Large pupils

justabob

justabob

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I have just rescued a Romanian street dog. She was very stressed when she came to me having been stabbed in the kill shelters to euthanise her. She somehow survived that and went to a rescue centre in Bucharest to recover. However she has very enlarged pupils, photographs make her look like lasers are coming out of her eyes. She has settled and gets on with my other dogs, so not stressed now. She seems to be slightly unco-ordinated in her front legs, whether that is due to her being stabbed I am not sure. Any ideas would be most welcome as I have never seen a dog with eyes like this before.
 
Possibly glaucoma? If she is having problems with her sight the uncoordinated front legs could just be her way of judging where she is walking. I had a GSD with sight problems and she had trouble judging depth and was a little unsure when walking in strange places.
I would get her checked out by a vet asap, eye problems should always be seen fairly urgently imo.
 
Some years ago I had a GSD that one day had huge pupils. The Vet thought it may have been some form of poisoning (in Kenya). Despite various treatments the pupils never regained the ability to shrink. The excess light entering her eye did cause damage to the retina and she fairly quickly went blind.
 
I have a lovely young staffy in at work like this currently. He does appear to be able to see currently but we are expecting his eyesight to deteriorate in due course. His pupils are dilated and his eyes totally "fixed" with a staring quality. Our vet suspects he is developing glaucoma and will probably need surgery at some point in the future.

Fingers crossed at the vets, I hope it isn't anything too serious.
 
If the pupils look large and strangely light reflective iot is a very good chance of it being PRA..Progressive Retinal Atrophy.You needs a special "eye vet" on the BVA Panel to diagnose for sure.Eye problems are more a referal job from your usual vet
 
My old boy had PRA and he had enlarged pupils where he tried to get s much light into his eyes at all times to try to see. As they go totally blind over time with PRA they can appear uncoordinated as they have to feel their way around and can't see rough ground, steps etc. An ordinary vet may not be able to diagnose many eye conditions. I know mine kept telling me that my dog was fine until I made them refer me to a veterinary optician. He diagnosed the PRA and told me that my dog was already almost totally blind and could only see vague silhouettes.

If you are worried about your dogs sight you can either ask your vet to refer you to a veterinary optician or without referral you can find your nearest BVA eye specialist.
http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/EP_list_Jan_2012.pdf
 
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