When you see your dog’s eye, you will observe the depth and feel and emotional connection with the dog. The eyes of dogs are expressive, and the dog connects itself with you through its soulful eyes. But what if you find the eyes of your dog red? You will surely question yourself, why are my dog’s eyes red. It is worrying for the pet owner.
This redness of the dog’s eyes could be due to some allergy, some environmental effect, or any medical sickness. A mild factor can cause the redness of eyes dogs because dogs‘ eyes are as sensitive as the human eyes.
Reasons For Eye Redness In Dogs
The redness in the dog’s eyes can be due to many reasons. It can result from some mild allergy, some environmental factors or some medical problem. Below are some significant reasons which can cause the redness in your dog’s eyes:
Allergies
If you see the red eyes of your dog, there could be a reason for allergy to something which is causing the redness in the dog’s eyes. This allergy could be seasonal, which the dog’s eyes will get at a specific time or within a particular season. The dog can also have a food allergy or allergy to some chemicals used in the household, like detergents or floor cleaners. So you have to find out with which thing your dog has an allergy to. If your dog’s eyes are red due to the allergy, your dog will show the following symptoms:
- Tears or watery discharge
- Redness
- Sneezing
- Irritation
- Licking and scratching
- Red/ inflamed skin
- Hair loss around the eye
Treatment
When you come to know that your dog has an allergy to something, do not try any eye relief drop or anti-allergy medicine without the vet’s instructions. It would be best if you first approached the vet to tell the vet about the redness of the eyes and let the vet diagnose the dog’s allergy. And give the medicines to your dog according to the vet’s guidelines.
Environmental Irritants Or Pollutants
We are continuously polluting our environment with factory waste, traffic smoke and using heavy machinery, pesticide sprays, and the artificial fragrances we use to freshen up our house. These activities produce pollutants that are damaging our environment. These chemicals may harm the eyes of your dog.
Treatment
If your dog’s eyes get red due to the environmental irritant, avoid using the sprays and other products that can harm your dog’s eyes. And don’t take your dog to the highly trafficking area or industrial area. Talk to the vet, so that vet can recommend you some medicine to decrease the redness of the eye of your dog.
Corneal Ulceration
The transparent membrane over the eyeball is called the cornea. Suppose your dog is habitual to rub himself with objects or the floor. And due to this habit of the dog, the cornea is scratched. The bacteria in the environment will get way to enter into the dog’s eye; it will cause the infection in dogs’ eyes. as the bacteria grow in the eyes, it will dissolve the cornea. The symptoms of this type of infection in the eyes are:
- Severe squinting
- Mucky discharge
- Possibly scratching at the eye
Treatment
If your dog has corneal ulceration, then your dog needs urgent attention. It would be best if you immediately took your dog to the vet for treatment.
Injury
When your dog is playing, he accidentally banged his eyes against an object. It can cause the redness of the eyes in your dog. you will find the following symptoms in your dog after hitting the yes with an object:
- Puffiness of the eyelids
- Reddening of white part of your dog’s eyeball
- Possible glancing for a short time after a knock
- Flooding of tears from the eye exact after the incident
In Case Of Severe Trauma
If the trauma is mild, then your dog will recover in about 24 hours. But what if the trauma is severe? You will see the intense inflammation in the eyes, and also, you will observe the red patches in the white part of the eye of the dog. If you watch these symptoms in your dog’s eyes, immediately rush to the vet’s clinic for proper treatment of your dog.
Conjunctivitis
The problem of conjunctivitis occurs due to some bacterial or viral infection. It will also lead to the redness of the dog’s eyes. You will observe the following symptoms in your dog if your dog is suffering from conjunctivitis :
- Slight reddening without swelling
- Tomato red-eye with much swelling of the conjunctiva
- a mucky discharge.
- The discharge can be minor or dense
- Squinting
Treatment
In mild cases, conjunctivitis will be relieved by washing the dog’s eyes with saltwater or herbal tea multiple times. You can also use the saline available at pharmacies for this purpose.
And in severe cases, you should only move to the vet’s clinic to give proper treatment to your dog for conjunctivitis.
Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca (Dry Eye)
The name tells us that the eye gets dry in this condition because the tear gland dries up and doesn’t produce tears because the dog’s immune system attacks the tear glands of the dog. This activity happens due to the side effect of any drug, hormonal problem or damage to the nerves and nervous system.
You will observe the red eyes of the dogs with sticky discharge from the looks. It would be best to take your dog to the vet because this condition needs proper treatment.
Glaucoma
This condition is caused by the increase in pressure on the eyeball of the dog. Sometimes you can see the blood vessels in the white part of the eye. It is a severe condition, and your dog will also feel pain due to this condition. And if the situation is not treated soon, it can lead to blindness in dogs. You should urgently go to the vet and provide proper treatment to your dog.
Uveitis
Uveitis is not a common problem in dogs. In this condition, the whole eye swells. And usually, the reason behind the uveitis is some infection or metabolic disease.
The infections which can cause uveitis are:
- Bacterial infections like leptospirosis, Lyme disease
- Viral infection rabies
- Fungal infections like histoplasmosis, cryptococcosis
- Parasitic infections like toxoplasmosis and ehrlichiosis
- Metabolic diseases such as high pressure and diabetes
As the reasons behind this disease are complex, you cannot point out the reason behind it. It would be best if you moved to the vet to reach the root of the disease.
Skin Illness
Sometimes, redness in the eye can be caused due to some skin problems such as skin allergy, pyoderma, or cancer. So, you should always contact the vet to find out the exact reason for the eyes’ redness.
FAQs
Is it OK that the dog has red eyes?
The redness of dogs can be due to simple to complex reasons. The most straightforward reason could be the allergy to something, and the dangerous and challenging reason could be a corneal ulcer or some metabolic disease. So, it will not be OK for the dog to have red eyes until you take your dog to the vet and find out the exact reason behind it.
How do I treat my dog red eye?
There are some eye drops or oral medicines present in the pharmacies to treat the redness of dogs’ eyes. But it will be best if you take your dog to the vet’s clinic for a proper check-up because it will make you feel mentally relaxed that your dog is not having any serious problem.
Conclusion
Finding your dog looking at you with red eyes is worrying for a pet owner. And in this article, I’ve shared some of the primary reason which can cause the redness in your dog’s eye. All of these reasons could lead to severe results if these are not treated in time. So, it would be best if you always preferred consulting the vet instead of giving your dog medicines on your own. It will give your dog only temporary relief but not treat the reason for this redness of the eyes.
If you take your dog to the vet, the vet will adequately examine your dog and give medicines according to the dog’s problem.
