Squinty Eye

E

emmadactryl

Forums Regular
Bit of a long involved story shortened, we went to pick up my pup last weekend and when we were leaving the breeder's house with Fletcher she stopped us because she'd noticed his right eye's a bit squinty. She'd had the puppies out that morning to do a final set of photos and seen it then, but not before that and she'd thought it was just because he was out in the sun. Because it was a ten hour drive down we couldn't just leave him there, wait for her to get it looked at and then pop back afterwards so we brought him home anyway and had a vet look at it on Monday during his post purchase check up. He was CEA tested and cleared, as were his three littermates.

The vet was a bit baffled- and so was the breeder so she's interested to see what it means- because neither had really come across it before. The vet felt all around his eye and did a quick vision test- though Fletcher had the attention span of a gnat and it was a bit difficult to get him to focus for long enough- and it seems like the eyeball itself is completely fine, just that the eyelid itself is smaller than it should be; the vet contacted an eye specialist on my behalf and I got a quick update call from one of the vet nurses yesterday to tell me that the specialist said whatever Fletcher has is common in shelties and I'll find out more detail on Thursday when the vet's back in to work and she can have a chat to me.

The breeder called me on Tuesday and sent me a photo of a dog a friend of hers owned that had what looks like something similiar and all it was- according to their vet- was that when the eyes were first opening the eye didn't open as fully as it should. The dog had minor surgery to open the eye and was left with a tiny scar and it all fixed up.

So I'm just curious, because even though I'll hear from the vet tomorrow I'm finding it hard to wait that long, if anyone has had this crop up in one of their shelties before or might know what it could be and what it means for Fletcher's long term eye health.

This is probably the best picture of his eye. It's just a bit smaller and kind of makes him look shifty with the squint :P

http://i715.photobucket.com/albums/ww153/emmadactryl/DSCN2983.jpg
 
Well, he's a cutie, that's for sure. I'm sorry, but I don't know anything about this, nor have I seen a sheltie with this issue. However, there are many experienced sheltie owners on this site; breeders included. I'm sure someone will be able to give you some kind of advise.

Take care!
 
Hopefully one of the vets chimes in. Great picture of the eye, beautiful sheltie. Just for the heck of it, in humans there is something called a lazy eye. Maybe its the muscle in the eyelid, like a lazy lid?

It sounds minor, but its great how you are investigating the matter. One thing I am happy about that the eye is in good shape.

Prayers and hoping for the very best.
 
Looking at your puppy's eye reminds me of when Smudge's mangy eye shrank to half it's size. It looked so scary.

I don't know what it is, but you did a good job of getting your puppy to stand still long enough for a picture. :wink2: I wish I would have been so lucky to get mine to stand still for a "sick" photo!
 
That's one of the only photos I have of Fletch that isn't blurry; he never sits still :rolleyes2:

I just got a call from the vet and Fletcher has a micropalpebral fissure, which is basically exactly as she thought: the eyelid is just smaller than it should be. All we can do is keep a close eye on his eye as he develops and keep fingers and toes crossed that the eyelid doesn't roll inwards or outwards as he's older and requires surgery.
 
Glad to hear it isn't anything serious. Do they think he could outgrow something like this, or will it remain? He is so cute.
 
I'm not too sure about him growing out of it; he's going in for his next vaccination next Tuesday so the vet can have another look at it and I'll ask her a few more questions. I've been Googling but there isn't a lot about; it keeps telling me "Did you mean macropalpebral fissure?" and I keep telling it, "No, I don't, just behave, Google" :biggrin2:

His breeder is baffled because she's never heard of it, never seen it come up before, it hasn't been present in the line Fletcher's from, friends of hers who have been breeding shelties for ages (some forty plus years) haven't seen it come up before or even heard of it...

He's just super special, I guess :smile2:
 
I just saw this as with vacation and a new pup myself I got behind. But I have never seen it in a sheltie.

So I looked it up in my textbooks. This is all it had.

" A micropalperbral fissure, which is a congenitally small or narrowed palperbral fissure, may be seen in breeds such as the Chow and the collies(Rough, Smooth and Shetland Sheepdog) Mircoophalmia, with multiocular defects, may accompany a mircopalperbral fissue. A small fissure may result in entropion, as also may too long a lower eyelid. "

That is all the info I could find. Sounds like entropion is the biggest concerns but other eye defects should be ruled out.

Congenital is a developmental thing not genetic. A fluke. May never see one again and it occured for no reason. Of course, nutritional or environmental(ie toxins, drugs) influences(or anything that effects development) may have played a role. One will never know.
 
I just got a female sheltie a few weeks ago and we've noticed that her right eye doesn't ever fully open. It doesn't look like it has an infection, but shes being silly (like first thing in the morning or when shes being cute and sleepy in the evening) she'll paw at it. I was going to ask the vet about it when I take her in for her next set of puppy shots.
 
JoyandBirdie said:
I just got a female sheltie a few weeks ago and we've noticed that her right eye doesn't ever fully open. It doesn't look like it has an infection, but shes being silly (like first thing in the morning or when shes being cute and sleepy in the evening) she'll paw at it. I was going to ask the vet about it when I take her in for her next set of puppy shots.
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Certainly nothing to ignore.Our Jasper went thru this just recently.He seemed fine for days,then all of a sudden you could look at him,and his eye be nearly shut. I had some antibiotics I slathered in his eye for weeks.And finally what ever it was must be not bothering him any longer,as (knock on wood) he has not had one time in weeks with the problem.
 
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