Pet of the Month! Gracie

Gracie is a 10 year old bulldog that we have been treating since July 2023. Gracie suffers with recurring eye issues which bulldogs are prone to.

Most recently Gracie has been seeing us for a Corneal ulcer. The cornea covers the front part of the eye. It is transparent in normal conditions, to allow the passage of light into the eye. The eyelids cover the cornea to protect it against trauma, as well as spreading the tears over the cornea. Tears are also very important in corneal health! There are several reasons why corneal ulcers appear.
Most ulcers in dogs and cats are the result of trauma – i.e. scratches during walks, thorns, playing or scratches from other animals. Other causes of ulceration are dry eye, eyelid anomalies (entropion, ectopic cilia) or primary abnormalities of the cornea – like spontaneous chronic corneal epithelial defects (SCCED). Most ulcers will heal without complications within a week. Antibiotic eye drops or ointment will be enough to allow the cornea to heal, as long as the primary cause of the ulcer is no longer present however; unfortunately sometimes eye drop(s) are not enough to allow a ulcer to heal. Some examples are: ulcers secondary to an eyelid abnormality, foreign body retained after a trauma (thorn), SCCED or melting ulcers.

We asked Gracie’s owner a few questions about her.

1.      What is Gracie’s favourite thing to do at home?

Gracie loves nothing more than interacting with people and dogs alike. Gracie; in her latter years; loves to chill out on the sofa and her daily walk or ride out in the car.

2.    Tell us something about when Gracie was younger.

In her younger days she would welcome foster bulldogs into our house and pack and help them on their journey to new homes.

3.     How did you know that Gracie needed to see a vet?

Gracie has seasonal alopecia which is common in bulldogs but in July 2023 we noticed that Gracie’s left eye was cloudy and ulcerated and we needed to see the vets for treatment for her.

4. How did the Wellness Subscription Plan help you?

James and Kat have been looking after Gracie treating her eye with medication and she needs frequent visits to the practice to ensure the medication is going in the right direction. As we have the Gold wellness subscription the benefit of no consultation fee has been a huge cost saving for us.