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.
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.
