy appearance to the eye. This can also result from aging, so consult your vet to determine the actual issue, which is caused by Cataracts in dogs.
