Primary lens luxation JRT

Landcruiser

Landcruiser

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This is our little JRT/Patterdale, Scout, 6 yrs old. Please send H&H healing vibes. She's been having a bit of a winky eye on and off, was seen by vets in Sept and it resolved quickly with Chloraphenicol. It was always subtle, with no discharge or conjunctivitis.
It returned a couple of weeks ago but this time with a cloudy eye - cue a trip to out of hours vets and more drops, and again it resolved quickly and was signed off by my own vets after 5 days of drops. A few days ago it came back and this time wasn't responding, despite adding in Remend. She was booked to see an opthalmologist next week, but had a recheck last night and vet spotted the lens luxation. We were immediately referred to the nearest opthalmic referral hospital and went there straight away. She has anterior subluxation, which means her lens has fallen into the front of her eye and is resting on the cornea. Back this morning and she's having surgery today.
They will initially try to push it into the back of the eye and medicate the eye to close up the pupil so it can't come back through. If this isn't possible, they will surgically remove the lens. Long term, she'll be on eye dros for life and may lose the eye anyway if she develops glaucoma, which is quite likely. It's also more than possible she'll get the same thing in her other eye.
Apparently this is a common genetic condition in JRTs and a few other breeds.
My heart breaks for her. She's such a happy, sweet natured girl and had been good as gold for all the drops and exams. We'll hear later how they've got on, but we have a long tricky road of recovery ahead whatever happens. I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has been through this with their dogs:(
Winky eye.jpg
 
Not until I got Ruby. Our family has had a few JRTs and JRT Xs. When I bought Ruby her breeder had health checked genetically for this both parents as she said it was common like luxating patella and some heart conditions. I'd never heard of it.
Your girls is gorgeous. I hope she makes a full uncomplicated recovery xx
 
This was a problem in Lancashire Heelers , most breeding stock is tested now and cases have greatly reduced but unfortunately some unscrupulous breeders still don’t test so some dogs develop it .
I think surgery is often the best treatment as it removes the pain , and dogs seem to manage fine . I hope it doesn’t come to that for your girl though . There is a lot of information on various Lancashire heeler pages if you do a search .
 
I've known several JRTs and had 2 myself but never come across this. I do hope that she makes the best recovery possible.
We did have a blind Lab, his sister acted as his guide and he lived a long and active life but he went blind gradually, so was able to become acclimatised over time
 
Im so sorry for her. I too have never heard of this condition nor seen any pups for sale that had been tested for it. All the best wishes for the surgery xx
 
Quick update. She had procedure yesterday to "re-couch" the lens, ie push it through the pupil and into the back of the eye. She came home in a cone and 3 different eye drops to go in 4 x a day each, plus metacam and gabapentin. This morning she seems very uncomfortable and the eye looks swollen so I fear the lens has maybe dropped forward again already. The opthalmic surgeon wasn't particularly optimistic that it would stay put. I'm waiting for a call back from her now. I think we will almost certainly be looking at removing the lens now, and quite possibly the whole eye either now or at some point in the future. My heart absolutely breaks for her, she's such an affectionate, sweet little dog, and she's been such a very good girl all through.
 
MurphysMinder said:
@Landcruiser this may be of help.

www.eye-vet.co.uk

Lens Luxation | Pet Owners | Eye Vet

Lens luxation Lens luxation is categorised by a dislocation of the lens within the eye. It can block important drainage angles, causing acute and painful glaucoma and blindness should it not be treated early. Click here to download our information leaflet on Lens Luxation.
www.eye-vet.co.uk www.eye-vet.co.uk
Click to expand...
Thank you, that's a really good clear explanation. I've had a crash course in this condition over the last 3 days. Poor Scout is at the second stage of the treatment as detailed in the download because the first stage has failed. We are heading back in shortly and the lens is going to be removed. Yet again at the weekend - £4000 Petplan cover is fast disappearing into the rearview mirror. It's not about the money but this will be the 3rd out of hours treatment in 2 weeks😭 (and this will be the biggest yet)
 
Further update. Given the slim chance of long term success (high risk of glaucoma) that lens removal would have given (plus very intense management with multiple different drops a day) we made the hideous decision to have the eye removed today. She'll be home tonight and relatively pain free, and basically back to normal in a day or two. She's very likely to get the condition in her remaining eye at some point so this will be medicated for the rest of her life anyway, to try to prevent the lens falling forwards as it has in her left eye. Pic of her waiting to go into hospital this morningVet waiting room.jpg
 
Landcruiser said:
Further update. Given the slim chance of long term success (high risk of glaucoma) that lens removal would have given (plus very intense management with multiple different drops a day) we made the hideous decision to have the eye removed today. She'll be home tonight and relatively pain free, and basically back to normal in a day or two. She's very likely to get the condition in her remaining eye at some point so this will be medicated for the rest of her life anyway, to try to prevent the lens falling forwards as it has in her left eye. Pic of her waiting to go into hospital this morningView attachment 154544
Click to expand...
I think that’s the best decision. It’s much worse for you than for her, she’ll be pain free and up and at ‘em before you know it.
Poor little girl.
 
Thanks for asking. Her wound is healing well (pic was Saturday evening when we got her home). She has a wound check up on coming Saturday and another in 3 weeks with the ophthalmologist, mainly to assess the remaining eye and see how it's tolerating the daily drops, which she'll have for life. These are to constrict the pupil and stop her lens dropping into the front of the eye if this eye becomes affected. She has been such a good girl through the whole process and she's being super smoochy and cuddly. She did walk into my leg on her blind side but apart from that I haven't seen her have any issues.
Scout one eye.jpg
 
That is such good news that she has now had the op and is doing great. What a little trooper she is, so sweet. I think she will very quickly learn to adapt for the blind side, I have a friend who had a one eyed collie and that really did cope extremely well, and it was a particularly mad collie so I am sure Scout will do equally well. 🙂
 
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