Kyara has corneal dystrophy

[Meldor]

We had noticed that Kyara had tiny shadowy clouds in her eyes when she was 8 months old but it was very hard to see them so we let it be. In the last few months, they became more visible so I decided to book an appointment with our vet. (she is now 2 years old)

We just got back and our vet suspects it is Epithelial corneal dystrophy. He put a dye in her eyes and verified that there were no ulcers or abrasions in her eyes under a black light. I am very glad there are no ulcers. The vet suggested to keep an eye on them but does not think it is necessary to see a specialist as this is fairly common in Shelties and it can remain alright for a long time and only slowly degenerate.


Let's hope Kyara is one of these never degenerate cases and her vision remains okay. I'm optimist as it seem to have progressed very slowly since we've first spotted this in her eyes more than a year ago. Hopefully her vision remains okay and we can keep on doing agility for a very long time!

We've always suspected that she may have a vision problem even though she seems to see fine most of the time. For example, when I have her out on a leash and my BF happens to arrive home, she will bark at him as if he's a stranger even when he is 12 feet from us. Furthermore, when we play fetch she always has trouble finding the ball if she does not spot where it lands. She has also been always very scared of stranger and quite reactive. Finally, she bumps into things once in a while but we normally attributed it to being startled by a noise or stranger or in a new place.

Anyhow, I would love to know if any of you have any experience with Corneal dystrophy and if any of your shelties are affected by this.

[ClantyreSheltie]

We had one with it, her eyes ulcerated on occasion. She had no vision issues, and ran agility until two weeks before she died of kidney disease at 6. We just kept her eye goop (not drops, goop) for when she got squinty.

[corbinam]

I'm sorry to hear of Kyara's diagnosis, but am happy to hear that she has no ulcers. A friend of mine's sheltie was recently diagnosed with the same disease. She posted on Facebook (not sure if it's helpful or not--if it is I can give her your contact info, I'm sure she'd be happy to share more).

"We started her on Tacrolimus ointment in her eyes 2x/day. We just had a 6-month checkup, and she is completely free of deposits!"

[Meldor]

Thank you both for your posts.

Rachael, thank you for that, it keeps my optimism way up in hoping my sweet girl will keep her vision and be able to do the activity she loves the most.
I'll keep a lookout for squinting.

Ashley, its too bad your friend's sheltie has the same condition too but it is great to know that she is doing well. It's very interesting, I wonder if by deposits she means the little clouds in her eyes or if it was abrasions or something more? From what I read up to now on the condition, I believe that the little clouds can't go away unless there is surgery involved (only recommended in certain cases). I still need to read more on the subject but I may PM you in the future about it. Thank you for the info!

[Toffee's Mom]

Gosh, hope you're doing well, and this won't manifest itself in any detrimental way. Sounds like you have a good outlook, hope all is well with Ms Kyara and that we get to see many many more fun videos of her doing what she loves!!