If you are seeing swellings in a dog’s eye, you might be in a panic mode since you don’t really know what is wrong with his eye. If you really want to help your dog out, please remain calm, and if you can’t handle the wait or your dog’s symptoms are getting progressively worse, please go to the vet immediately!
If you are relaxed about this situation and can handle the wait, let’s cover some basic information first before going into our advanced list of causes. As you can see in the pictures down below, the picture to your left is a dog in its normal conditions, but the dog in the left picture has a definite swelling to his eye.
What Does It Mean To Have Swollen Eyes in Dogs?
Swollen eyes in dogs can mean infection to the eye, physical eye trauma, and even external factors such as allergic reactions and bee stings. In more serious cases, the swollen eyes in dogs can be caused by problems with the cornea itself or even the sudden fluctuation in eye pressure.
Due to its many causes, the treatment for swollen eyes in dogs can be quite diverse. Find the cause, and you will find the right solution for your dog. Don’t take your time about it since an untreated eye condition can worsen to partial and even permanent eye damage, which is equivalent to vision loss and blindness.
Causes Behind Dog’s Swollen Eyes
After covering the introductory information, we have the basic tools to advance to our next stage. In the list of causes down below, we have listed the symptoms associated with each general cause, and you can use the symptom-related information to figure out the solution to your dog’s symptoms. Without further ado, let’s jump straight in.
1. Allergic Reactions
Allergy key symptoms are skin-related problems such as rashes and itching, but it can also affect your internal systems, which can lead to runny noses & eyes, sneezing, and eye redness. In addition to this long list, a dog’s allergic reaction can also include swelling of the eyes, which is the factor that we are going to entirely focus on.
If your dog is suffering from allergies, his outward symptoms won’t be just his swollen eyes since they will be accompanied by a host of other allergy-related symptoms (listed above). Other allergy symptoms can include (but are not limited to) vomiting, diarrhea, chronic ear infection, licking, and scratching.
If you think that your dog is suffering from allergies, you need to either figure out the allergen that is bothering your dog or provide another alternative without going to the vet. If you don’t really want to pay a visit to a vet, you might be interested in implementing the allergy immune supplement for dogs.
Created by Zesty Paws, these supplements provide remedies for skin (problems related to certain pet products and fabric), seasonal (problems with pollen), and environmental (problems with dust and insects) allergies. In addition, they provide support for itching and hot spots while strengthening your dog’s immune system.
2. Physical Eye Trauma
Trauma literally means physical injury from any external or internal source. Any external sources of eye trauma can be as simple as your dog going outside to play and getting scratched in the eye by a sharp branch or a rock. Other factors that need to consider can be insect stings from a bee or from an ant (more insects can join in this list).
In addition, you need to consider foreign objects entering your dog’s eye as well since a fleck of dust/sand and grass seeds can easily enter your dog’s eye and cause irritation. Several symptoms of eye trauma can include frequent blinking, excessive eye scratching, redness, eye discharge, and the formation of tears.
If you suspect that your dog is suffering from an eye injury, you can use an eye-drop solution to clear away the foreign debris stuck on your dog’s eye or to treat the irritation that can result from physical traumas. If you give your pet some time, you will be able to see either a fast recovery or no signs of change at all.
If the swollen eye in your dog doesn’t get any better or maybe the condition even worsens, you need to consider taking your pet to a nearby animal hospital. Please remember that if you keep letting the eye condition from being treated with professional help, she might live the rest of her life with permanent eye damage.
3. Eye Infection (Conjunctivitis)
Eye infection can be caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, and even by former injuries. One of the common bacterial infections to the eye is called conjunctivitis, which is regularly coined as the “pink eye.” Occurring in dogs as well as humans, pink eye is highly contagious, and can cause the eye to be inflamed.
Key symptoms of conjunctivitis are eye inflammation, pinkish or watery discharge, mucous-filled discharge, frequent blinking, and swollen eyelids. Even though conjunctivitis is a problem in and of itself, it can be a forerunner of other serious eye problems as well.
If your dog is suffering from symptoms of conjunctivitis, you might be interested in the eye drop solution made by CIDBEST. Formulated as eye drops for pets, this product works very well for eye problems caused by allergies, pink eye, external injuries, and even foreign debris.
You might have gotten noticed a pattern in these eye conditions, but most of the general causes listed here are interrelated in some sort of fashion. What is more fascinating is that most of the causes listed here are very similar to the culprits that can cause swollen eyes in humans.
4. Problems With the Cornea
This is probably more of a serious section than the previous three, which can make it more important. Problems with the cornea occur when the actual eye itself gets injured or scratched in any sort of fashion. In the previous section where we talked about physical traumas, we were talking about the areas around the eye.
However, if the actual eye itself gets scratched or damaged, it can quickly grow into a serious eye condition if left untreated. Symptoms of the corneal disorder are excessive tears, closed eyes, swollen eyes, cloudy eyes, redness, avoidance of light sources, eye discharge (color can be clear, yellow, or green), and excessive scratching of the eyes.
Even though there are products out there that might treat any problems related to the cornea, the best method is to go to the veterinarian and ask for his help. If your pet nor your wallet doesn’t allow professional assistance, this product might help against your pet’s eye infection.
Working primarily in dogs and cats, Ophthalmic Ointment by Zoetis is an antibacterial ointment that is effective in primary and secondary eye infections. It works well against conjunctivitis, keratitis (corneal inflammation), corneal ulcers, and blepharitis (eyelid inflammation), so this product can work for problems related to the cornea.
5. Glaucoma
Last but not least, glaucoma is also one of the serious eye conditions that a pet can face, and this medical term is when large amounts of pressure are placed on the eye. Due to the large amounts of pressure, the eye cannot drain fluids on its own, which can lead to a build-up of fluids inside the eye.
If left untreated, glaucoma will cause blindness since this eye disease causes permanent damage to the optic nerve. Symptoms of glaucoma are listed in detail right here, and I hope that the eye condition that your pet is facing is not glaucoma but one of the other general causes listed above.
Conclusion: Need Reliable Medical Assistance?
Do you need medical assistance for your pet that is of good quality and comes at a low cost? As you may already know, nothing comes for free, but if you prepare for your pet’s medical bills ahead of time, you can significantly lower your expenses and reduce the stress & anxiety that can result from an unexpected incident.
Functioning similar to your life insurance, Petplan is an insurance plan for domestic pets (cats and dogs), and with a monthly plan, your pet will get all the medical coverage such as professional vet assistance and even surgical operations. If the operation is too expensive, the insurance plan might cover most if not all of the fees.
To know all the benefits and the specific details regarding this pet insurance, please visit their homepage by using the link above. After seeing what they have to offer, you can make the final decision after considering the pros and cons. If you think health benefits outweigh the money put in, then you should sign up for a monthly plan.
However, if you think that your money is more valuable to be spent in other areas of investment, please go ahead! As always, thank you for reading through our post called Swollen Eyes in Dogs, and if you have found it helpful, please consider visiting our homepage for regular updates and great content!
